Rosemary Kennedy: Difference between revisions

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	Accounts of Rosemary's life indicated that she had an intellectual disability,<ref name=untold>{{cite magazine\|url=https://people.com/politics/untold-story-of-rosemary-kennedy-and-her-disastrous-lobotomy/\|title=The Untold Story of JFK's Sister, Rosemary Kennedy, and Her Disastrous Lobotomy\|date=September 6, 2018\|magazine=People\|first=Liz\|last=McNeil}}</ref><ref name=nyt.gordon /> although some have raised questions about the Kennedys' accounts of the nature and scope of her disability.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite web\|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-exiled-kennedy-486688.html\|title=The exiled Kennedy\|date=January 15, 2005\|website=The Independent}}</ref> A biographer wrote that Rose Kennedy did not confide in her friends and that she pretended her daughter was developing typically, with relatives other than the immediate family knowing nothing of Rosemary's disability.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 166}}</ref><ref name=library>{{cite web\|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/rosemary-kennedy\|title=Rosemary Kennedy\|work=JFK Library\|access-date=September 6, 2015}}</ref> Despite the help of tutors, Rosemary had trouble learning to read and write. At age 11, she was sent to a Pennsylvania boarding school for people with intellectual disabilities.<ref name=nyt.gordon />		Accounts of Rosemary's life indicated that she had an intellectual disability,<ref name=untold>{{cite magazine\|url=https://people.com/politics/untold-story-of-rosemary-kennedy-and-her-disastrous-lobotomy/\|title=The Untold Story of JFK's Sister, Rosemary Kennedy, and Her Disastrous Lobotomy\|date=September 6, 2018\|magazine=People\|first=Liz\|last=McNeil}}</ref><ref name=nyt.gordon /> although some have raised questions about the Kennedys' accounts of the nature and scope of her disability.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite web\|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-exiled-kennedy-486688.html\|title=The exiled Kennedy\|date=January 15, 2005\|website=The Independent}}</ref> A biographer wrote that Rose Kennedy did not confide in her friends and that she pretended her daughter was developing typically, with relatives other than the immediate family knowing nothing of Rosemary's disability.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 166}}</ref><ref name=library>{{cite web\|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/rosemary-kennedy\|title=Rosemary Kennedy\|work=JFK Library\|access-date=September 6, 2015}}</ref> Despite the help of tutors, Rosemary had trouble learning to read and write. At age 11, she was sent to a Pennsylvania boarding school for people with intellectual disabilities.<ref name=nyt.gordon />

	At age 15, Rosemary was sent to the Sacred Heart Convent in ], where she was educated separately from the other students. Two nuns and a special teacher, Miss Newton, worked with her all day in a separate classroom. The Kennedys gave the school a new tennis court for their efforts. Her reading, writing, spelling, and counting skills were reported to be at a fourth-grade level (ages 9-10). During this period, her mother arranged for her older brother ] to accompany her to a ]. Thanks to him, she appeared "not different at all" during the dance.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| pp= 203-204}}</ref>		At age 16, Rosemary was sent to the Sacred Heart Convent in ], where she was educated separately from the other students. Two nuns and a special teacher, Miss Newton, worked with her all day in a separate classroom. The Kennedys gave the school a new tennis court for their efforts. Her reading, writing, spelling, and counting skills were reported to be at a fourth-grade level (ages 9-10). During this period, her mother arranged for her older brother ] to accompany her to a ]. Thanks to him, she appeared "not different at all" during the dance.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| pp= 203-204}}</ref>

