2, slightly retarded
3. bubbly and personable.
4. "Socially adventurous"
Couldn't they have just given her a TV show? 
Posted on 01/07/2006 11:24:27 AM PST by ncountylee
Born slightly retarded, Rosemary Kennedy learned to read and write, and through her early 20s friends described her as bubbly and personable.
Her famous family, however, feared that Rosemary might get pregnant, catch a venereal disease, or otherwise embarrass the Kennedys. To prevent this, she became one of the first Americans to undergo a prefrontal lobotomy, having the frontal lobes of her brain surgically scraped off in 1942.
This resulted in Ms. Kennedy's paralysis, incoherence, and incontinence. She was institutionalized for the rest of her life, rarely mentioned by the Kennedys or by those who consider the family American royalty.
(Excerpt) Read more at nndb.com ...
I believe he took the opportunity to have the surgery done while his wife, Rose, was out of the country. Along with his numberless infidelities, it was something that she never forgave him for.
In Torn Lace Curtain (an interesting book), a former employee of the elder Kennedys said that Rose basically kept Joe imprisoned with nothing to do after his stroke. Just the nurses and the television. Never took him out in a wheelchair or to go for a drive or anything. The employee said it was pretty obvious that Rose was punishing Joe big time for his past transgressions, and that he was frantic with boredom, but he could not speak so could not express his own preferences. I would say, good for Rose.
Another side of the story.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5014080
Couldn't they have just given her a TV show?
As far as I'm concerned, they could take the entire treasonous, drunken, philandering, bootlegging clan of them and lock them all up.
I've always thought that the frontal lobotomy was to erase her memory of any impure thoughts about what the men in the house might have done.
You'll recall that play written by the perverted Tennessee Williams.
He may have been the reason for it.
"Born slightly retarded,..."
Bet she was still smarter than her brother, Senator Jabba the Kennedy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.