Rosemary Kennedy Dies
 

I cannot say at the time I would have done differently as it was a different era, little was known of such matters, etc., but today, the lobotomy seems cruel. It also seems like her father was embarrassed by her - he considered her a failure. Gloris Swanson, with whom Kennedy had an affair, talked about this exact thing in detail in her terrific and fascinating auto biography. She said Joe could not handle failure and would not discuss Rosemary and was curt when she brought it up once. Having fairly recently discovered the benefits of not eating processed foods and seeing the good it did her to rid herself of the toxins they have, she suggested to Kennedy that Rosemary might benefit from this same diet (again, people in 1928 were not as aware of this as we are today) - he let her have it and then stormed out of the room and she had to have someone else drive her home. That is how he felt about this. So, I think that embarrasment caused or at least was part of the lobotomy. I do think that in later years, the family, or atleast her bothers and sisters, viewed it as a mistake once the effects were known. To me, it seems a horrible thing to do, but I am not in the 1920's and 30's and I did not see the effects of her brain damage and how she acted - for all I know, as she got older she could have been uncontrollably hysterical :shrug:

Anyway - here is the article :cool:

Rosemary Kennedy dies at 86

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rosemary Kennedy, the oldest sister of President John F. Kennedy and the inspiration for the Special Olympics, died Friday. She was 86.

She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, born a year after her brother John.

Born mentally retarded and lobotomized when she was 23, she lived most of her life in a Jefferson, Wisconsin, institution, the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children.

She died with brother Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and her sisters by her side, the family said in a statement.

"Rosemary was a lifelong jewel to every member of our family," the statement said. "From her earliest years, her mental retardation was a continuing inspiration to each of us and a powerful source of our family's commitment to do all we can to help all persons with disabilities live full and productive lives."

"We know our parents and our brothers and sister who have gone before us are welcoming her joyfully home to heaven," the family said.

Rosemary Kennedy's condition became an inspiration to her younger sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who became an activist in the field of mental retardation.

Shriver later founded the Special Olympics for mentally disabled athletes, and in 1984 she took over her sister's care after their mother had a stroke.

While Rosemary remained largely out of the public eye for more than 40 years, her retardation became public in 1960, just after her brother John was elected president.

The National Association for Retarded Children mentioned in a publication that the president-elect "has a mentally retarded sister who is in an institution in Wisconsin."

The following year, Eunice revealed more about her sister's story in an article for The Saturday Evening Post.

"Early in life Rosemary was different," she wrote. "She was slower to crawl, slower to walk and speak. ... Rosemary was mentally retarded."

Born Rose Marie Kennedy on September 13, 1918, in Boston, Massachusetts, she was known as Rosemary or Rosie to friends and family.

Her retardation may have stemmed from brain damage at birth. But in her own diaries before the lobotomy she chronicled a life of tea dances, dress fittings, trips to Europe and a visit to the Roosevelt White House.

Preserved by her mother's secretary, the diaries came to light in 1995, in a book. And while they revealed no great secrets, the three diaries -- written between 1936 and 1938 -- described people she met and concerts and operas she attended.

As she got older, however, her father worried that his daughter's mild condition would lead her into situations that could damage the family's reputation.

"Rosemary was a woman, and there was a dread fear of pregnancy, disease and disgrace," author Laurence Leamer wrote in his book "The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family."

Leamer wrote that Rosemary had taken to sneaking out of the convent where she was staying at the time.

Doctors told Joseph Kennedy that a lobotomy, a medical procedure in which the frontal lobes of a patient's brain are scraped away, would help his daughter and calm her mood swings that the family found difficult to handle at home.

Psychosurgery was in its infancy at the time, and only a few hundred lobotomies had been performed. The procedure was believed to be a way to relieve serious mental disorders.

Leamer wrote that Rosemary was "probably the first person with mental retardation in America to receive a prefrontal lobotomy."

But Rosemary was reduced to an infant-like state, mumbling words and sitting for hours staring at walls, Leamer wrote.

Rosemary lived in several private institutions before her father placed her in St. Coletta, an hour west of Milwaukee. He oversaw construction of a private house there for Rosemary and two nurses.

Later, in 1984, the Kennedy family gave the institution $1 million, in honor of Rose Kennedy's 93rd birthday.

"We are forever thankful to the loving members of the St. Coletta community who care for Rosemary, loved her, and in a very real sense became extended members of our family," the family statement said.

During the 1980s, Eunice involved Rosemary more in the lives of her siblings and their children. She attended family gatherings in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, New York and elsewhere more frequently than before.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/07/ken....ap/index.html

Whoa. See - I'm not a history person - I never knew any of that - fascinating..and very sad....

You're right, we live in different times, but the more I read about Joe Kennedy the more I despise him.

Romy

Well, the Kennedys were rather despicable people. :shrug: As much as I like JFK, RFK, and Teddy, their family is as historically corrupt as the Manson Family. :laugh:

May Rosemary RIP. This is very sad.

I did a Social Studies Fair presentation on her once. I'm sad to see her go.

Rosemary was the most attractive of all the Kennedy daughters. What happened to her was tragic.

If any of you haven't checked out the story of her sister, Kathleen Kennedy, it's very interesting too. "Kick" was close to both Joseph Jr. & JFK. She met and fell in love with Billy Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington when her father was Ambassador to the Court of St. James in London. He was a protestant and when they married, neither family was happy about it. Shortly thereafter, he was killed in WWII. Had he lived, he would have eventually become the Duke of Devonshire-one of the best-known and "richest" of Dukes in all of the UK. Kick died four years later in a plane crash, along with her then-boyfriend, who was an Irish artistocrat. Here's a little known trivia fact: It was the Devonshire family who paid for Kathleen's burial (she's buried in the Devonshire family plot in England)--apparently Rose was still miffed that her good Catholic daughter had married a protestant!

I did know that last bit :eek: thanks for posting :cool:

Also, if anyone has the will - you should read Dominck Dunne's "A Season in Purgatory" which is ALL about the Kennedy clan and their doings. The mini-series was okay as well.

Wow so much scandal involving these people, I had no ida, but I agree we live in different times now I hope.

Tynan

The word is that Joe Kennedy lobotomized Rosemary once she became sexually active. She was actually considered a bit of a party girl. Her disability was actually quite mild.
He also raped Pamela Harriman (former US ambassador to France) when she was a teenager (18). Pamela was a friend of the late Kathleen Kennedy and was spending the night at the Kennedy home. According to Harriman, she didn't resist and he sat across from her at the breakfast table the next morning as if nothing had happened.
Joe Kennedy was one cold bastard.

I LOVED HER :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

AND - Ann Marg. played her to perfection a few years ago :laugh:

Quite a change from Nora Walker Hobbs in Tommy, which IMO was her best of many many bests :laugh: :laugh:

Both the biographies on Pamela are great. She was a very, very interesting woman to say the least.

Oh God. :distress: I don't even know what to say about that.

Dude. I totally gotta read up on the Kennedy's - it's like a soap opera...!!! I'm totally fascinated now and so if anyone can recomend some good books - other than ones already mentioned - please do :)

I know - I cannot say I really agreed with her and her positions on a few things, but WHAT A LIFE and WHAT A WOMAN (I would say "lady" but . . . :laugh: :eek: )

There's a great new book out called Nemesis by Peter Evans. It links Aristotle Onassis to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. :shocked: Evans was hand picked by Onassis to be his biographer and all of his information is sourced. It's a great book. I just finished it.