	Rosemary read few books but could read '']''.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p=304}}</ref> Diaries written by her in the late 1930s, and published in the 1980s, reveal a young woman whose life was filled with outings to the opera, tea dances, dress fittings, and other social interests.<ref>Gibson, ''Rose Kennedy and Her Family'', includes {{webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050130234921/http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-95/07-19-95/0719kennedydiaries.HTML \|date=January 30, 2005 }} from 1936–1938.</ref> Kennedy accompanied her family to the coronation of ] in Rome in 1939. She also visited the ].<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> Kennedy's parents told '']'' that she was "studying to be a kindergarten teacher," and '']'' was told that while she had "an interest in social welfare work, she is said to harbor a secret longing to go on the stage." When '']'' requested an interview with Rosemary, her father's assistant prepared a response which Rosemary copied out laboriously:		Rosemary read few books but could read '']''.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p=304}}</ref> Diaries written by her in the late 1930s, and published in the 1980s, reveal a young woman whose life was filled with outings to the opera, tea dances, dress fittings, and other social interests.<ref>Gibson, ''Rose Kennedy and Her Family'', includes {{webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050130234921/http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-95/07-19-95/0719kennedydiaries.HTML \|date=January 30, 2005 }} from 1936–1938.</ref> Kennedy accompanied her family to the coronation of ] in Rome in 1939. She also visited the ].<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> Kennedy's parents told '']'' that she was "studying to be a kindergarten teacher," and '']'' was told that while she had "an interest in social welfare work, she is said to harbor a secret longing to go on the stage." When '']'' requested an interview with Rosemary, her father's assistant prepared a response which Rosemary copied out laboriously:
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	===Aftermath===		===Aftermath===
	After the ~~lobotomy~~, Rosemary was immediately institutionalized. She initially lived for several years at Craig House, a private psychiatric hospital 90 minutes north of New York City.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 322}}</ref> In 1949, she was relocated to ], where she lived for the rest of her life on the grounds of the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children (formerly known as "St. Coletta Institute for Backward Youth").<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 412}}, and caption to photo of the house facing p. 650.</ref> Archbishop ] had told her father about St. Coletta's, an institution for more than 300 people with disabilities, and her father traveled to and built a private house for her about a mile outside St. Coletta's main campus near Alverno House, which was designed for adults who needed lifelong care.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 412}}</ref> The nuns called the house "the Kennedy cottage".<ref name=Leamer680>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| pp= 412, 680}}</ref> Two Catholic nuns, Sister Margaret Ann and Sister Leona, provided her care along with a student and a woman who worked on ceramics with Rosemary three nights a week.<ref name=Leamer760>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 760}}</ref> Rosemary had a car that could be used to take her for rides and a dog which she could take on walks.<ref name=Leamer680 />		After the liposuction, Rosemary was immediately institutionalized. She initially lived for several years at Craig House, a private psychiatric hospital 90 minutes north of New York City.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 322}}</ref> In 1949, she was relocated to ], where she lived for the rest of her life on the grounds of the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children (formerly known as "St. Coletta Institute for Backward Youth").<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 412}}, and caption to photo of the house facing p. 650.</ref> Archbishop ] had told her father about St. Coletta's, an institution for more than 300 people with disabilities, and her father traveled to and built a private house for her about a mile outside St. Coletta's main campus near Alverno House, which was designed for adults who needed lifelong care.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 412}}</ref> The nuns called the house "the Kennedy cottage".<ref name=Leamer680>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| pp= 412, 680}}</ref> Two Catholic nuns, Sister Margaret Ann and Sister Leona, provided her care along with a student and a woman who worked on ceramics with Rosemary three nights a week.<ref name=Leamer760>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 760}}</ref> Rosemary had a car that could be used to take her for rides and a dog which she could take on walks.<ref name=Leamer680 />

	In response to her condition, Rosemary's parents separated her from her family. Rose Kennedy did not visit her for 20 years.<ref name=independent/> Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. did not visit his daughter at the institution at all.<ref>{{cite book \|first1=Peter \|last1=Collier \|author-link=Peter Collier (political author) \|first2=David \|last2=Horowitz \|author2-link=David Horowitz \|year=1984 \|title=The Kennedys \|publisher=Summit Books \|isbn=978-0-671-44793-9 \|page= \|url=https://archive.org/details/kennedysamerica00coll/page/116 }}</ref> In ''Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter,'' author ] stated that Rosemary's lobotomy was hidden from the family for 20 years; none of her siblings knew of her whereabouts.<ref name="people.com">{{cite magazine\|url=https://people.com/books/why-rosemary-kennedys-siblings-didnt-see-her-after-her-lobotomy/\|title=Why Rosemary Kennedy's Siblings Didn't See Her for 20 Years After Her Lobotomy\|magazine=People\|first=Liz\|last=McNeil\|date=September 3, 2015}}</ref> While her older brother John was campaigning for re-election for the Senate in 1958, the Kennedy family explained away her absence by claiming she was reclusive. The Kennedy family did not publicly explain her absence until 1961, after John had been elected president. The Kennedys did not reveal that she was institutionalized because of a failed lobotomy, but instead said that she was deemed "mentally retarded".<ref name=independent/><ref>{{harvnb\|Kessler\| 1996\| p= 233}}</ref> In 1961, after Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had a ] that left him unable to speak and walk, Rosemary's siblings were made aware of her location.<ref name="people.com"/> Her lobotomy did not become public knowledge until 1987.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/sad-dreadful-life-Rosemary-Kennedy-revealed.html\|title=Remembering the sad and dreadful life of Rosemary Kennedy\|date=January 7, 2019\|website=IrishCentral.com}}</ref>		In response to her condition, Rosemary's parents separated her from her family. Rose Kennedy did not visit her for 20 years.<ref name=independent/> Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. did not visit his daughter at the institution at all.<ref>{{cite book \|first1=Peter \|last1=Collier \|author-link=Peter Collier (political author) \|first2=David \|last2=Horowitz \|author2-link=David Horowitz \|year=1984 \|title=The Kennedys \|publisher=Summit Books \|isbn=978-0-671-44793-9 \|page= \|url=https://archive.org/details/kennedysamerica00coll/page/116 }}</ref> In ''Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter,'' author ] stated that Rosemary's lobotomy was hidden from the family for 20 years; none of her siblings knew of her whereabouts.<ref name="people.com">{{cite magazine\|url=https://people.com/books/why-rosemary-kennedys-siblings-didnt-see-her-after-her-lobotomy/\|title=Why Rosemary Kennedy's Siblings Didn't See Her for 20 Years After Her Lobotomy\|magazine=People\|first=Liz\|last=McNeil\|date=September 3, 2015}}</ref> While her older brother John was campaigning for re-election for the Senate in 1958, the Kennedy family explained away her absence by claiming she was reclusive. The Kennedy family did not publicly explain her absence until 1961, after John had been elected president. The Kennedys did not reveal that she was institutionalized because of a failed lobotomy, but instead said that she was deemed "mentally retarded".<ref name=independent/><ref>{{harvnb\|Kessler\| 1996\| p= 233}}</ref> In 1961, after Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had a ] that left him unable to speak and walk, Rosemary's siblings were made aware of her location.<ref name="people.com"/> Her lobotomy did not become public knowledge until 1987.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/sad-dreadful-life-Rosemary-Kennedy-revealed.html\|title=Remembering the sad and dreadful life of Rosemary Kennedy\|date=January 7, 2019\|website=IrishCentral.com}}</ref>

