Random Reasons Why People Believe In "Kennedy Curse" (14 items)

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  (#1) Rosemary Kennedy

  Rosemary Kennedy was the first daughter of Rose and Joseph Kennedy. During Rosemary's birth, Rose went into labor very quickly, and Rosemary entered the birth canal before the doctor arrived. A nurse told Rose to keep her legs closed to prevent her from giving birth until the doctor showed up. This cut off the oxygen to Rosemary's brain and likely led to her intellectual disabilities. After a fairly quiet childhood, Rosemary began to have violent mood swings. She also had gait issues, including an infamous stumble in front of the King of England.

  After becoming more rebellious and erratic, Rosemary was given a lobotomy in 1941. She was 23 years old. The procedure was fairly new, and as such, it's likely that too much of her brain was removed. It left her unable to walk, speak, or urinate, and she was institutionalized. The Kennedy family essentially erased her from their public profile, and her lobotomy wasn't made public for 20 years. She died in 2005 of natural causes.
  
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  (#2) Joseph Kennedy, Jr. Was Killed During World War II

  The eldest of the nine Kennedy children, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. was being groomed for a political career, but he was killed in August 1944 while training for a secret mission. Kennedy had volunteered for Operation Anvil, a plan to load surplus heavy bombers with explosives and use them as remote-piloted drone missiles. The project required the plane to take off with a pilot, who would parachute out before the missile was aimed. Kennedy was training as a pilot for an Anvil mission when the plane he was flying blew up over England.
  
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  (#3) Kathleen Kennedy Died in a Plane Crash in 1948

  The brief life of the fourth Kennedy child, Kathleen, was marred by tragedy. At 24, she married British royal William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington - just two months later he was shot dead by a sniper during World War II. Four years after his death, she started dating Peter Fitzwilliam, another British royal. He was in the process of divorcing his wife. She planned to marry Fitzwilliam but wanted to get her father's blessing first. Kathleen and Peter were planning to take a short vacation to the French Riviera together before meeting her father in Paris to discuss their plans, but their plane crashed before they arrived. There were no survivors. She was 28.
  
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  (#4) John and Jackie Kennedy Lost Two Children at Birth

  Both before and during their time in the White House, John and Jackie Kennedy lost newborn children. They had a stillborn daughter in 1957, and in 1963, had a son named Patrick who lived just two days after being born prematurely. While Kennedy was harshly criticized for not rushing back to Jackie when the stillbirth took place, it's thought that Patrick's death brought the President and First Lady closer. It also sparked new interest in the science of birth.
  
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  (#5) John F. Kennedy Was Assassinated in 1963

  John F. Kennedy became the third Kennedy child to die young, due to his assassination in Dallas in November 1963.
  
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  (#6) The Misfortunes of Ted Kennedy

  The youngest Kennedy child, Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, had great achievements in politics in his many decades in the Senate, but he was dogged by scandal and misfortune as well. In June 1964, he was involved in a plane crash in which one of his aides and the pilot were killed. Ted was pulled from the wreckage by a fellow senator and spent weeks recovering from a broken back, which bothered him the rest of his life. Five years later, he was involved in a car crash that killed a young woman riding with him. Kennedy drove off the road into a pond and fled, leaving the girl trapped in the sinking car. 

  Both that incident and the strain of caring for the children of John and Robert dimmed Ted Kennedy's presidential hopes. He also dealt with scandals related to a rape allegation against his nephew, fallout from his role in the Clarence Thomas hearings, and various tabloid stories. In 2008, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died a year later.
  
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  (#7) Robert F. Kennedy Was Assassinated in 1968

  The 1968 Democratic nomination for President was a chaotic race between multiple candidates, including Robert Kennedy, the seventh Kennedy child. After winning the hugely important California primary, Robert was shot dead in Los Angeles in June of that year by a Palestinian national over his support of Israel.
  
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  (#8) Robert's Son Joseph Was in a Terrible Car Crash in 1973

  Despite dying at age 43, Robert F. Kennedy had 11 children. His son Joseph P. Kennedy II, appeared to carry on the Kennedy Curse with a 1973 car crash. His Jeep overturned, fracturing a vertebrae in his brother David's back and paralyzing David's girlfriend. Joseph was cited for reckless driving and lost his license.
  
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  (#9) Ted's Son Edward Jr. Lost a Leg to Cancer

  Edward M. Kennedy Jr., the son of Ted Kennedy and nephew to JFK and RFK, was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 12 and had one of his legs amputated, which successfully stopped the spread of the disease. Ted was in the middle of walking his daughter Kathleen down the aisle and rushed back to the hospital afterward to be with Edward Jr. He went on to become a successful lawyer and was later elected to the Connecticut State Senate.
  
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  (#10) Robert's Son David Died at 28

  The fourth of Robert F. Kennedy's eleven children, David A. Kennedy,  first nearly drowned at age 13, then was watching TV as news reports of his father's assassination were broadcast. The death of his father deeply affected David and he became a heavy drug user. He was injured in the jeep accident that paralyzed his girlfriend, then was the target of kidnapping threats later. At age 28, he overdosed on cocaine and painkillers and was found dead in a hotel room in Miami.
  
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  (#11) Robert's Son Michael Was Killed in a Skiing Accident

  Robert F. Kennedy's sixth child, Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, was killed at age 39 in a skiing accident. The family had been playing football on skis and Michael went into a tree headfirst while not wearing a helmet.
  
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  (#12) John F. Kennedy, Jr. Was Killed in a Plane Crash

  The only surviving son of John and Jacqueline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy ,Jr. was a magnet for press attention from birth. He'd worked in nonprofit publishing and was considering getting into politics, but died in 1999 in a small plane crash, which also killed his wife and her sister.
  
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  (#13) Ted's Daugher Kara Died Young of a Heart Attack

  Ted Kennedy's first child, Kara, was a successful filmmaker and philanthropist but died at age 51 of a sudden heart attack while exercising. She had already survived a rare form of lung cancer and endured a complicated surgery to remove part of her left lung.
  
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  (#14) Robert F. Kennedy's Granddaughter Saoirse Died At Just 22

  Saoirse Kennedy Hill died at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts on August 1, 2019.  The family confirmed the sad news in a statement, though no cause of death was reported. 

  "Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse," the statement said. 

  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared a slideshow in memoriam of Saoirse on August 2, calling her a "fearless adventurer." He added, "The gaping hole that she leaves in our family is too large to ever heal."

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