Kennedy Curse
Encyclopedia
The Kennedy tragedies, colloquially called the Kennedy Curse, is a term sometimes used to describe a series of tragedies involving members of the Kennedy family
. Many of the tragedies have been caused by preventable reckless choices like driving drunk, piloting an airplane under unsafe conditions, or choosing such relatively dangerous careers as military service or politics. If such events are subtracted from the Kennedy family record, what remains resembles a more ordinary table of events likely to occur in such a large family, such as cancer or pregnancy miscarriage. The notion of a curse is superstitious and was created and is fostered by the news media
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Kennedy family
In the United States, the phrase Kennedy family commonly refers to the family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald that was prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the...
. Many of the tragedies have been caused by preventable reckless choices like driving drunk, piloting an airplane under unsafe conditions, or choosing such relatively dangerous careers as military service or politics. If such events are subtracted from the Kennedy family record, what remains resembles a more ordinary table of events likely to occur in such a large family, such as cancer or pregnancy miscarriage. The notion of a curse is superstitious and was created and is fostered by the news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
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Chronology
Believers in the curse generally cite the following core events as evidence of the family's misfortunes:- 1941 – Rosemary KennedyRosemary KennedyRose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy was the third child and first daughter of Rose Elizabeth Kennedy née Fitzgerald and Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr., born little more than a year after her brother, future U.S. President John F. Kennedy...
is believed to have been mentally retardedIntellectual disabilityIntellectual disability is a broad concept encompassing various intellectual deficits, including mental retardation , deficits too mild to properly qualify as MR, various specific conditions , and problems acquired later in life through acquired brain injuries or neurodegenerative diseases like...
. However, some sources have claimed she was suffering from mental illness, such as depression. Because of her increasingly violent and severe mood swings, her father, Joe, Sr.Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official....
, arranged in secret for her to undergo a lobotomyLobotomyLobotomy "; τομή – tomē: "cut/slice") is a neurosurgical procedure, a form of psychosurgery, also known as a leukotomy or leucotomy . It consists of cutting the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain...
. The surgery impaired her cognitive abilities even more, and as a result, she remained institutionalized until her death in 2005. - July 23, 1944 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Jr. was an American bomber pilot during World War II. He was the eldest of nine children born to Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr., and Rose Elizabeth Kennedy....
dies when his converted B-24 Liberator bomber prematurely detonates and destroys the Liberator, vaporizing Kennedy near the village of Blythburgh in Suffolk, England. - May 13, 1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of HartingtonKathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of HartingtonKathleen Agnes "Kick" Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington , born Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, was the fourth child and second daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy. She was a sister of future U.S. President John F. Kennedy and widow of the heir to the Dukedom of Devonshire.-Biography:When...
, dies in a plane crash in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. - August 23, 1956 – Jacqueline Bouvier KennedyJacqueline Kennedy OnassisJacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...
gives birth to a stillborn daughter, Arabella. (Although the daughter was unnamed and is buried at Arlington National CemeteryArlington National CemeteryArlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
next to her parents with a marker reading "Daughter", later reports indicated that the Kennedys had intended to name her Arabella.) - August 9, 1963 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy dies two days after his birth.
- November 22, 1963 – U.S. PresidentPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
is assassinatedJohn F. Kennedy assassinationJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, allegedly by Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
in Dallas, TexasDallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. - June 19, 1964 – U.S. SenatorUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Edward M. KennedyTed KennedyEdward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
is involved in a plane crash in which one of his aides and the pilot were killed. He was pulled from the wreckage by fellow senator Birch E. Bayh II and spent weeks in a hospital recovering from a broken back, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding. - June 6, 1968 – U.S. Senator Robert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
is assassinatedRobert F. Kennedy assassinationThe assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a United States Senator and brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, took place shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California...
by Sirhan SirhanSirhan SirhanSirhan Bishara Sirhan is a Jordanian citizen who was convicted for the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He is serving a life sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.Sirhan was a Christian Arab born in Jerusalem who strongly opposed Israel...
in Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
immediately following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. - July 18, 1969 – In the Chappaquiddick incident, a car driven by Ted Kennedy accidentally goes off a bridge in Chappaquiddick IslandChappaquiddick IslandChappaquiddick Island is a small island off the eastern end of the larger island of Martha's Vineyard and is part of the town of Edgartown, Massachusetts. The island's name became internationally recognized following the July 18, 1969 incident, for which U.S. Senator Edward M...
, killing his passenger Mary Jo KopechneMary Jo KopechneMary Jo Kopechne was an American teacher, secretary, and political campaign specialist who died in a car accident in Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts on July 18, 1969, while a passenger in a car being driven by U.S. Senator Edward M...
. In his July 25 televised statement, Kennedy stated that on the night of the incident he wondered "whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys." - August 13, 1973 – Joseph P. Kennedy II is the driver in a car accident that leaves his passenger, Pam Kelley, permanently paralyzed.
- November 17, 1973 – Edward M. Kennedy, Jr. loses a portion of his right leg due to bone cancer.
- April 25, 1984 – David Anthony KennedyDavid KennedyDavid Anthony Kennedy was the fourth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.-Life:...
died of a Demerol and cocaineCocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
overdose in a Palm Beach, FloridaPalm Beach, FloridaThe Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
hotel room. - December 31, 1997 – Michael LeMoyne Kennedy died in a skiing accident in Aspen, ColoradoAspen, ColoradoThe City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
. - July 16, 1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr.John F. Kennedy, Jr.John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. , often referred to as John F. Kennedy, Jr., JFK Jr., John Jr. or John-John, was an American socialite, magazine publisher, lawyer, and pilot. The elder son of U.S. President John F...
died when the Piper Saratoga light aircraft he is piloting crashes into the Atlantic OceanAtlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
off the coast of Martha's VineyardMartha's VineyardMartha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
due to pilot errorPilot errorPilot error is a term used to describe the cause of an accident involving an airworthy aircraft where the pilot is considered to be principally or partially responsible...
. - September 16, 2011 - Kara Kennedy Allen died of a heart attack while exercising in a Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
health club.