Oh, wrong tragedy. We won't forget...
Posted on 01/09/2005 4:43:44 AM PST by billorites
The Kennedy family tragedy that was Rosemary Kennedy's life became the inspiration for a movement that improved life for tens of thousands of mentally retarded Americans, advocates said.
Kennedy, the oldest sister of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy [related, bio] and the late President John F. Kennedy, died Friday at 86 in a Wisconsin hospital near the facility where she spent most of her life. At age 23, a lobotomy was performed on her reportedly on medical advice that it would calm the mildly retarded woman's behavior and mood swings that her father feared would create problems for her and embarrass the prominent family.
Her younger sister, Eunice Shriver, founded the Special Olympics in 1968, and with other family members became an advocate for the mentally disabled.
``There is no question that the world has changed dramatically in terms of people's perceptions,'' said Robert Johnson of the Massachusetts Special Olympics. ``She (Rosemary) was the inspiration of many programs to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. . . . Their living opportunities, social opportunities and work opportunities are remarkably better as a direct result of the work Mrs. Shriver has done.''
The family began talking openly about Rosemary's condition in 1960.
Colleen Lutkevich of the Massachusetts Coalition of Families and Advocates for the Retarded said the Kennedys ``really were in the forefront of being open about mental retardation, that it wasn't something you had to hide. It made people aware that this is an issue in many families.''
Though Joseph Kennedy's decision to have his daughter undergo a lobotomy has been the subject of some controversy, Lutkevich said the action taken in 1942 can't be judged by today's standards.
``It's a tragedy. We can say, `How could anyone do that?' But people take advice from physicians and think they are doing the right thing. We have come a long way. We can't criticize and judge what was done.''
The Tragedy is that the Kennedy Family hid Rosemary from public view, and no one even knew she existed until JFK ran for President.
Did we not establish our country as a republic with elected officials to do away with royalty? The Kennedy family is way over and this poor woman suffered for their foolishness, IMHO.
This is akin to Teddy blaming the bridge engineer for the Chappaquiddick matter. The plain fact is that, from Joe Sr's blind, egocentric perspective, Rosemarie was an embarrassment, and one that would only get worse, to be incapacitated at any cost. Yet another shameful Kennedy act in their win-at-any-cost approach to the acquisition of power.
Why the hell not? We certainly judge 1940's notions of bigotry and prejudice by today's standards.
The (unintentional) ends justify the means.
Oh, wrong tragedy. We won't forget...
He fails to mention that Joseph's decision was made while Rose was on a trip overseas, and that Rose was furious and heartbroken. He knew she would never agree to the lobotomy. For that and many other reasons, I believe he was an evil man.
Old Joe Kennedy was in charge. We saw many retarded and mentally ill get the lobotomy RX and the old state hospitals were full of what was left. Cruel and inhumane is a mild term for what was used for behavior control. God Bless Rosemary. She did not deserve it.
Does that apply to slave-owning figures of the American Revolution?
I really am so sick of the "Kennedys." They have always been sucked up to by the media and given special treatment by the courts. Poor Rosemary is not the only life ruined by that family.
I think you are comparing apples and oranges. At the time Rosemary was giving a lobotomy it considered medical cutting edge treatment. The doctor who performed the operation had promised the family the treatment would help control their daughter's mood swings. It was not until later it was discovered the treatment was not the miracle it was thought to be. It is a lot like our current enchantment with Prozac and drugs of the type. It is only now several years later that people are asking questions as to their safety. After Rosemary was damaged by the treatment what was the family to do? They could not undo the damage. They put her someplace where she could be cared for since her mind was basically gone. It is a sad story. I dislike the Kennedy as much as most other FR members but in this case I think the family made a very sad mistakes based on unsound medical advice.
My father, who was close to JFK's age, had a sister who was mentally handicapped. She was kept at home, which was most people handled the situation at the time. She also was prone to somewhat wild mood swings--which is not unusual at all for adults with mental handicaps. One of the reasons you see less of that today is because mentally handicapped adults frequently are medicated to control such problems.
