{"id":38099,"date":"2015-01-09T00:05:31","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T08:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=38099"},"modified":"2015-07-09T00:05:44","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T07:05:44","slug":"little-known-tragic-life-jfks-sister-rosemary-kennedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/little-known-tragic-life-jfks-sister-rosemary-kennedy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tragic Life of JFK’s Sister"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rosemary-kennedy\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On January 20, 1961, the newly-elected President John F. Kennedy, \u00a0at his inauguration in front of the Capital, told Americans to \u201cask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.\u201d Over 800 miles away, in Jefferson, Wisconsin in an institution called \u201cSt. Coletta School for Exceptional Children\u201d lived a 43 year old woman, who perhaps was listening to the address on the radio. Her name was Rosemary Kennedy and she was President Kennedy\u2019s little sister.<\/p>\n

Rose Marie (\u201cRosemary\u201d) Kennedy, born on September 13, 1918, was the third child and first daughter for Joe and Rose Kennedy. No source could quite pinpoint why Rose Marie had issues, but they were apparent very early on. As we now know, there can be several factors\/reasons for development disorders – genetic, infection, exposure to environmental toxins, and other complications. Rosemary’s mother claimed several times that the nurses, due to the tardiness of the doctor, tried to halt her labor, injuring the baby in the process. Even early in life, accounts describe Rosemary to be \u201cslower to crawl, slower to walk and speak than her two bright brothers.\u201d She had a hard time \u201ceating with a spoon and steering her sled.\u201d In first grade, she was having difficulty keeping up in school.<\/p>\n

Despite all of this, many signs point to her having an otherwise happy, fulfilling life as a child and teen, participating and remaining active as a part of the wealthy and well-known family. She was described as beautiful, sweet, great company, and loquacious, and, as put in Laurence Leamer\u2019s well-known book, The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family<\/em><\/a>, \u00a0Rosemary was \u201ca picturesque young woman, a snow princess with flush cheeks, gleaming smile, plump figure, and a sweetly ingratiating manner to almost everyone she met.” Her parents reported to several media outlets (who were always requesting interviews and information about the Kennedy kids) that she was training to be a Kindergarten teacher and that she \u201chas an interest in social welfare work, she is said to harbor a secret longing to go on the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Rosemary kept a diary during this time that was only uncovered in 1995. The diary is thought to cover 1936 through 1938, when Rosemary was 18 to 20 years old. She describes trips, riding horses, dances, spending time with family, teas, and even a meeting with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. In 1938, the whole Kennedy clan took a trip to England and was presented in front of the royal couple. As Joe Kennedy said at the time (recounted in the diary), \u201cRose, this is a hell of a long way from East Boston.\u201d Rosemary, along with her sisters, performed the rather complicated royal curtsey. By all indications, Rosemary had a fantastic time – though Leamer reports that Rosemary nearly tripped and fell when presented.<\/p>\n

The diary, itself, was written in simple, short prose, but not unlike what you would read in a teen girl\u2019s diary today:<\/p>\n

