- Kennedy tragedies
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The Kennedy tragedies,[1][2][3] colloquially called the Kennedy Curse, is a term sometimes used to describe a series of tragedies involving members of the Kennedy family.[3][4][5][6][7][8] Many of the tragedies have been caused by preventable reckless choices like driving drunk, piloting an airplane under unsafe conditions, or choosing such relatively dangerous careers as military service or politics. If such events are subtracted from the Kennedy family record, what remains resembles a more ordinary table of events likely to occur in such a large family, such as cancer or pregnancy miscarriage. The notion of a curse is superstitious and was created and is fostered by the news media.[9][10]
Chronology
Believers in the curse generally cite the following core events as evidence of the family's misfortunes:
- 1941 – Rosemary Kennedy is believed to be mentally retarded. However, some sources have claimed she was suffering from mental illness, such as depression. Because of her increasingly violent and severe mood swings, her father, Joe, Sr., arranged in secret for her to undergo a lobotomy. The surgery impaired her cognitive abilities even more, and as a result, she remained institutionalized until her death in 2005.[4][5][6][11]
- May 13, 1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington dies in a plane crash in France.[4][5][6]
- August 23, 1956 – Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy gives birth to a stillborn daughter, Arabella.[6] (Although the daughter was unnamed and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to her parents with a marker reading "Daughter", later reports indicated that the Kennedys had intended to name her Arabella.)[12]
- August 9, 1963 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy dies two days after his birth.[4][6][11]
- November 22, 1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas.[4][5][6]
- June 19, 1964 – U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy is involved in a plane crash in which one of his aides and the pilot were killed. He 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]
- June 6, 1968 – U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles immediately following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary.[4][5][6]
- July 18, 1969 – In the Chappaquiddick incident, a car driven by Ted Kennedy accidentally goes off a bridge in Chappaquiddick Island, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.[4][5][6][7] In his July 25 televised statement, Kennedy stated that on the night of the incident he wondered "whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys."[13][14]
- August 13, 1973 – Joseph P. Kennedy II is the driver in a car accident that leaves his passenger, Pam Kelley, permanently paralyzed.[4][6][11]
- November 17, 1973 – Edward M. Kennedy, Jr. loses a portion of his right leg due to bone cancer.[1][2]
- April 25, 1984 – David Anthony Kennedy died of a Demerol and cocaine overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.[4][5][6][11]
- December 31, 1997 – Michael LeMoyne Kennedy died in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado.[1][4][5][6][11]
- July 16, 1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr. died when the Piper Saratoga light aircraft he is piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard due to pilot error.[4][5][6]
- September 16, 2011 - Kara Kennedy Allen died of a heart attack while exercising in a Washington, D.C. health club.
References
- ^ a b c "Kennedy Family Tragedies". The Washington Post. 1999. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/jfkjr/timeline.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- ^ a b "Kennedy family tragedies". Tribune Company. http://www.courant.com/news/politics/20090826_tragedies_kennedy,0,5261652.graphic. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- ^ a b McGrory, Brian (1999-07-18). "Family overshadowed by a litany of tragedy". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/packages/jfkjr/mcgrory.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Klein, Edward (2004). The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First Family for 150 Years. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312312930.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jones, Sam; Tran, Mark (2009-08-26). "History of the Kennedy curse". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/26/kennedy-curse-senator-ted-death. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "The Kennedy Curse". The Hartford Courant. http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-kennedy-curse-pictures,0,1958578.photogallery. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- ^ a b "Is Pat's Crash Part of Kennedy Curse?". ABC News. 2006-05-05. http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1926999. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- ^ Lacayo, Richard (2009-08-26). "Ted Kennedy, 1932–2009: The Brother Who Mattered Most". Time. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1918758,00.html?cnn=yes. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- ^ Grady, Sandy (1999-07-22). "There is no Kennedy curse; it's actually too much macho". Rome News-Tribune. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19990722&id=vIEIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NjUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5215,5772560. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
- ^ "Kennedy curse". The Skeptic's Dictionary. http://www.skepdic.com/kennedycurse.html. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
- ^ a b c d e King, John (1999-07-17). "Tragedy has repeatedly stalked Kennedy clan". CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/US/9907/17/kennedy.tragedies/. Retrieved 2008-02-15..
- ^ Arabella Kennedy (1956–1956) - Find A Grave Memorial
- ^ "'Grief, Fear, Doubt, Panic'—And Guilt". Newsweek. 1969-08-04. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/kennedys/storyHighlights/23/. Retrieved 2009-08-26.[dead link]
- ^ Kennedy, Ted (2009). The Kennedys (TV-series). American Experience, WGBH-TV. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/kennedys/.
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