Why don't you do some research before you jump on the hate Kennedy bandwagon?
"In 1936, Walter Freeman, an American physician, with his colleague James Watts, performed his first lobotomy operation. He was so satisfied with the results that he went on to do many thousands more, and in fact began a propaganda campaign to promote its use. He is also famous for invented what is called ice pick lobotomy. Impatient with the difficult surgical methods pioneered by Moniz, he found he could insert an ordinary ice pick above each eye of a patient with only local anesthetic, drive it through the thin bone with a light tap of a mallet, swish the pick back and forth like a windshield wiper and -- voilà -- a formerly difficult patient is now passive.
Freeman recommended the procedure for everything from psychosis to depression to neurosis to criminality. He developed what others called assembly line lobotomies, going from one patient to the next with his gold-plated ice pick, even having his assistants time him to see if he could break lobotomy speed record. It is said that even some seasoned surgeons fainted at the site. Even Watts thought he had gone too far.
Between 1939 and 1951, over 18,000 lobotomies were performed in the US, and many more in other countries. It was often used on convicts, and in Japan, it was recommended for use on “difficult” children. There are still western countries that permit the use of the lobotomy, although its use has decreased dramatically worldwide. Curiously, the old USSR banned it back in the 1940s on moral grounds!"
From:
http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/lobotomy.html
When I was a student of Philosophy in the '70's we had a psychologist as a guest speaker in our class on philosophical psychology and the first thing he said to us is that he wouldn't answer any questions on the subject of lobotomy.
By the way Freeman performed up to five lobotomies every day in his private practice with his gold plated ice pick which was unsterilized. He made a fortune. Especially among rich families with difficult children.
Is the point you're making that it was a somewhat common procedure? I'm sorry, there could have been a million of these done, and it doesn't lessen the culpability of the Kennedys or any other family that allowed it to be done. I think even in 1936, I'm not going to consent to having an ice pick "swish[ed] . . . back and forth like a windshield wiper" in my kid's brain. But, that's just me.
No thanks, beave. No research necessary. My point was simply that, even taking your interesting discourse into account, one would think that you might mention it to your wife before having your daughter lobotmized. No, I'll stay in my comfy seat on the justifiably-crowded hate Kennedy bandwagon. BTW, this episode, while justifying Kennedy "hatred" is far from the brightest jewel in the crown. My personal favorite is Teddy's impassioned advocacy of the Immigration Act of 1965, but there are so many, there's plenty for everyone.