Today’s story features a Kennedy you may not be familiar with. Rosemary Kennedy was disabled and was President (JFK) Kennedy’s younger sister.
This is a hard story to get through. I was reading and taking notes in bed next to my spouse and I kept scoffing, yelling at the book, and writing notes like “THIS IS SO GROSS” and “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?” My spouse reminded me to breathe. So fair warning, you’ll have strong feelings about this story and the way Rosemary Kennedy was treated because it was wrong.
We’re lucky that we even know some of Rosemary’s story because she came from such a prominent family that had access to resources. What she went through at doctors’ and her relatives’ hands is representative of how thousands of people with intellectual and learning disabilities were treated at the time.
The tragic story of JFK's sister Rosemary Kennedy Click To TweetDisabled Women in History: Rosemary Kennedy
(1918-2005)
It was September 13th, 1918 and the doctor was late. The Spanish flu was running rampant through Boston killing thousands. The Kennedy house was safe, but Rose Kennedy was in labor and feeling the need to push. The nurse told her to stop and even held her knees closed, but the baby kept coming. As the head came out, the nurse pushed it back in, possibly causing oxygen deprivation. The doctor needed the $125 fee from the Kennedy family and so the baby’s birth was delayed. The baby was named Rosemary.
Other stories in this series:
Rosemary Kennedy growing up disabled
Rose Kennedy wrote about Rosemary:
She was slow in everything, and some things she seemed unable to learn how to do, or do well with consistency. When she was old enough to learn a little reading and writing, the letters and words were extremely difficult for her. And instead of writing from left to right on a page, she wrote in the opposite direction.³
When Rose consulted physicians about Rosemary she was given the diagnosis of “mental retardation,” “genetic accident,” and “uterine accident.” There was also a diagnosis of epilepsy at one point, though according to her siblings they weren’t allowed to talk about it.
There was a lot of pressure on Joe Kennedy because of his political position to not have a child who was “different.” Any difference could mean there was “bad blood” in the family. Rosie’s parents expected her to perform at the same level as her siblings because anything less would be embarrassing for them. When she could not meet her parent’s standards they called her difficult.
I wanted to cry for young Rosie who was always told she wasn’t good enough. She saw how her parents treated her differently than her siblings, and yet all she wanted was love and a little freedom.
How Rosemary’s disability leads to a Lobotomy
As Rosie got older she grew to resent the tight control her parents and guardians had over her. Her family said she had “violent rage” and numerous seizures. It seems that neither parent wanted to bother dealing with Rosie. Rosie needed a schedule and people to rely on, but her parents kept moving her around.
It was horrifying to read how they treated their daughter because they clearly viewed her as an embarrassment and liability. Rose’s letters to Rosie were usually full of lectures on how Rosie shouldn’t get fat, rather than full of love.
Joe Kennedy and Rose discussed a frontal lobotomy for Rosie, but when Rosie’s sister Kathleen found out the side effects were: extreme personality changes, loss of motor control, and other functions, Rose decided against it. However, in 1941 Joe went behind the family’s back and took Rosie to Dr. Walter Freeman, a neurologist, and psychologist. Dr. Freeman said Rosie had “agitated depression” and a lobotomy would fix her rages and “render her happy and content”. He assured Joe a lobotomy was the best option for Rosie.
Lobotomies came to be known as the “Surgery of the Soul.” If patients were violent before the operation, afterward it seems like their personality had been erased. They’d often sit listlessly for hours after surgery. For Joe, a lobotomy seemed like it solved the problem of Rosie.
The Surgery of the Soul- Rosemary’s lobotomy
Reading about Rosie’s lobotomy was nauseating, so I won’t go into too many details here. For Rosie’s surgery, she was awake as they bore holes in her skull. She listened and obeyed when the doctors told her to recite songs and stories. This encouraged the doctor and he decided to cut more nerve endings which then caused her to go silent.¹
It was clear just a few hours later that the surgery had gone poorly as Rosie could no longer walk or talk. She was paralyzed on her left side and never regained the full use of her arm and legs. From then on she needed full-time care. The nurse was so horrified by what happened during Rosie’s surgery she left nursing forever.¹
Rosemary disappears from the Kennedy family
We don’t know exactly what the Kennedys knew and when (besides Joe), but Rosie disappeared from the family after her surgery. Rose stopped writing to and about her daughter, and there’s no record of her seeing Rosie for 20 years, so she must have known something. At family gatherings, Rosie never existed.
Joe eventually put Rosie in a home for the “mentally retarded” in Wisconsin run by the Sisters of Saint Francis Assisi. Joe forbade Rosie from seeing other people (including family) and the outside world.² He didn’t want anyone to know about Rosemary. The restrictions were removed when Joe had a stroke in 1961.
Eunice Kennedy and the Special Olympics
Eunice took charge of Rosemary’s care after Joe’s stroke, and she allowed Rosemary to have visits and trips away from the convent. Rosie inspired Eunice to have the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation focus its resources on helping the mentally disabled. Eunice also started Camp Shriver on the family’s farm in Maryland which later became the Special Olympics.
I’ll end with a letter Rose (Rosie’s mother) wrote to another parent that had a disabled child so you can see the attitudes Rosemary faced:
…He (God) has sent you a retarded child. He took away my three stalwart sons-young men, well equipped and eager to devote their time and talents to His work on earth. And He left me my handicapped daughter, mentally and physically unable to help herself or anyone else. Life is not easy for any of us, but it is a challenge and it is up to us…to resolve to be strong and not be a burden to our family and friends.¹
Rosie outlived many of the Kennedys. She died on Jan 7, 2005, when she was 86 years old.
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Sources
- Larson, Kate Clifford. Rosemary: the Hidden Kennedy Daughter. Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.
2. Koehler-Pentacoff, Elizabeth. The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women. Bancroft Press, 2016.
3. Kennedy, Rose. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Times to Remember. Doubleday & Company, 1974.
4. The Lobotomist: A Gripping Tale Of Medical Intervention Gone Awry, And One Of The Most Barbaric Mistakes Of Modern Medicine. PBS January 21, 2008.