Kennedy curse

Jacqueline Kennedy, accompanied by her brothers-in-law, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy, walking from the White House as part of the funeral procession accompanying President John F. Kennedy's casket to St. Matthew’s Cathedral, November 25, 1963.

The Kennedy curse is a series of deaths, accidents, assassinations, and other calamities involving members of the American Kennedy family.<ref name="WP">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="tribune">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="boston">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="klein">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="guardian">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="hartford">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="abc">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The alleged curse has primarily struck the descendants of businessman Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., but it has also affected family friends, associates, and other relatives. Political assassinations and plane crashes have been the most common manifestations of the "curse". Following the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969, Ted Kennedy is quoted saying he questioned if "some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However skeptics argue that it is not improbable for a large extended family to experience similar events over the course of several generations.<ref name="skeptic">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Chronology

Events interpreted as proof of a curse include:

Kennedy deaths

• August 12, 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. died when the military aircraft he was piloting exploded over East Suffolk, England.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 9, 1944 – William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, newlywed husband of Kathleen Kennedy, was fatally shot by a German sniper while leading his company near Heppen, Belgium.<ref name="times">Template:Cite news</ref>
• May 13, 1948 – Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy (formally known as Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington) died in a plane crash in France.<ref name=klein/><ref name=guardian/><ref name=hartford/><ref name="abc2012" />
• August 23, 1956 – Arabella Kennedy, daughter of John F. Kennedy, died at birth.<ref name=irish1>Template:Cite web</ref>
• August 9, 1963 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, son of John F. Kennedy, died of infant respiratory distress syndrome two days after his premature birth on August 7 at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts.<ref name=irish1 />
• November 22, 1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas.<ref name=irish1 />
• June 5, 1968 – U.S. senator and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on the night of his victory in the California primary; Robert died the following morning.<ref name=klein/><ref name=guardian/><ref name=hartford/><ref name="abc2012" />
• January 23, 1974 – Athalia Ponsell Lindsley, who dated Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. until his death, was murdered at her home.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• April 25, 1984 – David A. Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, died of a drug overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• December 31, 1997 – Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, died in a skiing accident after crashing into a tree in Aspen, Colorado.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=WP/><ref name=klein/><ref name=guardian/><ref name=hartford/><ref name="cnn-king">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="abc2012" />
• July 16, 1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr. died together with his wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and her sister Lauren Bessette, when the plane he was piloting crashed off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.Template:Citation needed
• September 16, 2011 – Kara Kennedy, daughter of Ted Kennedy, died of a heart attack while exercising in a Washington, D.C. health club.Template:Citation needed
• May 16, 2012 – Mary Richardson Kennedy, wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., died by suicide on the grounds of her home in Bedford, New York.<ref name="abc2012">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• August 1, 2019 – Saoirse Kennedy Hill, granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, died of an accidental drug overdose at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• April 2, 2020 – Maeve Kennedy McKean, granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, disappeared with her eight-year-old son, Gideon, during a short canoe trip in Chesapeake Bay.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Their bodies were recovered from the bay later that week.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Autopsies revealed that both had accidentally drowned in the turbulent and chilly water.<ref name= "Carlson et al">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Kennedy disabilities

• November 1941 – Rosemary Kennedy, age 23, struggled to read and write, and she suffered from mood swings, seizures, and violent outbursts. During birth, Rosemary was deprived of oxygen as her mother and nurse waited for the doctor to arrive.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As she grew older, she became more rebellious and the family worried she would do something that could tarnish the Kennedy reputation.<ref name=Rosemary>Template:Cite web</ref> In an attempt to cure or treat his daughter, Joseph Kennedy secretly arranged for her to undergo a prefrontal lobotomy, which was seen as a promising treatment at the timeTemplate:By whom for various mental illnesses. Instead of benefiting Rosemary, the now-discredited procedure left her mentally and physically incapacitated. Rosemary remained institutionalized in seclusion, in rural Wisconsin, until her death in 2005.<ref name=klein/><ref name=guardian/><ref name=hartford/><ref name="cnn-king" /><ref name="abc2012" /> Her family remained distant for most of Rosemary's life, but Eunice Kennedy Shriver, her sister, grew close to her later in life. Eunice went on to found the Special Olympics and the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation which researches developmental and intellectual disabilities.<ref name=Rosemary/>

• November 17, 1973 – Edward M. Kennedy Jr., age 12, had his right leg surgically amputated as a result of bone cancer. He underwent an experimental two-year drug treatment to cure the cancer.<ref name="bg-series-3">BG Series</ref><ref name="clymer-205">Clymer, A Biography, pp. 205–208.</ref>

Other incidents

• June 19, 1964 – U.S. senator Ted Kennedy survived a plane crash that killed one of his aides as well as the pilot. The plane was on its way to a Democratic State Convention in Springfield.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The plane crashed in an apple orchard near Southampton, Massachusetts. The senator was pulled from the wreckage by passenger (and fellow senator) Birch Bayh. Kennedy spent five months in a hospital recovering from a broken back, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding.<ref name=klein/><ref name=guardian/><ref name="abc2012" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following the crash, Robert F. Kennedy remarked to aide Ed Guthman: "Somebody up there doesn't like us."<ref>Larry Tye. Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon, p. 320</ref>

• July 18, 1969 – Ted Kennedy accidentally drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, resulting in the drowning death of 28-year-old passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.<ref name=klein/><ref name=guardian/><ref name=hartford/><ref name=abc/><ref name="abc2012" /> In his televised statement a week later, Ted said that on the night of the incident he wondered "whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys."<ref>Kennedy, Edward. "Address to the People of Massachusetts on Chappaquiddick." 25 July 1969. https://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/tedkennedychappaquiddick.htm</ref> Ted did not report the accident to the police until the next morning and pled guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• August 13, 1973 – Joseph P. Kennedy II was the driver of a Jeep in Nantucket, Massachusetts that crashed and left his passenger, Pam Kelley, paralyzed. Fellow passenger and brother David A. Kennedy was injured.<ref name=klein/><ref name=hartford/><ref name="cnn-king" />

• April 1, 1991 – William Kennedy Smith was arrested and charged with the rape of a young woman at the Kennedy estate in Palm Beach, Florida. The subsequent trial attracted extensive media coverage.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Smith was acquitted.<ref name=WP/><ref name=boston/><ref name=klein/><ref name="cnn-king" />

• May 4, 2006 – U.S. congressman Patrick J. Kennedy crashed his automobile while intoxicated into a barricade on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., at 2:45 a.m. He later revealed an addiction to prescription medications Ambien and Phenergan and pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of prescription drugs, sentenced to one year probation and a fine of $350.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• A 2024 book, Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed argues that the "real curse" is womanizing committed by male members of the family.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• In January 2025, Caroline Kennedy accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of encouraging his siblings to abuse drugs, contributing to the curse.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Curse of Tippecanoe
• Dead Kennedys
• Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences urban legend
• Second-term curse
• Sedgwick family, another prominent New England family that faced similar experiences
• Von Erich family, an American professional wrestling family that faced similar experiences

References

Citations Template:Reflist

Book sources

• Klein, Edward (2004) The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First Family for 150 Years. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. Template:Isbn