Rosemary Kennedy

Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy (September 13, 1918 – January 7, 2005) was the eldest
daughter born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She was a sister
of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. and Ted Kennedy.

In her early young adult years, Rosemary Kennedy experienced seizures and violent
mood swings. In response to these issues, her f ather arranged a pref rontal lobotomy
on her in 1941 when she was 23 years of age; the procedure lef t her permanently
incapacitated and rendered her unable to speak intelligibly.

Rosemary Kennedy spent most of the rest of her lif e being cared f or at St. Coletta, an
institution in Jefferson, Wisconsin. The truth about her situation and whereabouts was
kept secret f or decades. While she was initially isolated f rom her siblings and extended
f amily f ollowing her lobotomy, Rosemary did go on to visit them during her later lif e.
Family and Rosemary
early life Kennedy

The Kennedy family at Hyannis Po rt,

Massachusetts, in 1931 with Ro semary
o n the far right

Rosemary Kennedy was born at her

Rosemary Kennedy
parents' home in Brookline,
Massachusetts. She was the third child in 1938, ready to
and first daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy
Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. She was named be presented at
af ter her mother [1] and was commonly
called Rosemary or Rosie. During her birth, Buckingham Palace
the doctor was not immediately available
because of an outbreak of the Spanish
influenza epidemic and the nurse ordered Born Rose Marie
Rose Kennedy to keep her legs closed,
f orcing the baby's head to stay in the Kennedy
birth canal f or two hours. The action
resulted in a harmf ul loss of oxygen.[2] As
Rosemary began to grow, her parents
September 13
noticed she was not reaching the basic
developmental steps a human normally 1918
reaches at a certain month or year. At two
years old, she had a hard time sitting up,
crawling, and learning to walk.[3] Brookline,
Accounts of Kennedy's lif e indicated that
Massachusetts
she had an intellectual disability,[4][2]
although some have raised questions
about the Kennedys' accounts of the
U.S.
nature and scope of her disability.[5] A
biographer wrote that Rose Kennedy did
not confide in her f riends and that she
Died January 7,
pretended her daughter was developing
typically, with relatives other than the 2005
immediate f amily knowing nothing of
Rosemary's disability.[6][7] Despite the help (aged 86)
of tutors, Rosemary had trouble learning
to read and write. At age 11, she was sent Fort
to a Pennsylvania boarding school f or
people with intellectual disabilities.[2]
Atkinson,
Aged 16, Kennedy was sent to the Sacred
Heart Convent in Elmhurst, Providence, Wisconsin,
Rhode Island, where she was educated
separately f rom the other students. Two U.S.
nuns and a special teacher, Miss Newton,
worked with her all day in a separate
classroom. The Kennedys gave the school Burial Holyhood
a new tennis court f or their efforts. Her
reading, writing, spelling, and counting place Cemetery
skills were reported to be at a f ourth-
grade level (ages 9-10). During this period,
her mother arranged f or her older
Brookline,
brother John to accompany her to a tea
dance. Thanks to him, she appeared "not Massachuset
different at all" during the dance.[8]

Rosemary read f ew books but could read Education Convent

[9]
Winnie-the-Pooh. Diaries written by her
in the late 1930s, and published in the of the
1980s, reveal a young woman whose lif e
was filled with outings to the opera, tea
dances, dress fittings, and other social
interests.[10] Kennedy accompanied her Sacred
f amily to the coronation of Pope Pius XII
in Rome in 1939. She also visited the Heart
[5]
White House. Kennedy's parents told
Woman's Day that she was "studying to be
a kindergarten teacher," and Parents was Parent(s) Joseph P.
told that while she had "an interest in
social welf are work, she is said to harbor a Kennedy
secret longing to go on the stage." When
The Boston Globe requested an interview
Sr.
with Rosemary, her f ather's assistant
prepared a response which Rosemary
copied out laboriously:
Rose
Fitzgerald
I have always had serious tastes
and understand life is not given Kennedy
us just for enjoyment. For some
time past, I have been studying
the well known psychological Family Kennedy
method of Dr. Maria Montessori
and I got my degree in teaching family
last year.[11]

