41. She Lived On
Even as her children perished around her, Rose Kennedy endured. When she turned 100 in 1990, she continued to devote herself to religion, rarely missing Sunday mass. But though she was hard as iron, she wasn’t immortal: In these years, she suffered a series of five strokes whose side effects demanded around-the-clock care. By 1984, she needed a wheelchair to get around, and although masses of family attended her centenary in 1990, her health was hardly robust.
But, as with her marriage, Rose clung on.
42. There Was Little Family Left
In 1995, at the age of 104, Rose Kennedy finally passed in her Hyannis Port home, signalling the official passing of an era of American politics that was already fading in the public consciousness. Though Rose left behind scores of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, in the end her only remaining children were her son, Ted, and her three daughters.
For all that, her legacy gets even more tragic.
43. Her Eldest Daughter Met Her Own Tragedy
None of her children’s sudden ends affected Rose Kennedy quite like the life of her eldest daughter Rosemary. While Rose was in labor with the girl, the nurse reportedly insisted she keep her legs closed, keeping Rosemary’s head in the birth canal for a brutal two hours and causing the baby to lose precious oxygen.
Although the consequences weren’t immediate, as Rosemary grew it became clear she wasn’t reaching her developmental goals, and at two she still had difficulty walking. The Kennedys’ response was heartbreaking.
Angus McBean, Wikimedia Commons
44. She Pretended Nothing Was Wrong
Rose and Joseph, so concerned with appearances, spent most of their time pretending everything was fine with their eldest daughter, even as they sent her to private tutors and specialized boarding schools to keep her from prying eyes. Rose never confided to anyone about any difficulties, and it is still unclear today exactly what intellectual disabilities Rosemary struggled with. One thing is clear: It didn’t get better.
45. She Kept Ignoring It
When Rosemary was presented in 1938 as a debutante to King George VI, she practiced her royal curtsy for hours—only to trip and fall when she tried to perform the maneuver at the event itself. In typical Rose fashion, the matriarch never made any mention of the gaffe, and even declared the whole event a success in hindsight.
But ignoring it would not make this problem go away.
46. Her Daughter Pushed Back
By the 1940s, Rosemary was beginning to exhibit emotional regulation issues and signs of mental illness. Increasingly frustrated with her lot, she was expelled from schools and, when her parents relegated her to a convent school, began sneaking out at night.
While Rose was content to keep pretending nothing was the matter with her daughter, Joseph Sr had enough of the risk Rosemary brought to the Kennedy reputation…and he took horrific action.
47. Her Husband Made A Terrible Choice
In 1941, unbeknownst to Rose, Joseph Kennedy gave their 23-year-old daughter a lobotomy—yes, a lobotomy—in the hopes it would make her more manageable. Instead, it ruined her life. The botched procedure reduced Rosemary’s mental capacity and bodily functions to that of a toddler, and she had to be immediately sent to an institution, where her father never visited her.
But that’s not even the darkest part.
48. She May Not Have Needed It
Before her lobotomy, Rosemary Kennedy wrote copiously in her diaries, and her recollections indicate a relatively normal life full of social events in high society. Just a year before the procedure, in fact, she wrote to her father, saying “Darling Daddy, I am so fond of you. And I love you so much”. While these messages can’t prove her mental capacity, they certainly don’t indicate violence in her behavior. Perhaps, then, Rosemary’s worst sin was simply being different than the rest of her ambitious family.
After the lobotomy, Joseph Sr kept his role in her treatment hidden. Almost no one in the family, save Rose eventually, was told the whole truth of it, and the children only found out where Rosemary was after Joseph Sr’s passing in 1968.
brandstaetter images, Getty Images
49. She Tried To Make Things Right
While Rose Kennedy had failed to protect her daughter in the early years, she did try to make up for it in the end. After her husband passed, Rose brought Rosemary more and more out of the institution and back to Hyannis Port, where the young woman had spent her childhood. Heartbroken, around this time Rose confided to a neighbor that, out of all the Kennedy woes, Rosemary’s fate was “the worst tragedy”.
Fairchild Archive, Getty Images
50. Jackie O Insulted Her
With her strong sense of self, Rose Kennedy was never going to get along with everyone. Indeed, even her most famous daughter-in-law didn’t like her: Jackie Kennedy once wrote to a correspondent—a priest, no less— that “I don’t think [John’s] mother is too bright—and she would rather say a rosary than read a book”.
51. Her Life Is The Story Of America
Rose Kennedy kept an iron grip on her illustrious family, all while battling personal demons and the incessant tragedies life kept throwing at her children. With all this suppressed turmoil, it’s no wonder she was a divisive figure in her time—and she remains both an emblem of the American Dream and a sign of everything wrong with it.
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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
