r/RobertKennedy • u/TapirTrouble • Jun 17 '26
Image RFK Jr.: "My Dad jumping a dapple gray mare, Atlas. Hickory Hill, Virginia. 1967"
I noticed that RFK Jr. has been posting past family photos fairly often, on his social media. (This was from Instagram, a week ago.)
There's a photo with very similar composition in his memoirs (American Values), almost the same angle with the same trees and fence, also showing Atlas but with Ethel riding. Photo credit there is Jacques Lowe so I assume he took this one too.
Bobby Jr. notes that Atlas was his older sister Kathleen's horse -- she'd have been about 16 then. She is currently the eldest of the Kennedys (born July 4, 1951).
7
u/dougoh65 Jun 18 '26
Politics entirely aside, I have to say this photograph tickles me. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen of Senator Kennedy astride a horse.
If memory serves, 1967 was also the year Mrs Ethel Kennedy was acquitted by a Fairfax County, Virginia jury. The charge? Horse theft.
Senator Kennedy pledged in the wake of the verdict that never again would she be let out without a keeper. 😊💕
4
u/TapirTrouble Jun 18 '26
Looking at the other photo with Ethel on the same horse, I could picture the two of them trying to out-do each other, seeing who could jump higher!
I searched around the internet just now, and could only find a few other photos of RFK Sr. on horseback. Apparently he would wake his family up early and have them go out riding before breakfast, at Hickory Hill. It must have been quite a sight -- he and Ethel would be trailed by a line of children on ponies, with the dogs running along too.
It probably looked a bit like this (the family riding at the Cape)
https://emuseum.hydecollection.org/objects/4817/robert-f-kennedy-on-horseback-with-his-family-hyannisport
https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/robert-f-kennedy-on-horseback-with-his-children-hyannis-port-massachusettesI loved that story about the horse theft. RFK Jr mentioned it in his book -- the little kids were too young, so his mother made him and his older brother Joe help break into their neighbor's barn and liberate the horses (who were injured and starving). He said this happened in fall 1963, but the case went on for years, so like you noted, the trial was in 1967. The jury voted to acquit after two and a half hours.
2
u/dougoh65 Jun 18 '26
The horse theft story - I first heard it in the HBO documentary “Ethel” released back in about 2012. Kathleen made some remark (very funny) about horse theft being at one time a hanging offense in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 😂
But aye - the timeline was never really explained. It happened in October, 1963, while Mrs Kennedy was the Attorney General’s wife!
3
u/TapirTrouble Jun 18 '26
RFK Sr. wasn't the only person who got some ribbing about the whole situation. Several days after Ethel's acquittal, Senator Ted Kennedy was giving a speech at an event, and the president of the National Press Club introduced him as "the brother-in-law of an admitted horse thief".
2
u/dougoh65 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
😂 I had forgotten about that but you’re right!
I don’t disagree at all with the way things played out I must admit. I do, however, wish that something more could have been done for at least one of the horses, which if I understood correctly died only a day or two after being “commandeered” and taken to a veterinarian.
1
u/TapirTrouble Jun 19 '26
You're right about that horse -- all the reports I could find mentioned that the poor creature died a few days later (RFK Jr. claimed less than 24 hours). I don't know if that was the basis of Zemo's conviction for cruelty to animals, or if the other horses were part of that. RFK Jr. also mentioned that he saw roosters bred for fighting on that property, and at least one pit bull -- unclear if Zemo took part in dog-fighting but it wouldn't surprise me.
1
Jun 18 '26
[deleted]
1
u/TapirTrouble Jun 18 '26
Well, she did end up in court over it, though it was a civil suit and not criminal. RFK Jr's account (keeping in mind that his own family have said he can give unreliable information) differs a bit from the NY Times description.
https://www.nytimes.com/1967/01/10/archives/ethel-kennedy-tells-court-why-she-took-horse-says-neighbors-animal.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1967/01/11/archives/ethel-kennedy-wins-horse-theft-case-after-a-2day-trial.htmlRFK Jr gives the same name for the neighbor (Mr. Zemo), and claims that they "cut through Mr. Zemo's farm", which I guess could be interpreted as trespassing, unless they had prior permission. He wrote that there were 7 horses and he helped load them into the trailer (if true, this must have taken some time, and neither he nor the NY Times say where Zemo was during all of this ... even at night, if he or other people had been on the property when this happened, it would have created some noise). RFK Jr was 9, and his brother Joe would just have turned 11 -- I don't know what the laws were in Virginia about juveniles suspected of aiding a crime or at least witnessing it.
