I’m going to assume that unless you were alive during the Cuban Missile Crisis it would be almost impossible to imagine the immensity of the fear that hung over the world during that time like a dark cloud. I missed it by thirteen years, but I’ve often talked to my grandmother about those infamous 13 days in October 1962 that nearly saw the United States and Russia bring an end to civilization. One woman who was all too close to the White House at that time was Ethel Kennedy, the widow of JFK’s brother Robert Kennedy. Through all these decades since her husband Robert’s assassination in 1968, you could probably count on a few fingers the number of interviews she has given. Thankfully, her daughter Rory (one of the eleven children in the family) managed to convince her to take part in an HBO documentary about her life. Rory Kennedy has described her mother’s life as “one of the great untold stories”, and the interviews were conducted over a 5-day span, which also includes interviews with Ethel’s siblings. Entitled ETHEL, the documentary is set to air on HBO tomorrow night, and in this recent interview with Brian Williams, we get a small glimpse of Ethel who shares the extraordinary story of what happened one night inside her and Bobby’s home during the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s enough to give you goosebumps.