Revision as of 06:45, 19 November 2023

Sister of John F. Kennedy (1918–2005) For her mother, see Rose Kennedy.

Rosemary Kennedy
Rosemary Kennedy in 1938, ready to be presented at Buckingham Palace
Born	Rose Marie Kennedy (1918-09-13)September 13, 1918 Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	January 7, 2005(2005-01-07) (aged 86) Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting place	Holyhood Cemetery Brookline, Massachusetts
Education	Convent of the Sacred Heart
Parent(s)	Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
Family	Kennedy

Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy (September 13, 1918 – January 7, 2005) was the eldest daughter born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She was a sister of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. and Ted Kennedy.

In her early young adult years, Rosemary Kennedy experienced seizures and violent mood swings. In response to these issues, her father arranged a prefrontal lobotomy for her in 1941 when she was 23 years of age; the procedure left her permanently incapacitated and rendered her unable to speak intelligibly.

Rosemary Kennedy spent most of the rest of her life being cared for at St. Coletta, an institution in Jefferson, Wisconsin. The truth about her situation and whereabouts was kept secret for decades. While she was initially isolated from her siblings and extended family following her lobotomy, Rosemary did go on to visit them during her later life.

Family and early life

The Kennedy family at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in 1931 with Rosemary on the far right

Rose Marie Kennedy was born at her parents' home in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. She was named after her mother and was commonly called Rosemary or Rosie. During her birth, the doctor was not immediately available because of an outbreak of the Spanish influenza epidemic and the nurse ordered Rose Kennedy to keep her legs closed, forcing the baby's head to stay in the birth canal for two hours. The action resulted in a harmful loss of oxygen. As Rosemary began to grow, her parents noticed she was not reaching the basic developmental steps a human normally reaches at a certain month or year. At two years old, she had a hard time sitting up, crawling, and learning to walk.

Accounts of Rosemary's life indicated that she had an intellectual disability, although some have raised questions about the Kennedys' accounts of the nature and scope of her disability. A biographer wrote that Rose Kennedy did not confide in her friends and that she pretended her daughter was developing typically, with relatives other than the immediate family knowing nothing of Rosemary's disability. Despite the help of tutors, Rosemary had trouble learning to read and write. At age 11, she was sent to a Pennsylvania boarding school for people with intellectual disabilities.

At age 16, Rosemary was sent to the Sacred Heart Convent in Elmhurst, Providence, Rhode Island, where she was educated separately from the other students. Two nuns and a special teacher, Miss Newton, worked with her all day in a separate classroom. The Kennedys gave the school a new tennis court for their efforts. Her reading, writing, spelling, and counting skills were reported to be at a fourth-grade level (ages 9-10). During this period, her mother arranged for her older brother John to accompany her to a tea dance. Thanks to him, she appeared "not different at all" during the dance.

Rosemary read few books but could read Winnie-the-Pooh. Diaries written by her in the late 1930s, and published in the 1980s, reveal a young woman whose life was filled with outings to the opera, tea dances, dress fittings, and other social interests. Kennedy accompanied her family to the coronation of Pope Pius XII in Rome in 1939. She also visited the White House. Kennedy's parents told Woman's Day that she was "studying to be a kindergarten teacher," and Parents was told that while she had "an interest in social welfare work, she is said to harbor a secret longing to go on the stage." When The Boston Globe requested an interview with Rosemary, her father's assistant prepared a response which Rosemary copied out laboriously:

I have always had serious tastes and understand life is not given us just for enjoyment. For some time past, I have been studying the well known psychological method of Dr. Maria Montessori and I got my degree in teaching last year.

In 1938, Kennedy was presented as a debutante to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace during her father's service as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Kennedy practiced the complicated royal curtsy for hours. At the event, she tripped and nearly fell. Rose Kennedy never discussed the incident and treated the debut as a triumph. The crowd made no sign, and the King and the Queen smiled as if nothing had happened.