It's not fair to judge the Kennedy family's treatment of Rosemary by today's standards.
(steely)
The threat has passed.
Not just to the Kennedys and their image... but to all of us.
Can you imagine if Joe hadn't taken bold action and scrambled Rosemary's brain? Why, she doubtless would have succumbed to a life of chronic alcohol abuse and sociopathic behavior. She could have killed someone with her automobile, raped a babysitter or two, beaten a neighbor child to death with a golf club. At the very least, she could have stumbled into public office and written awful laws.
Yes, thanks to Ol' Joe, the Kennedy family has the reputation it deserves. And we can all sleep a little better knowing the threat of Rosemary the maybe-monster has passed.
Love your tongue-in-cheek response! The Kennedy's are as evil a family as there is and the fact that the media has kissed up to them so disgustingly for lo these many years should have told us all we needed to know about the MSM.
Rosemary Kennedy was NOT retarded. This is a myth. She had learning problems that the family interpeted as mental retardation. At an age where a child learns to do complex addition and multiplication Rosemary could do it very well. She had a hard time reading left to right. She was 'slower than other children'. She spoke later than the others and had a hard time managing a spoon as a baby.
She was not well-coordinated. Old Joe Kennedy could not tolerate losers and it was a huge problem to be the odd girl out when assembled with all the athletic Kennedy's. Who would not be depressed if you could not keep with your brothers and sisters and your father read you the riot act because you were not nimble like the rest of them?
Dr. James W. Watts, who performed the lobotomy on her, is quoted to have said that at the time of the procedure Rosemary was suffering from depression and not mental retardation. In the 1940's, even though a lobotomy was new and really experimental, it was never done for metal retardation but only for mental illness.
The Sins of the Father by Ronald Kessler
More myth from Massachusetts:
Eunice Shriver, founded the Special Olympics in 1968, and with other family members
http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/ip980517.html
In order to call attention to the program, Anne Burke proposed a citywide track meet modeled after the Olympics which was endorsed by the city and park district. Many individuals from the park district had served as leaders and sports directors in both AAU national events and also in the U.S. Olympics events, plus Soldier Field was an ideal venue. Freeberg suggested they formulate a proposal for funding to Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Kennedy Foundation.
June 5, 2001 RESOLUTIONS
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:Vdblc4KiFp4J:www.cookctyclerk.com/agendas/2001/060501/resdoc.htm+%22Special+Olympics+%22++chicago+tribune+Anne+Burke&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8%20target=nw
THE HONORABLE TED LECHOWICZ, PRESIDENT JOHN H. STROGER, JR.
AND JOHN P. DALEY, COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Co-Sponsored by
THE HONORABLE JERRY BUTLER, ALLAN C. CARR, EARLEAN COLLINS,
GREGG GOSLIN, CARL R. HANSEN, ROBERTO MALDONADO, WILLIAM R. MORAN,
JOSEPH MARIO MORENO, MIKE QUIGLEY, HERBERT T. SCHUMANN, JR.,
PETER SILVESTRI, DEBORAH SIMS, BOBBIE L. STEELE AND CALVIN R. SUTKER
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
WHEREAS, the Honorable Anne M. Burke, Justice of the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, was honored by the Chicago Legal Clinic with its “Cardinal Bernardin Award” on May 11, 2001, at the Crystal Garden at Navy Pier in recognition of her efforts in promoting social justice and her long history of humanitarian work on behalf of children and the disabled; and
WHEREAS, Justice Burke was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to serve on the Illinois Appellate Court in August 1995 and was elected a Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court in November 1996; and
WHEREAS, Justice Burke also served as a Judge of the Illinois Court of Claims from January 1987 through May 1994 (becoming the first woman to serve on that court); and
WHEREAS, Justice Burke worked as a physical education teacher for the Chicago Park District in the 1960s and taught physical education to mentally retarded children from 1965 through 1970 at the Park District; and
>>>>>>>>>>> WHEREAS, in 1968 Justice Burke founded the Chicago Special Olympics; and...<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
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