In 1938, Kennedy was presented as a debutante to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
at Buckingham Palace during her f ather's service as the United States Ambassador to
the United Kingdom.[12] Kennedy practiced the complicated royal curtsy f or hours. At
the event, she tripped and nearly f ell. Rose Kennedy never discussed the incident and
treated the debut as a triumph. The crowd made no sign, and the King and the Queen
smiled as if nothing had happened.[13]

Lobotomy
According to Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, when Rosemary returned to the
United States f rom the United Kingdom in 1940, she became "increasingly irritable and
difficult" at the age of 22.[7] Kennedy would of ten experience convulsions[14] and fly into
violent rages, during which she would hit and injure others.[2] Af ter being expelled f rom
a summer camp in western Massachusetts and staying only a f ew months at a
Philadelphia boarding school, Kennedy was sent to a convent school in Washington,
D.C.[2] Kennedy began sneaking out of the convent school at night.[15] The nuns at the
convent thought that Rosemary might be involved with sexual partners and that she
could contract a sexually transmitted disease [5] or become pregnant.[16] Her
occasionally erratic behavior f rustrated her parents; her f ather was especially worried
that Kennedy's behavior would shame and embarrass the f amily and damage his and
his children's political careers.[17][2]

When Kennedy was 23 years old, doctors told her f ather that a f orm of psychosurgery
known as a lobotomy would help calm her mood swings and stop her occasional violent
outbursts.[18][19] Joseph Kennedy decided that Rosemary should have a lobotomy;
however, he did not inf orm his wif e of this decision until af ter the procedure was
completed.[17][20] The procedure took place in November 1941.[4][21] In Ronald Kessler's
1996 biography of Joseph Kennedy, Sins of the Father, James W. Watts, who carried out
the procedure with Walter Freeman (both of George Washington University School of
Medicine & Health Sciences), described the procedure to Kessler as f ollows:

After Rosemary was mildly sedated, "We went through the top of the head," Dr.
Watts recalled. "I think she was awake. She had a mild tranquilizer. I made a
surgical incision in the brain through the skull. It was near the front. It was on
both sides. We just made a small incision, no more than an inch." The instrument
Dr. Watts used looked like a butter knife. He swung it up and down to cut brain
tissue. "We put an instrument inside", he said. As Dr. Watts cut, Dr. Freeman
asked Rosemary some questions. For example, he asked her to recite the Lord's
Prayer or sing "God Bless America" or count backward ... "We made an estimate
on how far to cut based on how she responded." When Rosemary began to
become incoherent, they stopped.[22]

Watts told Kessler that in his opinion, Kennedy did not have "mental retardation" but
rather had a f orm of depression. A review of all of the papers written by the two
doctors confirmed Watts' declaration. All of the patients the two doctors lobotomized
were diagnosed as having some f orm of mental disorder.[23] Bertram S. Brown, director
of the National Institute of Mental Health who was previously an aide to President
Kennedy, told Kessler that Joe Kennedy ref erred to his daughter Rosemary as mentally
retarded rather than mentally ill in order to protect John's reputation f or a presidential
run and that the f amily's "lack of support f or mental illness is part of a lif elong f amily
denial of what was really so".[24]

It quickly became apparent that the procedure had caused immense harm. Kennedy's
mental capacity diminished to that of a two-year-old child. She could not walk or speak
intelligibly and was incontinent.[25]

Aftermath
Af ter the lobotomy, Kennedy was immediately institutionalized. She initially lived f or
several years at Craig House, a private psychiatric hospital 90 minutes north of New York
City.[26] In 1949, she was relocated to Jefferson, Wisconsin, where she lived f or the rest
of her lif e on the grounds of the St. Coletta School f or Exceptional Children (f ormerly
known as "St. Coletta Institute f or Backward Youth").[27] Archbishop Richard Cushing had
told her f ather about St. Coletta's, an institution f or more than 300 people with
disabilities, and her f ather traveled to and built a private house f or her about a mile
outside St. Coletta's main campus near Alverno House, which was designed f or adults
who needed lif elong care.[28] The nuns called the house "the Kennedy cottage".[29] Two
Catholic nuns, Sister Margaret Ann and Sister Leona, provided her care along with a
student and a woman who worked on ceramics with Kennedy three nights a week.[30]
Kennedy had a car that could be used to take her f or rides and a dog which she could
take on walks.[29]