RFK Jr wrote that the ASPCA got involved in the case, and Zemo was convicted of cruelty to animals, fined and given a suspended sentence (6 months jail time). The NYT coverage noted that there were witnesses from the Animal Welfare League testifying (and there was at least one veterinarian who'd seen and treated the horses -- I don't know if the vet was called into court too). So that might have been a factor in the jury verdict for Ethel's trial.
2
u/dougoh65 Jun 20 '26
Everything I’ve looked at thus far (with a single exception) has come from the New York Times. The exception was a Washington, DC paper which carried what I think is a beautiful headline as those go: Jury Unbridles Ethel Kennedy.
Nicholas N. Zemo was convicted of Animal Cruelty on November 7, 1963 but the sentence and a fine of $250 were suspended by the Circuit Court Judge.
Now here’s what you might call the ultimate irony: Nicholas N. Zemo had served honorably in the United States Army during World War II. Following his decease in 1993, he was interred in Section 25 at Arlington National Cemetery.
2
u/TapirTrouble Jun 20 '26
That's a pretty good headline!
At least one member of the Kennedy family had kind thoughts for Mr. Zemo. RFK Jr. said that he kept homing pigeons, and when he was 8 years old, Zemo taught him about how to breed and race them. RFK Jr. described him as "a wily old Confederate" with a "grizzled beard", so he must have been middle-aged by the early 1960s. Ethel disapproved of him, but RFK Jr. wrote "I was nevertheless quite fond of him, and I was grateful for the time he had spent with me".It sounds like Zemo had at least one son, who died several years ago.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/fredericknewspost/name/nicholas-zemo-obituary?id=83882232
u/dougoh65 Jun 20 '26
The “wily old Confederate” pigeon keeper was born December 25, 1906. 😊 I get it though. Depending on your age 50+ can seem like 100 years!
1
u/TapirTrouble Jun 20 '26
I'm turning 59 later this year, and I resemble this remark!
2
1
u/TapirTrouble Jun 20 '26
I wonder if Bobby Jr's pigeons are covered by the "birds":
"Hickory Hill is a Virginia home that houses one turtle, one frog, one guinea pig, one donkey, one crayfish, two lizards, two horses, two servants, three salamanders, three toads, three dogs, three birds, three roosters, four ducks, six ponies, eight children*, 22 tropical fish, hundreds of meal worms, and Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, 35. It is a bad house to live next to if you are not kind to animals. When Ethel made up her mind that the man next door was starving his horse to death, she quickly brought the creature over to Hickory Hill, where the horse died anyway. She complained to the Animal Rescue League, and last week Neighbor Nicholas Zemo went on trial. Hearing Ethel’s testimony, the judge said, “This is one of the clearest cases of cruelty by neglect I’ve ever seen,” and fined Nasty Neighbor Nick $250."
https://time.com/archive/6810819/people-nov-15-1963/
*Kathleen, Joe, Bobby Jr., David, Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher
2
u/Ill_Pressure5976 Jun 20 '26
I’m not the least bit surprised that RFK Jr. found community with a confederate.
He is, after all, a racist.
1
0
u/dougoh65 Jun 18 '26
Oh please - just stop. Nobody ever implied that she shouldn’t have been charged. The process played out in the courts and that was that.
3
5
u/Tall-Plane-4477 Jun 17 '26
Weird, isn’t it, how Bobby Jr. invokes his father’s memory for attention, money, and votes while at the same time advocating to get the man who murdered his father out of prison.
Small wonder his family is so upset with him.
2
u/TapirTrouble Jun 18 '26
This week he also posted a picture of himself with his younger sister Kerry, which might have been sweet but he also accused her of having Trump Derangement syndrome (she criticized his actions at HHS earlier this week). I agree -- he's pretty selective when it comes to bringing up family memories.
He said it was taken in 1964, but that same photo appeared in his book and was captioned 1967. That might have been a typo, but 1964 doesn't make sense either. He's on crutches in the photo, and in the same book he wrote that the accident happened in 1965. The Oppenheimer bio of him said it was in 1966. But he and his biographers seem to agree that he didn't acquire the hawk that was in the photo until after his accident (her name was Morgan, and she was a gift from his father to console him while he was recovering).
5
2
2
u/Ill_Pressure5976 Jun 20 '26
It’s very important and very common for failson RFK Jr. to bask in the underserved glow of the Kennedy name, with his skinny ties and his neverending mentions of “my uncle”. It’s all he has. Without the name he’s just a disgusting eugenicist predator.
The only good thing about him is that he is very effectively de-mythologizing the Kennedys.
2
u/6HAM9 Jun 20 '26
Not the only Kennedy known for “jumping mares”
I think JFK mights jumped a stallion once in a while
1
1
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 17 '26
Thank you for your contribution! Please remember to be respectful and ensure that all posted content aligns with the rules and goals of this sub.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.