Victoria Reggie Kennedy
Reggie’s immediate family was wealthy because of money from her mother’s family’s interest in the Bunny Bread baking concern in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised in a family that was constantly involved in politics and campaigns. At the 1956 Democratic National Convention, her father helped deliver his state for John F. Kennedy’s unsuccessful bid for the vice-presidential nomination. Over time, John Kennedy developed a close social relationship with the family. Her mother cast the only Louisiana delegate vote for Ted Kennedy at the 1980 Democratic National Convention
Vicki was a summer intern in his Senate office’s mailroom the year following her college graduation. They began dating after meeting again in June 1991 at a party celebrating her parents’ 40th wedding anniversary.
She is president and co-founder of Common Sense about Kids and Guns, an advocacy group begun in 1999 which seeks to reduce gun deaths and injuries to children in the U.S. She is a member of the board of trustees of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and has served on the board of Stop Handgun Violence in Boston. She is a board member of Catholic Democrats and authored the preface for their 2009 book, The Catholic Case for Obama
The already frayed relationship between Vicki Kennedy and her late husband’s children is at the breaking point, with the two sons growing increasingly convinced that she is jeopardizing the senator’s legacy and mishandling the creation of the $71 million institute that bears his name.
Much of the conflict centers around the construction and governance of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate, a project that faces potential cost overruns, according to a close family friend who was authorized by some family members to speak on their behalf, but who declined to be named.
Edward M. Kennedy Jr. and Patrick Kennedy, the senator’s children, believe their father’s widow is badly bungling the efforts to create what their father had hoped would be a monument to his storied career in the US Senate, said the friend, whose account was confirmed by another close family associate.
They believe she is depending too much on a small clique of the senator’s friends and supporters, a group that lacks any figures with national stature, prominent Republicans, or even a US senator.
They are also upset that the institute’s board has yet to fulfill their request for a full financial accounting of the ongoing construction project and for strategic planning documents detailing how they plan to operate the institute.
“The children feel totally left out,’’ said the family friend authorized to speak to the Globe. “Vicki totally controls the board.’’