In response to her condition, Kennedy's parents separated her f rom her f amily. Rose
Kennedy did not visit her f or 20 years.[17] Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. did not visit his daughter
at the institution at all.[31] In Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter, author Kate
Clifford Larson stated that Kennedy's lobotomy was hidden f rom the f amily f or 20
years; none of her siblings knew of her whereabouts.[32] While her older brother John
was campaigning f or re-election f or the Senate in 1958, the Kennedy f amily explained
away her absence by claiming she was reclusive. The Kennedy f amily did not publicly
explain her absence until 1961, af ter John had been elected president. The Kennedys
did not reveal that she was institutionalized because of a f ailed lobotomy, but instead
said that she was deemed "mentally retarded".[17][33] In 1961, af ter Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.
had a stroke that lef t him unable to speak and walk, Rosemary's siblings were made
aware of her location.[32]
Rosemary's condition was revealed publicly by her sister Eunice Kennedy in a 1962
interview to The Saturday Evening Post, but her lobotomy did not become public
knowledge until 1987, when historian Doris Kearns Goodwin revealed it in her book The
Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys.[34][25][35]

Later life
Following her f ather's death in 1969, the Kennedys gradually involved Rosemary in f amily
lif e again.[5] She was occasionally taken to visit relatives[32] in Florida and Washington,
D.C. and to her childhood home on Cape Cod. By that time, Rosemary had learned to
walk again, but did so with a limp. She never regained the ability to speak clearly and
her arm was palsied.[17] Her condition is sometimes credited as the inspiration f or
Eunice Kennedy Shriver to later f ound the Special Olympics,[17] although Shriver told
The New York Times in 1995 that Kennedy was just one of the disabled people she would
have over to her house to swim, and that the games should not f ocus on any single
individual.[36]

Kennedy died f rom natural causes[37] on January 7, 2005, aged 86,[38] at the Fort Atkinson
Memorial Hospital in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin,[39] with her siblings (sisters Jean, Eunice,
and Patricia and brother Ted) by her side.[38] She was buried beside her parents in
Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.[40][41]

See also

Kennedy family United

States
Kennedy family tree portal
Biography
portal
References

1. Leamer 1994, p. 137 (https://archive.or

g/details/kennedywomensaga00leam_
0/page/137)

2. Gordon, Meryl (October 6, 2015).

" 'Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy
Daughter', by Kate Clifford Larson" (http
s://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/boo
ks/review/rosemary-the-hidden-kenne
dy-daughter-by-kate-clifford-larson.ht
ml) . The New York Times. Retrieved
October 13, 2015.
3. Washington College (April 11, 2016).
Rosemary, The Hidden Kennedy
Daughter (https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=Y1lYAPquScU) . Archived (http
s://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/
20211212/Y1lYAPquScU) from the
original on December 12, 2021.
Retrieved September 4, 2017 – via
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cU) 2016-12-07 at the Wayback
Machine
4. McNeil, Liz (September 6, 2018). "The
Untold Story of JFK's Sister, Rosemary
Kennedy, and Her Disastrous Lobotomy"
(https://people.com/politics/untold-sto
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strous-lobotomy/) . People.

5. El-Hai, Jack (January 15, 2005). "The

exiled Kennedy" (http://www.independe
nt.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-exil
ed-kennedy-486688.html) . The
Independent.

6. Leamer 1994, p. 166

7. "Rosemary Kennedy" (https://www.jfklib

rary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-f
amily/rosemary-kennedy) . JFK Library.
Retrieved September 6, 2015.

8. Leamer 1994, pp. 203–204

 9. Leamer 1994, p. 304

10. Gibson, Rose Kennedy and Her Family,

includes Rosemary's diaries (http://ww
w.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-95/07
-19-95/0719kennedydiaries.HTML)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/
20050130234921/http://www.southcoa
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9kennedydiaries.HTML) January 30,
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11. Leamer 1994, p. 271

12. "JFK house celebrates Rosemary
Kennedy's 100th birthday" (https://whd
h.com/news/jfk-house-celebrates-rose
mary-kennedys-100th-birthday/) .
WHDH. Associated Press. September 9,
2018.