Lobotomy

According to Rosemary's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, when Rosemary returned to the United States from the United Kingdom in 1940, she became "'increasingly irritable and difficult'" at the age of 22. Rosemary would often experience convulsions and fly into violent rages in which she would hit and injure others during this period. After being expelled from a summer camp in western Massachusetts and staying only a few months at a Philadelphia boarding school, Rosemary was sent to a convent school in Washington, D.C. Rosemary began sneaking out of the convent school at night. The nuns at the convent thought that Rosemary might be involved with sexual partners, and that she could contract a sexually transmitted disease or become pregnant. Her occasionally erratic behavior frustrated her parents; her father was especially worried that Rosemary's behavior would shame and embarrass the family and damage his and his children's political careers.

When Rosemary was 23 years old, doctors told her father that a form of psychosurgery known as a lobotomy would help calm her mood swings and stop her occasional violent outbursts. Joseph Kennedy decided that Rosemary should have a lobotomy; however, he did not inform his wife of this decision until after the procedure was completed. The procedure took place in November 1941. In Ronald Kessler's 1996 biography of Joseph Kennedy, Sins of the Father, James W. Watts, who carried out the procedure with Walter Freeman (both of George Washington University School of Medicine), described the procedure to Kessler as follows:

After Rosemary was mildly sedated, "We went through the top of the head," Dr. Watts recalled. "I think she was awake. She had a mild tranquilizer. I made a surgical incision in the brain through the skull. It was near the front. It was on both sides. We just made a small incision, no more than an inch." The instrument Dr. Watts used looked like a butter knife. He swung it up and down to cut brain tissue. "We put an instrument inside", he said. As Dr. Watts cut, Dr. Freeman asked Rosemary some questions. For example, he asked her to recite the Lord's Prayer or sing "God Bless America" or count backward... "We made an estimate on how far to cut based on how she responded." When Rosemary began to become incoherent, they stopped.

Watts told Kessler that in his opinion, Rosemary did not have "mental retardation" but rather had a form of depression. A review of all of the papers written by the two doctors confirmed Watts' declaration. All of the patients the two doctors lobotomized were diagnosed as having some form of mental disorder. Bertram S. Brown, director of the National Institute of Mental Health who was previously an aide to President Kennedy, told Kessler that Joe Kennedy referred to his daughter Rosemary as mentally retarded rather than mentally ill in order to protect John's reputation for a presidential run, and that the family's "lack of support for mental illness is part of a lifelong family denial of what was really so".

It quickly became apparent that the procedure had caused immense harm. Kennedy's mental capacity diminished to that of a two-year-old child. She could not walk or speak intelligibly and was incontinent.

Aftermath

After the liposuction, Rosemary was immediately institutionalized. She initially lived for several years at Craig House, a private psychiatric hospital 90 minutes north of New York City. In 1949, she was relocated to Jefferson, Wisconsin, where she lived for the rest of her life on the grounds of the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children (formerly known as "St. Coletta Institute for Backward Youth"). Archbishop Richard Cushing had told her father about St. Coletta's, an institution for more than 300 people with disabilities, and her father traveled to and built a private house for her about a mile outside St. Coletta's main campus near Alverno House, which was designed for adults who needed lifelong care. The nuns called the house "the Kennedy cottage". Two Catholic nuns, Sister Margaret Ann and Sister Leona, provided her care along with a student and a woman who worked on ceramics with Rosemary three nights a week. Rosemary had a car that could be used to take her for rides and a dog which she could take on walks.

In response to her condition, Rosemary's parents separated her from her family. Rose Kennedy did not visit her for 20 years. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. did not visit his daughter at the institution at all. In Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter, author Kate Clifford Larson stated that Rosemary's lobotomy was hidden from the family for 20 years; none of her siblings knew of her whereabouts. While her older brother John was campaigning for re-election for the Senate in 1958, the Kennedy family explained away her absence by claiming she was reclusive. The Kennedy family did not publicly explain her absence until 1961, after John had been elected president. The Kennedys did not reveal that she was institutionalized because of a failed lobotomy, but instead said that she was deemed "mentally retarded". In 1961, after Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had a stroke that left him unable to speak and walk, Rosemary's siblings were made aware of her location. Her lobotomy did not become public knowledge until 1987.

Later life

Following her father's death in 1969, the Kennedys gradually involved Rosemary in family life again. Rosemary was occasionally taken to visit relatives in Florida and Washington, D.C., and to her childhood home on Cape Cod. By that time, Rosemary had learned to walk again, but did so with a limp. She never regained the ability to speak clearly, and her arm was palsied. Her condition is sometimes credited as the inspiration for Eunice Kennedy Shriver to later found the Special Olympics, although Shriver told The New York Times in 1995 that Rosemary was just one of the disabled people she would have over to her house to swim, and that the games should not focus on any single individual.

Rosemary Kennedy died from natural causes on January 7, 2005, aged 86, at the Fort Atkinson Memorial Hospital in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, with her siblings (sisters Jean, Eunice, and Patricia and brother Ted) by her side. She was buried beside her parents in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.

