Kennedy Sister Dies At 86

AP ^ | Friday, January 7, 2005 | LOLITA C. BALDOR

[West Coast Conservative]

WASHINGTON -- Rosemary Kennedy, a sister of John F. Kennedy who was born mentally retarded and lived most of her life in an institution after undergoing a lobotomy, died Friday, her family said. She was 86.

Kennedy, the inspiration for the Special Olympics spearheaded by the Kennedy family, had been a patient since 1949 at St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children in Jefferson, Wis. She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, born a year after her brother became president.

In 1941, Joseph Kennedy, worried his daughter's mild mental retardation would lead her into situations that could damage the family's reputation, arranged for Rosemary to have a lobotomy. She was 23.

"Rosemary was a woman, and there was a dread fear of pregnancy, disease and disgrace," author Laurence Leamer wrote in his book "The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family." He wrote that Rosemary, whose retardation possibly stemmed from brain damage at birth, had taken to sneaking out of the convent where she was staying at the time.

[Captain Peter Blood]

It's quite possible that Rose may have but I wonder about Joe, for some reason I doubt it. This man was, in my view, very evil and begot some terrible children.
You wonder in the still of the night when the darkness is thick what dreams come to Teddy, what nightmares he has, or does he have any regrets at all about Mary Jo? Will the day come when he asks for forgiveness? He can rot in Hell with the rest of them or at the very least spend a few thousand years in Purgatory doing penance for all of his sins.

[nopardons]

Yes,it would.

[nopardons]

That's what I heard too...that he did this behind Rose's back.

[nopardons]

Right you are!

[kayak]

One thing I don't understand (and I freely admit not to have done any reading up on the Kennedy family) -- the article says that she had the lobotomy when she was 23 and yet several people have mentioned her "budding sexuality." If she was born in 1917, then in 1941 she would have been about 23 if my math is better than the author's. Most people are budding sexually long before they are 23.

[BerniesFriend]

I too want to wish her to God's arms and rest...may she be in peace...

[silent_jonny]

"does he have any regrets at all about Mary Jo?"

Yeah, he regrets he ever got in the same car with her.

[Torie]

Ya, the wife took her cues from her priests, and I don't think they were into lobotomies. I suspect she might have done something. But I am not an "expert" on the sensibilities of the Church about lobotomies back them - in fact, I am entirely ignorant.

[GVnana]

Arrrgh! I totally missed your point! Yes.

Of course Teddy would be the first person to decry TORTURE!

[AnAmericanMother]

Wasn't she Honey Fitz's daughter?

In which case, if she was indeed trash, the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

It's enough to sour you on "Sweet Adeline" for life . . .

[TBall]

"But in her own diaries before the lobotomy she chronicled a life of tea dances, dress fittings, trips to Europe and a visit to the Roosevelt White House." Yikes, hard to imagine that this was the medical prescription back then. Twenty years from now me might look unfavorably on Prozac as well.

[Graybeard58]

There's no doubt in my mind that what Ted Kennedy did was a low, despicable crime.

Whether he has sought forgiveness or not I don't know. He has never acknowledged any wrong doing that I'm aware of. Yet the citizens of Mass. reelect him faithfully every 6 years like clock work.

I don't wish hell on Ted Kennedy either, I just wish he would get his communist ass out of the senate.

[silent_jonny]

"Most people are budding sexually long before they are 23."

Well she was "slow" they say; maybe she was slow to puberty as well. Who knows what twisted secrets are kept behind the high gray walls of the Kennedy compound.

[AnAmericanMother]

If that's the case, she probably was just a bit "dull" as they used to say. Judging from Teddy and what's his face, Patrick is it? The one who says all the incredibly stupid things in public? . . . it just runs in the family. After all, half the population is of below average intelligence.

She must have been the wild and rebellious one, and ol' Joe thought stirring her frontal lobes with an ice pick was just the thing to calm her down.

Horrible.

[ken21]

i don't think people in that era hopped in the sack with each other when they first met at age 13 as people do now. in that era most people were adults when they encountered sex, i.e., after high school.

the literature on the kennedys is extensive. there's a recent book by klein that summarizes the recent books. i admired its brevity:

1. The Kennedy Curse
Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First Family for 150 Years

by Edward Klein

i also read this, it's a fast-read, but longer. in a page-long footnote he says jfk had a lifelong relationship with a college roommate named lem billings:

2. Joseph P. Kennedy : The Mogul, the Mob, the Statesman, and the Making of an American Myth
by Ted Schwarz (Hardcover - September 5, 2003)

[ravinson]

Here's my understanding of how Ted tells people about his sister:

"My sister had a frontal lobotomy, but all I ever had was a bottle in front of me."

[andie74]

It makes me wonder what exactly Daddy Joe saw in Rosemary to make him believe that she was budding sexually.

Dear God.

[G Larry]

"..was born mentally retarded and was lobotomized.."

Corrected:

'..was born normal and was lobotomized for acting like the male Kennedy's.'

[tapatio]

Rosemary Kennedy : before her labotomy 1938 -Rose Kennedy ( left ) with daughter Rosemary ( right ), who was lobotomized in 1942

Joe's oldest daughter, Rosemary, was considered shy and mentally limited - symptoms of what many suspect was dyslexia. For years the family had dealt with the problem by sending her away to various special schools and convents. By age twenty-one she had deteriorated greatly, giving way to tantrums, rages and violent behavior. Rosemary was beginning to understand that she would never measure up to her closest siblings, and the resulting frustration led to physical fights and, worse, long absences at night when she would be wandering the streets. - Increasingly, Rosemary was seen as a liability to the family's political ambitions, and in1942, Joe moved to deal with the problem. Without telling anyone, not ever her mother, he arranged for his oldest daughter to have a prefrontal lobotomy at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C. The experimental operation was believed to work wonders with people who had emotional problems. In Rosemary's case it was a disaster and left her permanently disabled, paralyzed on one side, incontinent and unable to speak coherently. She was never allowed to return home, but instead was spirited away to St. Coletta's School in Wisconsin.

[silent_jonny]

" It makes me wonder what exactly Daddy Joe saw in Rosemary to make him believe that she was budding sexually."

Maybe she was humping the sofa pillows.