Rosemary Kennedy dies

Boston Herald | Saturday, January 8, 2005 | By Laurel J. Sweet

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Poor lady. She is the only Kennedy I feel sorry for.

May she now find the peace that she didn't have on earth.

[kalee]

America may be, but Massachussetts isn't. They keep electing him.

[superskunk]

Their solution: she was lobotomized!
May She Rest In Peace now.

Unfortunately, at that time in history, lobotomies had become a fad. They were considered a mental health "cure all". Sometimes, parents would even have their kids lobotomized to keep them from misbehaving. It was later replaced by electro convulsive shock therapy; and now we just keep people drugged. It seems like each generation has it's own monstrous miracle cure. The Kennedy's my have been told by the doctors that a lobotomy was her only option.

[alessandrofiaschi]

Dear friend, I don't agree. Here in Italy I found a thoroughgoing article (from a moderate left wing journal) in which it was written that Joseph Kennedy envisaged the risk that Rosemary could be pregnant and that this potential scandal could hurt the political ambitions of his three heirs: John, Robert ed Edward. Later, the Kennedys denied for a long time the true conditions of Rosemary, first of all her seclusion and her well known vegetative status. Cooper-Dowda has narrated her story and the "problems" for Kennedys political ambition.

[superskunk]

Cooper-Dowda has narrated her story and the "problems" for Kennedys political ambition.

Wow, That's the first I've heard of this. I will have to check it out.

I only gave them the benefit of the doubt, because mental health care was deplorable in those days. However, I wouldn't put anything past that family.