References

Leamer 1994, p. 137
^ Gordon, Meryl (October 6, 2015). "'Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter,' by Kate Clifford Larson". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Washington College - Campus Events (April 11, 2016), Rosemary, The Hidden Kennedy Daughter, retrieved September 4, 2017
^ McNeil, Liz (September 6, 2018). "The Untold Story of JFK's Sister, Rosemary Kennedy, and Her Disastrous Lobotomy". People.
^ "The exiled Kennedy". The Independent. January 15, 2005.
Leamer 1994, p. 166
^ "Rosemary Kennedy". JFK Library. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
Leamer 1994, pp. 203–204
Leamer 1994, p. 304
Gibson, Rose Kennedy and Her Family, includes Rosemary's diaries Archived January 30, 2005, at the Wayback Machine from 1936–1938.
Leamer 1994, p. 271
"JFK house celebrates Rosemary Kennedy's 100th birthday". WHDH. September 9, 2018.
Leamer 1994, pp. 251–56
Nicholas, Elizabeth (October 5, 2015). "Rosemary Kennedy and the Legacy of Mental Illness". Vice.
Leamer, Laurence, The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family, referenced in Associated Press article, Retarded Kennedy Sister Dies at 86, (Saturday, January 8, 2005
O'Brien, Gerald (July 2004). "Rosemary Kennedy: The Importance of a Historical Footnote". Journal of Family History. 29 (3): 225–236. doi:10.1177/0363199004266849. PMID 15307263. S2CID 145441644.
^ El-Hai, Jack (January 15, 2005). "The Exiled Kennedy". The Independent.
Jennie Weiss Block (2002). Copious hosting: A theology of access for people with disabilities. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 56. ISBN 9780826413499.
"Rosemary Kennedy: The Truth About Her Lobotomy". People. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
Morris, Sylvia Jukes, "The Saddest Story Ever Told", The Wall Street Journal, October 2, 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
"Unseen Letters from JFK's Sister Rosemary, Who Underwent a Lobotomy, Reveal Depth of Her 'Loss'". People. September 13, 2018.
Kessler 1996, p. 243
Kessler 1996, p. 244
Kessler 1996, pp. 252–253
Henley, Jon (August 12, 2009). "The Forgotten Kennedy". The Guardian.
Leamer 1994, p. 322
Leamer 1994, p. 412, and caption to photo of the house facing p. 650.
Leamer 1994, p. 412
^ Leamer 1994, pp. 412, 680
Leamer 1994, p. 760
Collier, Peter; Horowitz, David (1984). The Kennedys. Summit Books. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-671-44793-9.
^ McNeil, Liz (September 3, 2015). "Why Rosemary Kennedy's Siblings Didn't See Her for 20 Years After Her Lobotomy". People.
Kessler 1996, p. 233
"Remembering the sad and dreadful life of Rosemary Kennedy". IrishCentral.com. January 7, 2019.
Johnson, Kirk (June 23, 1995). "Reaching the Retarded: An Old Kennedy Mission". The New York Times. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
"Sister of President John F Kennedy dies". The Daily Telegraph. January 8, 2005. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
^ Cornwell, Rupert (January 10, 2005). "Obituaries: Rosemary Kennedy". The Independent. Archived from the original on March 24, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
Weil, Martin (January 8, 2005). "Rosemary Kennedy, 86; President's Disabled Sister (washingtonpost.com)". The Washington Post. p. B06. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
Katz, Alex; Andersen, Travis (September 22, 2011). "Friends, family bid farewell to Kennedy in D.C., Brookline". Boston.com – via The Boston Globe.
Yadira Chavez (December 6, 2018). "Rosemary Kennedy: A Life Stolen By Mental Illness And Her Family". St. Mary's University History Media Project. Retrieved March 6, 2019.

External links

Rosemary Kennedy at IMDb
"Rosemary Kennedy, JFK's sister, dies at 86 – Born Mentally Disabled, She Was Inspiration for Special Olympics" obituary by The Associated Press at MSNBC, January 8, 2005

Kennedy family

P. J. Kennedy (1858–1929)	Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (m.) Rose Fitzgerald

II.

Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969)	Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. John F. Kennedy (m.) Jacqueline Bouvier Rosemary Kennedy Kathleen Kennedy (m.) William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington Eunice Kennedy (m.) Sargent Shriver Patricia Kennedy (m./div.) Peter Lawford Robert F. Kennedy (m.) Ethel Skakel Jean Kennedy (m.) Stephen Edward Smith Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy (m./div. 1st) Joan Bennett; (m. 2nd) Victoria Reggie

III.

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963)	Caroline Kennedy (m.) Edwin Schlossberg John F. Kennedy Jr. (m.) Carolyn Bessette Patrick Bouvier Kennedy
Eunice Kennedy Shriver (1921–2009)	Bobby Shriver Maria Shriver (m./div.) Arnold Schwarzenegger Timothy Shriver Mark Shriver Anthony Shriver
Patricia Kennedy Lawford (1924–2006)	Christopher Lawford
Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968)	Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Joseph P. Kennedy II Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (m./sep.) Mary Richardson (m. 3rd) Cheryl Hines Michael LeMoyne Kennedy Kerry Kennedy (m./div.) Andrew Cuomo Christopher G. Kennedy Max Kennedy Douglas Harriman Kennedy Rory Kennedy (m.) Mark Bailey
Jean Kennedy Smith (1928–2020)	William Kennedy Smith
Ted Kennedy (1932–2009)	Kara Kennedy Edward M. Kennedy Jr. Patrick J. Kennedy (m.) Amy Savell

IV.

