Kennedy curse

The Kennedy curse is a term used to describe a series of misfortunes involving members of the Kennedy family of the United States of America.^{[1][2][3][3][4][5][6][7][8]} Skeptics have argued that many of the events are normal, and it is not improbable that a large extended family would experience them.^[9][10]

Chronology

Events that have been cited as evidence of the family's misfortunes include:

• 1941—Rosemary Kennedy was often believed to have been intellectually disabled, and due to her severe mood swings and the worry that she would damage the Kennedy reputation , her father, Joe, Sr., arranged in secret for her to undergo a lobotomy. The lobotomy instead left her unable to walk or speak well, and as a result, Rosemary remained institutionalized until her death in 2005.^{[4][5][6][11][12]}
• August 12, 1944—Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. died when his plane exploded over East Suffolk, England, as part of Project Anvil during World War II.
• May 13, 1948—Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington died in a plane crash in France.^{[4][5][6][12]}
• August 23, 1956—Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy gave birth to a stillborn daughter.^[6] Although she is buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to her parents with a marker reading "Daughter", her parents had intended to name her "Arabella".^[13]
• August 9, 1963—Patrick Bouvier Kennedy died two days after his premature birth.^[4][6][11]
• November 22, 1963—U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald.
• June 19, 1964—U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy was involved in a plane crash in which one of his aides and the pilot were killed. Ted 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.^{[4][5][12][14]}
• June 5, 1968—U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles immediately following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. Sirhan pleaded guilty to Robert's murder and is serving a life sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.^{[4][5][6][12]}
• July 18, 1969—In the Chappaquiddick incident, Ted Kennedy accidentally drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, fatally trapping his 28-year-old colleague, Mary Jo Kopechne, inside.^{[4][5][6][7][12]} In his televised statement a week later, Ted stated that on the night of the incident he wondered "whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys."^[15][16]
• August 13, 1973—Joseph P. Kennedy II was the driver of a car that crashed and left his passenger, Pam Kelley, paralyzed.^[4][6][11]
• November 17, 1973 - Ted Kennedy, Jr. had his right leg amputated because of bone cancer.
• October 30, 1975 - Martha Moxley was bludgeoned to death with a golf club in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 2002, Michael Skakel (nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy) was convicted of murder, but a new trial was ordered in 2013.^[17]
• April 25, 1984—David Kennedy died of a cocaine and pethidine overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.^{[4][5][6][11][12]}
• 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.^[18] Smith was acquitted.^{[1][3][4][11]}
• December 31, 1997—Michael LeMoyne Kennedy died in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado.^{[1][4][5][6][11][12]}
• July 16, 1999—John F. Kennedy Jr. died when his plane, a Piper Saratoga, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard due to pilot error and spatial disorientation. His wife and sister-in-law were also on board and killed.^{[4][5][6][12]}
• September 16, 2011—Kara Kennedy died of a heart attack at age 51 while exercising in a Washington, D.C. health club. Kara had reportedly suffered from lung cancer nine years earlier, but she had recovered after the removal of part of her right lung.^[19][20]
• May 16, 2012—Mary Richardson Kennedy hanged herself on the grounds of her home in Bedford, Westchester County, New York.^[12][21]
• July 13, 2012 - Kerry Kennedy sideswiped a tractor trailer on Interstate 684 in Westchester County while under the influence of zolpidem, which Kennedy stated she had mistaken for her daily thyroid medication.^[22] She was acquitted on all charges on February 28, 2014.^[23]

References

1. "Kennedy Family Tragedies". The Washington Post. July 18, 1999. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
2. Carr, Pat; Hulteng, Lee. "Kennedy Family Tragedies". The Courant (Hartford, CT). Retrieved August 26, 2009.
3. McGrory, Brian (July 18, 1999). "Family Overshadowed by a Litany of Tragedy". The Boston Globe. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
4. Klein, Edward (2004). The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First Family for 150 Years. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-31293-0.
5. Jones, Sam; Tran, Mark (August 26, 2009). "History of the Kennedy Curse". The Guardian (London). Retrieved August 26, 2009.
6. "The Kennedy Curse". The Courant. Hartford, CT. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
7. "Is Pat's Crash Part of Kennedy Curse?". Good Morning America (ABC News). May 5, 2006. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
8. Lacayo, Richard (August 26, 2009). "Ted Kennedy, 1932–2009: The Brother Who Mattered Most". Time. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
9. "Kennedy Curse". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved August 29, 2009.
10. O'Dowd, Niall (September 18, 2011). "Talk of a Kennedy Curse Is Nonsense, Latest Death of Kara Revives Idle Chatter". IrishCentral. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
11. King, John (July 17, 1999). "Tragedy Has Repeatedly Stalked Kennedy Clan". CNN. Retrieved February 15, 2008.
12. Negrin, Matt (May 16, 2012). "Kennedy Curse: A Political Family's Troubled Life". ABC News. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
13. "Arabella Kennedy (1956–1956)". Find A Grave Memorial.
14. "The Luck of the Kennedys". Check-Six.com. May 8, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2012.
15. "'Grief, Fear, Doubt, Panic'—And Guilt". Newsweek. August 4, 1969.
16. Kennedy, Ted (2009). The Kennedys. American Experience (TV-series) (Boston).
17. "After 11 Years in Prison, Skakel Goes Free on Bail". The New York Times (New York). November 21, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
18. Dunne, Dominick (March 1992). "The Verdict". Vanity Fair. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
19. Goddard, Jacqui (September 17, 2011). "Kara Kennedy Dies Aged 51". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved May 19, 2012.
20. "'I'm So Grateful I Have Those Memories': Joan Kennedy Remembers Last Summer with Daughter Kara Before She Died". The Daily Mail (London). September 21, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
21. "RFK Jr.'s Troubled Estranged Wife Found Dead in NY". Google News. Associated Press. May 16, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
22. "Kerry Kennedy Says Seizure, not Drugs, Caused Driving Accident". Chicago Tribune. July 17, 2012.
23. "Kerry Kennedy Found Not Guilty of Drugged Driving in New York". New York: WNBC-TV. February 28, 2014. Retrieved May 16, 2014.