Biden, Obama and Clinton loved handmade cards from Ethel Kennedy
Valentine’s cards from a Kennedy have been making the news after US president Joe Biden and his predecessors Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were revealed as among the recipients.
After the death a few days ago of John F. Kennedy’s sister-in-law Ethel, widow of his brother Robert, Bill revealed at the funeral that he’d received a handmade Valentine’s card from her.
Showing the two of them playing saxophones in blazers and bowties, while Ethel sported a cool pair of dark shades, the handwritten card read: “One day we’ll make music, cuz you know how I feel; But right now, Valentine – This guy blows my mind with his sex appeal.”
Ethel, who was with Robert when he was assassinated in 1968 five years after JFK suffered the same fate, became a human rights activist, but it was her penchant for sending flirty Valentines to the nation’s most important politicians that came through after her death aged 96, on 10 October.
Another of the cards from Ethel featured a photo of her and President Biden surrounded by hearts, with the partly-handwritten message “I’m not Biden my time waiting for you, Valentine cuz he’s no ordinary Joe”, and she signed it off with the phrase “bear hugs”.
The card starts the social media post from the president’s office, which can be seen below, from his eulogy at the funeral on 16 October, where he recalled receiving letters from Ethel, whom he called a “hero in her own right”, after his inauguration in 2021 as well as the Valentine’s card that same year.
He said: “I’ve received a lot of honours in my life but that might be the best one I’ve ever received.”
And Bill Clinton also spoke, telling Ethel’s family, including daughter Kerry who shared pictures of her mum’s designs on social media: ‘I thought your mother was the cat’s meow. She would flirt with me in the most innocent ways.”
Barack, who had been presented with a photo of Ethel receiving an award from Obama himself, with a thought bubble from his head that read: “I thought they said Merman,” recalled her as a “small woman with this huge smile and these twinkling eyes” and she told him: “You know you’re going places. Just make sure you enjoy the ride.”
In her social media post, Kerry Kennedy said: “Some of Mummy’s favourite Valentine’s cards! Heartwarming to hear that President Biden, President Obama, President Clinton and Speaker Pelosi loved them as much as we did!”