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	Accounts of Rosemary's life indicated that she had an intellectual disability,<ref name=untold>{{cite magazine\|url=https://people.com/politics/untold-story-of-rosemary-kennedy-and-her-disastrous-lobotomy/\|title=The Untold Story of JFK's Sister, Rosemary Kennedy, and Her Disastrous Lobotomy\|date=September 6, 2018\|magazine=People\|first=Liz\|last=McNeil}}</ref><ref name=nyt.gordon /> although some have raised questions about the Kennedys' accounts of the nature and scope of her disability.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite web\|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-exiled-kennedy-486688.html\|title=The exiled Kennedy\|date=January 15, 2005\|website=The Independent}}</ref> A biographer wrote that Rose Kennedy did not confide in her friends and that she pretended her daughter was developing typically, with relatives other than the immediate family knowing nothing of Rosemary's disability.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 166}}</ref><ref name=library>{{cite web\|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/rosemary-kennedy\|title=Rosemary Kennedy\|work=JFK Library\|access-date=September 6, 2015}}</ref> Despite the help of tutors, Rosemary had trouble learning to read and write. At age 11, she was sent to a Pennsylvania boarding school for people with intellectual disabilities.<ref name=nyt.gordon />		Accounts of Rosemary's life indicated that she had an intellectual disability,<ref name=untold>{{cite magazine\|url=https://people.com/politics/untold-story-of-rosemary-kennedy-and-her-disastrous-lobotomy/\|title=The Untold Story of JFK's Sister, Rosemary Kennedy, and Her Disastrous Lobotomy\|date=September 6, 2018\|magazine=People\|first=Liz\|last=McNeil}}</ref><ref name=nyt.gordon /> although some have raised questions about the Kennedys' accounts of the nature and scope of her disability.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite web\|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-exiled-kennedy-486688.html\|title=The exiled Kennedy\|date=January 15, 2005\|website=The Independent}}</ref> A biographer wrote that Rose Kennedy did not confide in her friends and that she pretended her daughter was developing typically, with relatives other than the immediate family knowing nothing of Rosemary's disability.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 166}}</ref><ref name=library>{{cite web\|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/rosemary-kennedy\|title=Rosemary Kennedy\|work=JFK Library\|access-date=September 6, 2015}}</ref> Despite the help of tutors, Rosemary had trouble learning to read and write. At age 11, she was sent to a Pennsylvania boarding school for people with intellectual disabilities.<ref name=nyt.gordon />

	At age 15, Rosemary was sent to the Sacred Heart Convent in ], where she was educated separately from the other students. Two nuns and a special teacher, Miss Newton, worked with her all day in a separate classroom. The Kennedys gave the school a new tennis court for their efforts. Her reading, writing, spelling, and counting skills were reported to be at a fourth-grade level (ages 9-10). During this period, her mother arranged for her older brother ] to accompany her to a ]. Thanks to him, she appeared "not different at all" during the dance.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| pp= 203-204}}</ref>		At age 16, Rosemary was sent to the Sacred Heart Convent in ], where she was educated separately from the other students. Two nuns and a special teacher, Miss Newton, worked with her all day in a separate classroom. The Kennedys gave the school a new tennis court for their efforts. Her reading, writing, spelling, and counting skills were reported to be at a fourth-grade level (ages 9-10). During this period, her mother arranged for her older brother ] to accompany her to a ]. Thanks to him, she appeared "not different at all" during the dance.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| pp= 203-204}}</ref>