13. Leamer 1994, pp. 251–56

14. Nicholas, Elizabeth (October 5, 2015).

"Rosemary Kennedy and the Legacy of
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n_us/article/mvb4pq/rosemary-kenned
y-and-the-legacy-of-mental-illness-51
1) . Vice.
15. Leamer, Laurence, The Kennedy
Women: The Saga of an American
Family, referenced in Associated Press
article, "Retarded Kennedy Sister Dies
at 86" (January 8, 2005)

16. O'Brien, Gerald (July 2004). "Rosemary

Kennedy: The Importance of a Historical
Footnote". Journal of Family History. 29
(3): 225–236.
doi:10.1177/0363199004266849 (http
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849) . PMID 15307263 (https://pubmed.
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17. El-Hai, Jack (January 15, 2005). "The
Exiled Kennedy" (https://www.independ
ent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-exi
led-kennedy-486688.html) . The
Independent.

18. Block, Jennie Weiss (2002). Copious

hosting: A theology of access for people
with disabilities (https://books.google.c
om/books?id=Aq7lwuQVQ4sC&q=rose
mary+kennedy+violent+outbursts&pg=
PA56) . Continuum International. p. 56.
ISBN 9780826413499.
19. McNeil, Liz (November 6, 2014).
"Rosemary Kennedy: The Truth About
Her Lobotomy" (http://www.people.co
m/article/rosemary-kennedy-timothy-s
hriver-fully-alive) . People. Retrieved
September 6, 2015.

20. Morris, Sylvia Jukes (October 2, 2015).

"The Saddest Story Ever Told" (https://w
ww.wsj.com/articles/the-saddest-story
-ever-told-1443819842) . The Wall
Street Journal. Retrieved October 3,
2015.

21. McNeil, Liz (September 13, 2018).

"Letters from JFK's Sister Rosemary
Before Lobotomy Reveal 'Loss' " (https://
people.com/politics/letters-jfk-sister-r
osemary-kennedy-lobotomy/) . People.
22. Kessler 1996, p. 243

23. Kessler 1996, p. 244

24. Kessler 1996, pp. 252–253

25. Henley, Jon (August 12, 2009). "The

Forgotten Kennedy" (https://www.thegu
ardian.com/world/2009/aug/13/eunice-
kennedy-shriver-rosemary-kennedy) .
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26. Leamer 1994, p. 322

27. Leamer 1994, p. 412, and caption to

photo of the house facing p. 650.

28. Leamer 1994, p. 412

29. Leamer 1994, pp. 412, 680

30. Leamer 1994, p. 760

31. Collier, Peter; Horowitz, David (1984).
The Kennedys (https://archive.org/detai
ls/kennedysamerica00coll/page/116) .
Summit Books. p. 116 (https://archive.o
rg/details/kennedysamerica00coll/pag
e/116) . ISBN 978-0-671-44793-9.

32. McNeil, Liz (September 3, 2015). "Why

Rosemary Kennedy's Siblings Didn't See
Her for 20 Years After Her Lobotomy" (ht
tps://people.com/books/why-rosemary
-kennedys-siblings-didnt-see-her-afte
r-her-lobotomy/) . People.

33. Kessler 1996, p. 233

34. "Remembering the sad and dreadful life
of Rosemary Kennedy" (http://www.irish
central.com/opinion/niallodowd/sad-dr
eadful-life-Rosemary-Kennedy-reveale
d.html) . IrishCentral. January 7, 2019.

