In the course of history in the United States, many conspiracies have been formed around

the government, and a large portion of those theories involve the presidents, especially in most

recent years. One of these conspiracies involves one of the most prominent and memorable

presidents of our nation; President John F. Kennedy, who was one part of the illustrious Kennedy

Curse. President Kennedy was known for his charm, youth, and extremely detrimental decisions

involving issues such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Bay of Pigs invasion. However, after

his assassination, along with many other untimely and tragic deaths throughout the Kennedy

family, many people speculated whether the family has a curse, or a hex thrown out upon them.

In this essay, I will converse about the “power” that the Kennedy family possessed, which later

led them to become a prominent political figure, as well as what the Kennedy Curse is, and how

some events in our history are potentially pointing out evidence in favor of this theory. Finally, I

will also state and provide evidence in my own terms as to why the Kennedy family is not

cursed, and how power, and specifically political power, can play a significant role in the tragic

events that consumes much of the history of the Kennedy family. So, why has the Kennedy

family been labeled as “cursed?”

The timeline of the curse first starts at the current head of the Kennedy household, which

is Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. JPK Sr. was born into a political family, and became a shrewd

businessman, investor, and politician, and through these many different methods, made the

Kennedy family an even wealthier figure in the United States. With this extreme wealth and

political prowess came extreme power. Anybody related to Joseph Kennedy instantly had an

advantage in the political system because, as the saying goes, “Money talks.” He used this

wealth, as well as his political position as leading member of the Democratic Party to further his

children’s political positions later in life, which caused the Kennedy name to be somewhat of a
political title in government around the 1960s. Many of his children did end up becoming

members of our government, including Robert Kennedy, who served as U.S. Senator of New

York, as well as U.S. attorney general, Ted Kennedy, who served as a U.S. Senator to

Massachusetts, and John F. Kennedy, who famously became the United States’ 35th president.

However, many of their other children and grandchildren never got to presume their political

positions, despite their almost guaranteed futures, such as JPK Jr., and JFK Jr., and some of their

children never got to see their full political story played out, such as Robert “Bobby” Kennedy,

and John F. Kennedy. So, why was it that a family so rooted in the American government, and

one that held much power, also had a large amount of tragedy befall them? These untimely

deaths of a large proportion of the Kennedy family had led many people to speculate that a curse

might be involved in these tragic events, which finally led to the formation of the Kennedy

Curse.

So, what exactly is the Kennedy Curse? Plainly put, it is a conspiracy that someone who

considered themselves an enemy of the Kennedys had laid a curse upon the Kennedy family, and

because of that curse, the family has seen many premature deaths, assassinations, and accidents

involving their deaths or the deaths of others. Even members of the Kennedy family believed in

the possibility of this curse, as Ted Kennedy, in a televised segment one week after his accident

involving the untimely death of Mary Jo Kopechne in 1969, even wondered if “…some awful

curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys.” Along with the speculations of a curse being

placed on the Kennedy family, many people also have placed their doubts, stating that deaths

like John F. Kennedy’s, or Robert Kennedy’s, seem perfectly logical in comparison to some of

the other deaths throughout the family, due to their decisions in politics not appeasing everyone

involved. However, the fact that many of these deaths have occurred at such untimely times
speaks in volume to the prevalence of the Kennedy curse, and the possibility that there might be

something else at play here. Deaths such as Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, Maeve Kennedy McKean

and her son, and Michael Lemoyne Kennedy do not seem nearly as logical as some of the other

untimely deaths in the family. This number of premature deaths throughout a single family is

extremely rare, especially in the case of such a wealthy and prominent family in the United

States. Because of the incredulous number of premature deaths and tragedy surrounding the

family, especially even years after the “most popular” members of the Kennedy family had

passed, the possibility of such a curse seemingly goes up. However, this curse is simply a

coincidence, mixed with enemies of the political Kennedy powerhouse, as well as a portion of

overconfidence with money.

The Kennedy family is not the only family to have this “curse.” The Von Erich wrestling

family did encounter the same kind of fate, however not to the same extent. I did notice that

some members of the Kennedy family had died due to overdose, just as some members of the

Von Erich family. This could be due to a genetic difference where both families are more

sensitive to the effects of drugs, as both sides of the family had multiple accidents due to the

abuse of drugs, and therefore suffer worse side effects than most other people. Some of the

assassinations, or potentially attempted assassinations such as Ted Kennedy’s airplane crash, in

the Kennedy family also make perfectly logical sense, as they did make enemies due to their

political decisions. If these enemies have enough passion, they will be moved to act, making

these premature deaths completely logical to me. If anything, it is more of a political curse. The

rest of deaths or accidents that had occurred, such as Ted Kennedy drowning the car that killed

Mary Jo Kopechne, or Michael Lemoyne Kennedy, I believe could be caused by an

overconfidence in dangerous situations due to money. Michael Lemoyne Kennedy died due to a
skiing accident, and Ted Kennedy ended up driving off a narrow bridge, and while escaping the

car in the water, he did not assist Kopechne in escaping, resulting in her death. In both cases,

especially Ted Kennedy’s case, I can see money and overconfidence having a heavy influence in

both situations. Overall, I still believe that, as strange as their entire story sounds, it could be

stemmed from the fact that they were a very political family with lots of influence and money,

which in turn makes a lot of enemies globally. The more enemies you have, the more likely you

are to have an enemy who is pushed just enough to feel like they need to act.

The Kennedy family has always been speculated to have a curse on their family name,

but I still believe that their influence on people in general, on top of their political and general

fame played a heavy role in both the enemies that the family had, and the confidence that some

members had in the family while enacting in dangerous things. If all of these circumstances

happened to a “normal,” non-political family in the United States, no story about the “Kelly

Curse” would emerge. It is solely based on the fact that everyone in the United States knew the

Kennedys, and a lot of people around the world had also known about them, and pretty heavily

too, with the case of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination by Sirhan Sirhan. I must admit that the

amount of plane crashes caused in and around the Kennedy family is very suspicious alone, but

again, it could be due to overconfidence, like the case with JFK Jr., or an attempted

assassination, like in the case of Ted Kennedy. However, all of the evidence that I have been

presented with from both sides leads me to believe that the Kennedy Curse is not really a curse at

all, but rather a coincidence involving many aggressive and tragic events affecting the Kennedy

family.