The Kennedys have had a long haul of family secrets, tragedies, and what many may know as the "Kennedy Curse." However, the story of President John F. Kennedy's sister Rosemary Kennedy is something else entirely.
Over eight decades ago, Rosemary underwent a lobotomy that was ordered by her father. She was left severely intellectually disabled. Two books are now diving into the compelling secrets of her untold story.
At the age of 23, Rosemary was lobotomized. The procedure was secretly scheduled by her father. The once vibrant and eager woman was left mostly unable to walk or talk.
Rosemary was the firstborn daughter to her father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, and mother, Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy, in 1918. From birth, she developed more slowly than was typical, but it was said that this was never really of concern to her parents until her younger sisters began to pass her developmentally.
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Back during that time, there were a lot of stigmas against people with any kind of disability. Not to mention, there wasn't a lot of research around intellectual disabilities, leaving very few options for diagnosis and treatment.
Perhaps these were the reasons her parents had such trouble making sure Rosemary received the proper attention and care that she needed to thrive. She notably struggled throughout her school years, having to repeat grades and being sent to private boarding schools that catered their support to those with intellectual challenges.
Into adulthood, Rosemary's life was obviously different from that of her siblings. She recognized that she was not granted the same freedoms or opportunities as they were. This caused her to begin to act out and take on a defiant characteristic.
Her family became afraid that this new stage of Rosemary's life would cause her to somehow bring embarrassment to the Kennedy family. This pushed her parents to search harder for any possible cure of Rosemary's problems.
During their search, her parents were told about a fairly new procedure — an experimental procedure that had high risks and a long rap sheet of failed cases. The procedure was supposed to reduce depression and aggressiveness in patients. Yet, despite the procedure not being accepted by the American Medical Association, doctors assured Joseph P. Kennedy that it would be successful, so he arranged for Rosemary to undergo it.
The procedure was a devastating failure for Rosemary. She was left intellectually disabled, her personality not nearly the same as it used to be. Upon being released from the hospital, she was immediately put into an institution in New York. She stayed there for the next seven years.
After leaving this facility, her father sent her to St. Coletta in Wisconsin. He was said to have never seen her again, and her siblings didn't see her for the next two decades.
In her book The Missing Kennedy, Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff talks about having visited Rosemary at the facility while going to see her aunt, who was one of Rosemary's caretakers for more than 30 years. The author remembers how happy Rosemary was whenever she had visitors: "When people visited her, she was in heaven."
In Kate Clifford Larson's book Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter, she reveals details of Rosemary's birth that perhaps played a large part in her developmental challenges. The author talks about how when Rose went into labor, the nurse on hand was hesitant to deliver the baby without the primary physician in attendance.
The nurse convinced Rose to "hold her legs together tightly in the hope of delaying the baby's birth," and when that didn't work, she instead went to "holding the baby's head and forcing it back into the birth canal for two excruciating hours."
The way the events of Rosemary's life unfolded were disturbing and unfortunate, all in the name of keeping the Kennedy dynasty on a pedestal in the public eye. The story of Rosemary is one of great strife, yet her challenges encouraged members of her family to take up work in advocating for and improving care for those with intellectual disabilities.