	Rosemary read few books but could read '']''.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p=304}}</ref> Diaries written by her in the late 1930s, and published in the 1980s, reveal a young woman whose life was filled with outings to the opera, tea dances, dress fittings, and other social interests.<ref>Gibson, ''Rose Kennedy and Her Family'', includes {{webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050130234921/http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-95/07-19-95/0719kennedydiaries.HTML \|date=January 30, 2005 }} from 1936–1938.</ref> Kennedy accompanied her family to the coronation of ] in Rome in 1939. She also visited the ].<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> Kennedy's parents told '']'' that she was "studying to be a kindergarten teacher," and '']'' was told that while she had "an interest in social welfare work, she is said to harbor a secret longing to go on the stage." When '']'' requested an interview with Rosemary, her father's assistant prepared a response which Rosemary copied out laboriously:		Rosemary read few books but could read '']''.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p=304}}</ref> Diaries written by her in the late 1930s, and published in the 1980s, reveal a young woman whose life was filled with outings to the opera, tea dances, dress fittings, and other social interests.<ref>Gibson, ''Rose Kennedy and Her Family'', includes {{webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050130234921/http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-95/07-19-95/0719kennedydiaries.HTML \|date=January 30, 2005 }} from 1936–1938.</ref> Kennedy accompanied her family to the coronation of ] in Rome in 1939. She also visited the ].<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> Kennedy's parents told '']'' that she was "studying to be a kindergarten teacher," and '']'' was told that while she had "an interest in social welfare work, she is said to harbor a secret longing to go on the stage." When '']'' requested an interview with Rosemary, her father's assistant prepared a response which Rosemary copied out laboriously:
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	===Aftermath===		===Aftermath===
	After the ~~lobotomy~~, Rosemary was immediately institutionalized. She initially lived for several years at Craig House, a private psychiatric hospital 90 minutes north of New York City.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 322}}</ref> In 1949, she was relocated to ], where she lived for the rest of her life on the grounds of the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children (formerly known as "St. Coletta Institute for Backward Youth").<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 412}}, and caption to photo of the house facing p. 650.</ref> Archbishop ] had told her father about St. Coletta's, an institution for more than 300 people with disabilities, and her father traveled to and built a private house for her about a mile outside St. Coletta's main campus near Alverno House, which was designed for adults who needed lifelong care.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 412}}</ref> The nuns called the house "the Kennedy cottage".<ref name=Leamer680>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| pp= 412, 680}}</ref> Two Catholic nuns, Sister Margaret Ann and Sister Leona, provided her care along with a student and a woman who worked on ceramics with Rosemary three nights a week.<ref name=Leamer760>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 760}}</ref> Rosemary had a car that could be used to take her for rides and a dog which she could take on walks.<ref name=Leamer680 />		After the liposuction, Rosemary was immediately institutionalized. She initially lived for several years at Craig House, a private psychiatric hospital 90 minutes north of New York City.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 322}}</ref> In 1949, she was relocated to ], where she lived for the rest of her life on the grounds of the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children (formerly known as "St. Coletta Institute for Backward Youth").<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 412}}, and caption to photo of the house facing p. 650.</ref> Archbishop ] had told her father about St. Coletta's, an institution for more than 300 people with disabilities, and her father traveled to and built a private house for her about a mile outside St. Coletta's main campus near Alverno House, which was designed for adults who needed lifelong care.<ref>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 412}}</ref> The nuns called the house "the Kennedy cottage".<ref name=Leamer680>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| pp= 412, 680}}</ref> Two Catholic nuns, Sister Margaret Ann and Sister Leona, provided her care along with a student and a woman who worked on ceramics with Rosemary three nights a week.<ref name=Leamer760>{{harvnb\|Leamer\|1994\| p= 760}}</ref> Rosemary had a car that could be used to take her for rides and a dog which she could take on walks.<ref name=Leamer680 />

	In response to her condition, Rosemary's parents separated her from her family. Rose Kennedy did not visit her for 20 years.<ref name=independent/> Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. did not visit his daughter at the institution at all.<ref>{{cite book \|first1=Peter \|last1=Collier \|author-link=Peter Collier (political author) \|first2=David \|last2=Horowitz \|author2-link=David Horowitz \|year=1984 \|title=The Kennedys \|publisher=Summit Books \|isbn=978-0-671-44793-9 \|page= \|url=https://archive.org/details/kennedysamerica00coll/page/116 }}</ref> In ''Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter,'' author ] stated that Rosemary's lobotomy was hidden from the family for 20 years; none of her siblings knew of her whereabouts.<ref name="people.com">{{cite magazine\|url=https://people.com/books/why-rosemary-kennedys-siblings-didnt-see-her-after-her-lobotomy/\|title=Why Rosemary Kennedy's Siblings Didn't See Her for 20 Years After Her Lobotomy\|magazine=People\|first=Liz\|last=McNeil\|date=September 3, 2015}}</ref> While her older brother John was campaigning for re-election for the Senate in 1958, the Kennedy family explained away her absence by claiming she was reclusive. The Kennedy family did not publicly explain her absence until 1961, after John had been elected president. The Kennedys did not reveal that she was institutionalized because of a failed lobotomy, but instead said that she was deemed "mentally retarded".<ref name=independent/><ref>{{harvnb\|Kessler\| 1996\| p= 233}}</ref> In 1961, after Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had a ] that left him unable to speak and walk, Rosemary's siblings were made aware of her location.<ref name="people.com"/> Her lobotomy did not become public knowledge until 1987.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/sad-dreadful-life-Rosemary-Kennedy-revealed.html\|title=Remembering the sad and dreadful life of Rosemary Kennedy\|date=January 7, 2019\|website=IrishCentral.com}}</ref>		In response to her condition, Rosemary's parents separated her from her family. Rose Kennedy did not visit her for 20 years.<ref name=independent/> Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. did not visit his daughter at the institution at all.<ref>{{cite book \|first1=Peter \|last1=Collier \|author-link=Peter Collier (political author) \|first2=David \|last2=Horowitz \|author2-link=David Horowitz \|year=1984 \|title=The Kennedys \|publisher=Summit Books \|isbn=978-0-671-44793-9 \|page= \|url=https://archive.org/details/kennedysamerica00coll/page/116 }}</ref> In ''Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter,'' author ] stated that Rosemary's lobotomy was hidden from the family for 20 years; none of her siblings knew of her whereabouts.<ref name="people.com">{{cite magazine\|url=https://people.com/books/why-rosemary-kennedys-siblings-didnt-see-her-after-her-lobotomy/\|title=Why Rosemary Kennedy's Siblings Didn't See Her for 20 Years After Her Lobotomy\|magazine=People\|first=Liz\|last=McNeil\|date=September 3, 2015}}</ref> While her older brother John was campaigning for re-election for the Senate in 1958, the Kennedy family explained away her absence by claiming she was reclusive. The Kennedy family did not publicly explain her absence until 1961, after John had been elected president. The Kennedys did not reveal that she was institutionalized because of a failed lobotomy, but instead said that she was deemed "mentally retarded".<ref name=independent/><ref>{{harvnb\|Kessler\| 1996\| p= 233}}</ref> In 1961, after Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had a ] that left him unable to speak and walk, Rosemary's siblings were made aware of her location.<ref name="people.com"/> Her lobotomy did not become public knowledge until 1987.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/sad-dreadful-life-Rosemary-Kennedy-revealed.html\|title=Remembering the sad and dreadful life of Rosemary Kennedy\|date=January 7, 2019\|website=IrishCentral.com}}</ref>

