Kennedy Curse

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The Kennedy Curse refers to a series of unfortunate events that have happened to the famed Kennedy family. While these events could have happened to any family, some have referred to the continual misfortune of the Kennedy family as a curse. Several members of the Kennedy family have died from unnatural causes, most notably brothers John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy who were assassinated, and John F. Kennedy, Jr., who died in a 1999 plane crash.^[1]

[edit] Validity

There are several theories regarding the origin of the "curse".

Critics of the curse theory argue that given the sheer size of the family, the number of unfortunate events is not unusual. The "curse" may be seen less as supernatural and more as simple probability. Moreover, while tragic events occur to a lesser or greater extent in all families, they make headline news when they involve a famous clan. It could also be argued that the Kennedys, owing to their relative wealth, have a lifestyle that is quite different from that of average persons—most people, for example, do not pilot or fly in private planes—and consequently they are more often in greater physical danger.^[2]

It could furthermore be argued that, by being a political family, the Kennedys may have exposed themselves to danger from political enemies. Some have argued that President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy were victims of assassination conspiracies.^[3][4]

[edit] Chronology

Believers in the "curse" generally cite the following core events as evidence of the family's misfortunes:^{[citation needed]}

• 1941 - Rosemary Kennedy was believed to be mentally retarded. Because of her increasingly violent and severe mood swings, she underwent a lobotomy. The surgery impaired her cognitive abilities even more and as a result, she remained institutionalized until her death in 2005.^[5]
• August 12, 1944 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., the eldest son of Joseph Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, dies in a mid-air aircraft explosion over the English Channel while flying a secret mission during World War II.
• September 10, 1944 - William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, husband of Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish, is killed in action by a sniper in Belgium while serving as a major in the Coldstream Guards.^[5]
• May 13, 1948 - Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, dies in a plane crash in France.
• 1955 - Jacqueline Kennedy suffers a miscarriage.
• August 23, 1956 - Jacqueline Kennedy gives birth to a stillborn daughter. (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 call her "Arabella Kennedy".)^{[citation needed]}
• December 19, 1961 - Joseph P. Kennedy, the family patriarch, suffers a greatly disabling stroke which makes movement and communication extremely difficult lasting until his death in 1969.
• August 9, 1963 - Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, the second son of John and Jacqueline Kennedy, born six weeks premature, dies two days after his birth.^[5]
• November 22, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas the same date, November 22, his great-grandfather had died.
• June 19, 1964 - Massachusetts Senator Ted 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 (D-Ind.) and spent weeks in a hospital recovering from a broken back, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding.^[6]
• June 5, 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy, brother to both John and Ted, is shot multiple times and killed in Los Angeles, immediately following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary.
• July 18, 1969 - "Chappaquiddick incident": A car driven by Ted Kennedy goes off a bridge on Martha's Vineyard killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.
• February 23, 1972 - Joseph P. Kennedy II, son of Robert and Ethel, is on a Lufthansa jet over India that is hijacked by five Palestinians and flown to South Yemen.
• January 23, 1973 - Alexander Onassis, stepson of Jacqueline Kennedy, dies in a plane crash.
• 1973 - Edward Kennedy, Jr., loses his right leg due to bone cancer at the age of twelve.
• 1973 - Joseph P. Kennedy II, son of Robert and Ethel, is the driver in a car accident that leaves one passenger, Pam Kelley, permanently paralyzed.^[5]
• April 25, 1984 - David Kennedy, a son of Robert and Ethel, dies from a Demerol and cocaine overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.^[5]
• November 19, 1988 - Christina Onassis, stepdaughter of Jacqueline Kennedy, dies in Argentina of drug abuse-related heart failure.
• January, 1994 - Jacqueline Kennedy is diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer, and dies later that year.
• December 31, 1997 - Michael Kennedy, son of Robert, dies in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado.^[5]
• July 16, 1999 - John F. Kennedy, Jr.; his wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy; and Carolyn's sister Lauren Bessette die when the private plane Kennedy is piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean on a hazy evening en route from Essex County Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey to Martha's Vineyard.

[edit] Secondary events

Despite being in the news, these events are not considered to be part of the "curse" by all believers.^{[citation needed]}

• November 26, 1950 - Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, Kathleen Kennedy's father-in-law, had a heart attack and was treated by the suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. He died.^[7]
• September 11, 1983 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is arrested in South Dakota for heroin possession.
• 1986 - Patrick J. Kennedy, a son of Senator Ted Kennedy, begins treatment for cocaine addiction.
• 1991 - William Kennedy Smith, son of Jean Kennedy, is accused of raping a woman in Palm Beach, Florida. He is tried and acquitted.
• August 12, 1999 - Anthony Radziwill, son of Lee Radziwill and nephew of John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, dies of cancer one month after his first cousin, John F. Kennedy Jr. perishes in a plane crash.
• June 7, 2002 - Michael Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, is convicted in the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley, committed when he was a teenager.
• 2004 - William Kennedy Smith faces civil charges based on an alleged 1999 sexual assault; the charges are dismissed.
• May 4, 2006 - Patrick J. Kennedy is involved in a single-car accident in Washington DC. He has since entered treatment for addiction to prescription pain medication.
• 2006 - Ted Kennedy was aboard a plane which was struck by lightning and had to be diverted to New Haven, Conn. Senator Kennedy had just delivered the commencement address at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams and was on his way to his Cape Cod home when the plane was struck.
• May 20, 2008 - Ted Kennedy, at the age of 76, is diagnosed with a brain tumor (Glioma) after being hospitalized for an unexplained seizure in Massachusetts.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References