CBS News published an excerpt from Kerry Kennedy’s memoir about Ethel Kennedy on October 8, 2026, ahead of HarperOne’s Oct. 13 publication date. The excerpt looks back on the years before and after Robert F. Kennedy’s death and places Ethel Kennedy at the center of the family’s grief.
Kerry Kennedy writes in The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy about the example her mother set after Robert F. Kennedy was killed by an assassin’s bullet in June 1968. She describes Ethel Kennedy’s faith as a source of strength during the days that followed, writing: “Her faith kept her going. It lifted us all through those awful days.”
St. Patrick's Cathedral service
The memoir excerpt describes the night before the funeral, when Ethel Kennedy and the children attended a special service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Kerry Kennedy says the line outside the cathedral was a mile long, and that 100,000 mourners passed by Robert F. Kennedy’s coffin.
At the service, Andy Williams sang Ave Maria a cappella. Kerry Kennedy also recalls the family members around her, including Joe, Kick, and Rose, as she wrote about the scale of the public mourning and the private loss inside the family.
Funeral train to Washington, D.C.
After the cathedral service, a funeral train carried Robert F. Kennedy from New York to Washington, D.C. for burial. Kerry Kennedy wrote that 21 rail cars carried hundreds of friends and family members, giving her a close view of the ride and the people packed around the coffin.
She wrote, “I thought this must be what Heaven is like—all our friends, all together, all at once.” In another line from the excerpt, she added: “In the midst of horror, there was such love and intimacy.”
Rita Braver on October 11
Rita Braver is scheduled to speak with Kerry Kennedy on CBS Sunday Morning on October 11, before the book reaches readers on Oct. 13. The excerpt gives the memoir a timed public preview and ties the release to the family account Kerry Kennedy is bringing forward now.
The piece leaves readers with a simple next step: the full memoir arrives on Oct. 13, and the question is how much more Kerry Kennedy adds beyond the family history already known from Robert F. Kennedy’s death, the cathedral service, and the funeral train.
