AMNA NAWAZ: Two years ago this month, Ethel Kennedy passed away.

The matriarch of the prominent political dynasty, she was a steadfast supporter of her husband Robert F. Kennedy's career and a lifelong advocate for human rights.

ETHEL KENNEDY, Human Rights Advocate: Really, everybody can do it.

There's always something just around the corner that, if you see something wrong, if you speak out, you can change it.

AMNA NAWAZ: She's now being remembered in a new book by her daughter Kerry Kennedy called "Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy."

And Kerry Kennedy joins me now.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Thanks for being here.

KERRY KENNEDY, Author, "Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy": Great to be here.

Thanks.

AMNA NAWAZ: So you described your mother, who you call mom, as fun and funny and fully alive.

How hard was it to try to capture the span of her life in a book?

KERRY KENNEDY: Well, you're right.

There's so many more stories I could have put in this book.

But I really want to capture her, her story, rags to riches.

She started in an Irish slum in Chicago, grew up in this huge mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, Republican, then married my father, and it changed her life, of course.

And they had this amazing romance.

And then she lost him in such a violent way.

And then she became one of the most empowered women in our country, full of determination, and one of our great leaders on civil rights.

AMNA NAWAZ: I mean, after your father's very violent, very public death, to go on and raise 11 kids ultimately in the national spotlight, how did you do it?

And what new did you -- what new things did you learn about her in writing this book?

KERRY KENNEDY: You know, you have to think about that day, because Mommy was -- she had 10 children.

She was pregnant with my little sister Rory, and she was holding my dad's hand.

And she was walking through the back room after -- the back kitchen, after winning the California primary, this great joy.

And this madman came out and shot and killed my father, and shot five other people that night.

So it was the shock of my father's death, but also it's a miracle my mother wasn't killed.

And, after that, holding her husband in her arms as he was saying his last words and bringing them to the hospital, she didn't go under the covers and pull them up.

She went to work.

She had five kids in California at the time.

She organized for us all to get back to Virginia.

She organized for three other children to be -- to come in from the East Coast and say goodbye to their father.

She organized that funeral in New York.

She, who was living for the next, for what was present and for the next generation, she was not going to go into a hole.

AMNA NAWAZ: I mean, Kerry, despite all the loss, your father's assassination, she lost her own parents in a plane crash, two sons she later buried, two of your brothers as well, she always managed to forge on.

You talk about this hope and this resilience.

Where did that come from in her?

KERRY KENNEDY: You know, well, I think there were a couple of things.

I think she had this deep, deep faith, and that kept her going.

She -- first thing in the morning, she said her prayers on her knees.

Before and after breakfast, lunch, and dinner, she said her prayers.

At dinner, we read the Bible out loud.

And, after dinner, we -- I mean, before we went to bed, we said the rosary around our bed.

So, faith.

And she was at mass every single day.

And then she never thought of herself as a victim.

And the difference between a victim and a hero is activism with a loving heart.

So, she was an activist, either on behalf of her kids or on behalf of social justice.

And she was always looking for a way.

AMNA NAWAZ: While I have you, I have to ask you about a couple of other controversies around your family name, one of which is, of course, your late uncle's name, John F. Kennedy, on the Center for Performing Arts here in Washington, D.C.

It's a name that President Trump has been trying to change to add his name to the center.

We know there's court battles back and forth over this right now.

What do you make of that fight?

And why do you think this is so important to this president?

KERRY KENNEDY: Well, it's a mystery to me as to why it's so important to President Trump.

I think that this is a memorial that Congress set up to a slain president.

It would be like Trump putting his name on the Trump Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Trump-Washington Monument, or the Trump-Lincoln Memorial.

It makes no sense.

What I think is really important is that the American people are suffering.

The price of a tank of fuel oil in Maine has gone up 80 percent since the start of the Iran war.

People can't have to choose between feeding their children and buying medication for their elderly.

President Trump, do your job.

Focus on the suffering of the American people.

Focus on stopping this ridiculous war in Iran.

Do not worry about the Kennedy Center.

Leave it alone, and it will be fine.

AMNA NAWAZ: At the same time, so many in your family have run for office, have served in so many different ways, but you and others publicly spoke out against your brother's candidacy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., when he ran for president.

He, of course, endorsed Donald Trump, is now serving in his Cabinet as HHS secretary.

When he was running, you said his candidacy was dangerous.

Do you still hold that same view?

KERRY KENNEDY: Yes.

I mean, I think tens of thousands have died or will die in the United States and millions around the world because of his policies.

We can see that.

I mean, in Philly -- in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago, two adults died because of vaccine skepticism, which he spreads, and two infants died.

Now, those two -- you could say the adults made their own decision, but those infants, the only reason that they passed is because people around them didn't get vaccinated.

Get your vaccines.

Go get your COVID vaccine, get your RSV vaccine, get your flu vaccine.

And, for God's sake, get your measles vaccine.

AMNA NAWAZ: Are you in contact with him about this?

Do you share these views with him privately?

KERRY KENNEDY: Oh, yes, he knows exactly how I feel about them.

AMNA NAWAZ: And what is his response when you have expressed these concerns?

KERRY KENNEDY: He says what he says publicly about them.

He goes on about these quasi-scientific studies that have been debunked by the -- by real scientists.

AMNA NAWAZ: You know, as we mentioned, your mother just passed away two years ago.

She was 96 when she passed, but she was witnessing this new modern political era that we are now in.

What did she make of the way that politics are unfolding in America today?

KERRY KENNEDY: You know, Mommy, she was raised as a Republican.

She married a Democrat, and she was a fierce Democrat.

But she had great, deep loving friendships with George Bush and George Bush Sr.

and Don Rumsfeld, who she played tennis with every morning, and then argued with all day long.

So she was able to hold in her hands that she could have a great relationship, loving relationship with somebody, and disagree with them completely.

I think that's how she approached Bobby.

That's certainly how I approach Bobby.

And I think this is an issue that so many American families are facing right now.

We don't have to hate someone who we would disagree with.

You got to love them.

Find that bond.

Find the dignity in the other, and move ahead with your lives.

AMNA NAWAZ: The book is "Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy."

The author is Kerry Kennedy.

Kerry, thank you so much.

It's been great to speak with you.

KERRY KENNEDY: Thank you.

Thank you.