v t e Robert F. Kennedy
November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968 64th United States Attorney General, 1961–1964 United States senator from New York, 1965–1968
Life	1948 Palestine visit Senate Committee investigation of Labor and Management Cuban Missile Crisis ExComm Civil rights Freedom Riders Voter Education Project Baldwin–Kennedy meeting 1964 Democratic National Convention Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation Mississippi Delta tour Kennedy Compound Hickory Hill home
Electoral	1964 U.S. Senate election 1968 presidential campaign primaries Boiler Room Girls
Speeches	Law Day Address (1961) Day of Affirmation Address (1966) Conflict in Vietnam and at Home (1968) University of Kansas (1968) Ball State (1968) On the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968) "On the Mindless Menace of Violence" (1968)
Books	The Enemy Within (1960) The Pursuit of Justice (1964) To Seek a Newer World (1967) Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1969)
Assassination	Sirhan Sirhan Ambassador Hotel Conspiracy theories Gravesite
Legacy and memorials	Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building Robert F. Kennedy silver dollar Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Human Rights Award Journalism Award Book Award Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Brooklyn Memorial Landmark for Peace Memorial Arch of Dignity, Equality, and Justice Kennedy–King College Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools Robert F. Kennedy Bridge
Popular culture	Robert F. Kennedy in media Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963 documentary) Robert Kennedy Remembered (1968 documentary) "Abraham, Martin and John" (1968 song) The Missiles of October (1974 docudrama) Kennedy (1983 miniseries) Blood Feud (1983 film) Prince Jack (1985 film) Robert Kennedy and His Times (1985 miniseries) Hoover vs. The Kennedys (1987 miniseries) Thirteen Days (2000 film) RFK (2002 film) Bobby (2006 film) RFK Must Die (2007 documentary) The Kennedys (2011 miniseries) Ethel (2012 documentary) Killing Kennedy (2013 film) Jackie (2016 film) Bobby Kennedy for President (2018 miniseries)
Family, family tree	Ethel Skakel (wife) Kathleen Kennedy (daughter) Joseph Patrick Kennedy (son) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (son) Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (son) Kerry Kennedy (daughter) Christopher G. Kennedy (son) Max Kennedy (son) Douglas Harriman Kennedy (son) Rory Kennedy (daughter) Maeve Kennedy McKean (granddaughter) Joseph P. Kennedy III (grandson) Max Kennedy Jr. (grandson) Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (father) Rose Kennedy (mother) Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (brother) John F. Kennedy (brother presidency) Rosemary Kennedy (sister) Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish (sister) Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister) Patricia Kennedy Lawford (sister) Jean Kennedy Smith (sister) Ted Kennedy (brother) Patrick J. Kennedy (grandfather) Mary Augusta Kennedy (grandmother) John F. Fitzgerald (grandfather)
Category

v t e Ted Kennedy
February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009 United States Senator from Massachusetts, 1962–2009
Electoral history	U.S. Senate elections in Massachusetts: 1962 (special) 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 1980 United States presidential election (Democratic primaries) Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign
Books	My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C. (2006) True Compass (2009)
Speeches	The Dream Shall Never Die
Family, family tree	Joan Bennett Kennedy (first wife) Victoria Reggie Kennedy (second wife, widow) Kara Kennedy (daughter) Edward M. Kennedy Jr. (son) Patrick J. Kennedy II (son) Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (father) Rose Kennedy (mother) Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (brother) John F. Kennedy (brother presidency) Rosemary Kennedy (sister) Kathleen Kennedy (sister) Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister) Patricia Kennedy Lawford (sister) Robert F. Kennedy (brother) Jean Kennedy Smith (sister) Patrick J. Kennedy I (grandfather) John F. Fitzgerald (grandfather)
Related	Awards and honors Political positions Kennedy Compound Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act Chappaquiddick incident Mary Jo Kopechne Friends of Ireland Chappaquiddick (2018 film)
Category

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