Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed

by Maureen Callahan

As of this writing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for president as an independent. Again, he is taken to task for his anti-vax stance, his trafficking in conspiracy theories, his antisemitism—but not for his lifelong mistreatment of women. Not for helping to free his cousin Michael Skakel, once convicted in the brutal sexual assault and murder of fifteen-year-old Martha Moxley. All the evidence used to convict Skakel, including the murder weapon, is now sealed in perpetuity. This is a catastrophic outcome for future journalists and historians. Nor has RFK Jr. been confronted about falsely accusing two boys from the Bronx, one Black and the other of mixed race, of traveling all the way to a wealthy Connecticut suburb to, in effect, go “wilding” on a young blonde girl. Nor for the way he continues to vivisect his late wife Mary’s character in the national media after she committed suicide, then dug up her remains and secretly reburied her alone. Why isn’t RFK Jr. being held to account? Which journalist, male or female, will find the courage to confront him? Shouldn’t we, as voters, demand better? Donald Trump’s infamous comment to Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, “Grab ’em by the pussy,” horrifies. So, too, should this ugly, shameful, very-much-with-us Kennedy legacy.

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