Oh, wrong tragedy. We won't forget...
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.
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.
(steely)
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
Dear God! I knew she had a lobotomy, but I didn't realize she was only mildly retarded. That's so much worse. I know many people who are mildly retarded, and they are wonderful, usually happy people. The idea of any of them being lobotomized is horrendous.
What a horrible family.