35. Goodwin, Doris Kearns (March 23,

1987). "The First Tragedy" (https://www.
washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1
987/03/23/the-first-tragedy/b91575ef-
a854-47f8-9ca8-c089993045e7/) . The
Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286 (http
s://www.worldcat.org/issn/0190-828
6) .
36. Johnson, Kirk (June 23, 1995).
"Reaching the Retarded: An Old
Kennedy Mission" (https://www.nytime
s.com/1995/06/23/nyregion/reaching-t
he-retarded-an-old-kennedy-mission.
html) . The New York Times. Retrieved
July 5, 2011.
37. "Sister of President John F Kennedy
dies" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/new
s/1480698/Sister-of-President-John-F-
Kennedy-dies.html) . The Daily
Telegraph. January 8, 2005. Archived (ht
tps://ghostarchive.org/archive/2022011
2/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1
480698/Sister-of-President-John-F-Ke
nnedy-dies.html) from the original on
January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 24,
2013.
38. Cornwell, Rupert (January 10, 2005).
"Obituaries: Rosemary Kennedy" (http
s://web.archive.org/web/201303240533
10/http://www.independent.co.uk/new
s/obituaries/rosemary-kennedy-61552
00.html) . The Independent. Archived
from the original (https://www.indepen
dent.co.uk/news/obituaries/rosemary-k
ennedy-6155200.html) on March 24,
2013. Retrieved January 24, 2013.

39. Weil, Martin (January 8, 2005).

"Rosemary Kennedy, 86; President's
Disabled Sister (washingtonpost.com)"
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/articles/A58134-2005Jan8.html) .
The Washington Post. p. B06. Retrieved
January 24, 2013.
40. Katz, Alex; Andersen, Travis (September
22, 2011). "Friends, family bid farewell
to Kennedy in D.C., Brookline" (http://ar
chive.boston.com/news/education/high
er/articles/2011/09/22/friends_family_b
id_farewell_to_kara_kennedy_in_washin
gton_brookline/) . Boston.com – via The
Boston Globe.

41. Yadira Chavez (December 6, 2018).

"Rosemary Kennedy: A Life Stolen By
Mental Illness And Her Family" (https://s
tmuscholars.org/rosemary-kennedy-a-l
ife-stolen-by-mental-illness-and-her-f
amily) . St. Mary's University History
Media Project. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
Further reading

Burns, James MacGregor (1960).

John Kennedy: A Political Profile.
Harcourt Brace.

Collier, Peter; Horowitz, David (1984).

The Kennedys. New York: Summit
Books. ISBN 0-671-44793-9.

El-Hai, Jack (2004). The Lobotomist:

A Maverick Medical Genius and His
Tragic Quest to Rid the World of
Mental Illness. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-
23292-0.

Gibson, Barbara (1995). Rose

Kennedy and Her Family: The Best
and Worst of Their Lives and Times.
Birch Lane Press. ISBN 1-55972-299-
1.

Kennedy, Rose (1974). Times to

Remember. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-
47657-4.

Kessler, Ronald (1996). The Sins of the

Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the
Dynasty He Founded. Warner Books.
ISBN 0-446-60384-8.

Leamer, Laurence (1994). The

Kennedy Women: The Saga of an
American Family (https://archive.org/
details/kennedywomensaga00leam_
0/) . Villard Books. ISBN 0-679-
42860-7.

McCarthy, Joe (1960). The

Remarkable Kennedys. Dial Press.
OCLC 559761987 (https://www.world
cat.org/oclc/559761987) .

McTaggart, Lynne (1983). Kathleen

Kennedy. Dial Press.
ISBN 9780385274159.

Valenstein, Elliot S (1986). Great and

Desperate Cures: The Rise and
Decline of Psychosurgery and Other
Radical Treatments for Mental Illness.
Basic Books.
 Shriver, Timothy (2014). Fully Alive:
Discovering What Matters Most. New
York, NY: Sarah Crichton Books-
Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
ISBN 9780374280918.

Larson, Kate. Rosemary: The Hidden

Kennedy Daughter.

External links

Rosemary Kennedy (https://www.imd

b.com/name/nm1812993/) at IMDb

"Rosemary Kennedy, JFK's sister, dies

at 86 – Born Mentally Disabled, She
Was Inspiration for Special Olympics"
(https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna
 6801152) obituary by The
Associated Press at MSNBC, January
8, 2005

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Rosemary_Kennedy&oldid=1200913078"

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