“Went to luncheon in the ballroom in the White House. James Roosevelt took us in to see his father, President Roosevelt. He said, ‘It’s about time you came. How can I put my arm around all of you? Which is the oldest? You are all so big.'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This diary entries have led some historians and Kennedy biographers to believe that Rosemary may not have had a severe developmental disorder, or at least not as severe as is often claimed. There are theories that she had simple dyslexia (based on certain signs of it in her writing), a learning disability, or depression (as will be described in a moment, she had severe mood swings when she got older). More nefariously, several books claim that Joe Kennedy didn\u2019t like that she was \u201cunlady like,\u201d \u201csexually active,\u201d and \u201cat times, unhappy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever the case, in 1941, it seemed Rosemary\u2019s normal good-natured demeanor changed. In her mother, Rose Kennedy’s, memoirs, she describes \u201cnoticeable regression in the mental skills that she (Rosemary) worked so hard to obtain\u201d and \u201cher customary good nature gave way increasingly to tension and irritability.\u201d She was known to run away and Rose described her as being violent; \u201cSince she was so strong, her blows were quite hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same year, Joe consulted with doctors to try and find a way to help his daughter (though some more nefariously speculate that he was simply worried about Rosemary embarrassing the family) and came upon a \u201cpromising\u201d new procedure developed by Portuguese physician Antonio Moniz called a \u201cleucotomy\u201d or known today as a lobotomy. It was seen as a last resort for those suffering from extreme psychiatric disorders, giving the patient a \u201chope for contentment.\u201d The theory was that by severing the nerve connections to and from the prefrontal lobe, it would \u201cfix\u201d certain mental illness, depression, and a host of other developmental disorders. Of course, by doing this, it potentially sacrificed the patient\u2019s personality and some level of their intellect; but, at the time, the potential benefits were often seen to outweigh the potential drawbacks due to the lack of other viable treatments for possibly severe mental disorders. In the 1940s, performing lobotomies wasn\u2019t on the fringes of science either. In fact, Moniz won a Nobel Prize in 1949 \u201cfor his discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses”.<\/p>\n

In November 1941, Joe Kennedy had a lobotomy performed on Rosemary at George Washington Hospital by Dr. James Watts and Dr. Walter Freeman, who was a US advocate for the procedure and called it \u201csoul surgery”. Joe made this choice, apparently, without approval from Rose (she would later say she was never consulted).\u00a0 As for the procedure, one of the surgeons stated, \u201cWe went through the top of the head\u2026 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\u2026 We put an instrument inside\u2026\u201d At which point they began making blunt cuts of her brain with a butter-knife like object. They finally stopped destroying her brain when she became incoherent and no longer could respond to questions they asked her<\/p>\n

While the surgery did make her docile, it also resulted in her being unable to speak, walk, or communicate really at all. It also rendered her incontinent and significantly diminished her previous mental capacity. (She was much later in life able to recover some motor skills, such as the ability to walk with the help of a walker). Needless to say, Joe Kennedy was crushed.\u00a0 The procedure that was supposed to help his daughter ultimately left her, for all intents and purposes, completely incapacitated.<\/p>\n

After spending seven years at a hospital in New York, she was sent to St. Coletta in Wisconsin where \u201cshe would be better off for her own sake and ours if she went to a home where she would be with people of her own mental capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Rosemary went to Wisconsin in 1949, it was said that Joe Kennedy never visited nor saw his oldest daughter ever again. He passed away in 1969. Rose paid her a visit once a year, as did some of the children. Initially, Joe and Rose told reporters that Rosemary was \u201cteaching retarded children in Wisconsin and wanted to live a secluded life.\u201d Rose would later tell renown biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin that she never forgave Joe for allowing the surgery to be performed on Rosemary, \u201cIt is the only thing I ever felt bitter towards him about.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for John F. Kennedy\u2019s own relationship to his sister, during the campaign, it was claimed she was \u201ctoo busy\u201d to make public appearances. It was only after JFK\u2019s election in 1961 that they acknowledged that Rosemary was \u201cmentally retarded.\u201d On October 31, 1963, the President signed the Mental Health Work Bill, attempting to free patients from lives stuck in institutions. While never explicitly stated, this may been inspired by his sister Rosemary. This was the last bill ever signed by JFK.<\/p>\n

In 1962, Eunice wrote a heartfelt and, at the time, incredibly open article about her sister published in several magazines. She never mentions the failed lobotomy, but says that her family (mostly referring to her mother) did the best they could with Rosemary. She called her sweet, beautiful, and talks about the sadness they had in the family for her, acknowledging that she was \u201cmentally retarded\u201d and \u201ckeeping a retarded child at home is difficult.\u201d Eunice Shriver Kennedy would continue to talk about Rosemary the rest of her life and would create the Special Olympics in dedication to her sister.<\/p>\n

Rosemary Kennedy lived until she was 86 years old and passed away January 7, 2005 in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Google Play Music<\/a>, Feed<\/a>), as well as:<\/p>\n