Rosemary Kennedy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rosemary Kennedy
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Rosemary Kennedy in 1938, ready to be presented at Buckingham Palace.
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Rose Marie Kennedy
September 13, 1918 Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Died | January 7, 2005 (aged 86) Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, U.S.
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| Resting place | Holyhood Cemetery Brookline, Massachusetts |
| Education | Convent of the Sacred Heart |
| Parent(s) | Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy |
| Family | Kennedy |
Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy (born September 13, 1918 – died January 7, 2005) was the oldest daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She was the sister of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. and Ted Kennedy.
As a young adult, Rosemary Kennedy faced health challenges, including seizures and strong mood changes. To help with these issues, her father arranged for her to have a brain surgery called a lobotomy in 1941. She was 23 years old at the time. This surgery left her with serious disabilities, making it hard for her to speak clearly or take care of herself.
Rosemary Kennedy spent most of her life after the surgery at St. Coletta, a special care center in Jefferson, Wisconsin. For many years, her family kept her situation and where she was living a secret. While she was first kept apart from her family, Rosemary later had visits with her brothers and sisters.
Early Life and Family
Rose Marie Kennedy was born at her parents' home in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was the third child and the first daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. She was named after her mother and was often called Rosemary or Rosie.
During her birth, the doctor was not available because of a widespread illness called the Spanish influenza epidemic. The nurse told Rose Kennedy to keep her legs closed, which meant the baby's head stayed in the birth canal for two hours. This action may have caused a harmful lack of oxygen to Rosemary's brain.
As Rosemary grew, her parents noticed she was not reaching typical developmental milestones at the same time as other children. When she was two years old, she had difficulty sitting up, crawling, and learning to walk.
People who knew Rosemary said she had an intellectual disability. However, some have wondered if her family fully shared the details of her condition. One writer noted that her mother, Rose Kennedy, did not tell her friends about Rosemary's challenges. She often pretended her daughter was developing normally.
Rosemary had trouble learning to read and write, even with help from tutors. At age 11, she was sent to a special boarding school in Pennsylvania for people with intellectual disabilities.
When she was 15, Rosemary went to the Sacred Heart Convent in Elmhurst, Providence, Rhode Island. There, she was taught separately from the other students. Two nuns and a special teacher worked with her all day in her own classroom. The Kennedy family even gave the school a new tennis court to thank them for their efforts.
Reports said her reading, writing, spelling, and counting skills were at a fourth-grade level (for children aged 9-10). During this time, her mother arranged for her older brother, John, to go with her to a tea-dance. Thanks to him, she seemed "not different at all" during the dance.
Rosemary did not read many books, but she could read Winnie-the-Pooh. Diaries she wrote in the late 1930s, which were published later, show a young woman who enjoyed going to the opera, tea dances, and getting new dresses. She also went with her family to Rome in 1939 for the coronation of Pope Pius XII. She even visited the White House.
Her parents told magazines that she was "studying to be a kindergarten teacher." They also said she was interested in social work but secretly wanted to be on stage.
In 1938, Rosemary was presented as a debutante to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. This happened while her father was the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Rosemary practiced the difficult royal curtsy for many hours. At the event, she tripped but quickly recovered. Her mother never talked about the incident and treated the debut as a great success. The King and Queen smiled as if nothing had happened.
The Lobotomy
Rosemary's sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, said that when Rosemary returned to the United States from the United Kingdom in 1940, her behavior became more challenging. Eunice stated that Rosemary became "increasingly irritable and difficult" at age 22. Rosemary would sometimes have seizures and strong outbursts where she might hit others.
After being sent home from a summer camp and staying only a few months at a school in Philadelphia, Rosemary was sent to a convent school in Washington, D.C.. Her behavior sometimes worried her parents. Her father was especially concerned that Rosemary's actions might bring shame to the family and harm his or his children's political careers.
When Rosemary was 23 years old, doctors told her father that a type of brain surgery called a lobotomy might help calm her mood swings and stop her occasional violent outbursts. Joseph Kennedy decided that Rosemary should have the lobotomy. However, he did not tell his wife about this decision until after the surgery was done. The procedure took place in November 1941.
It quickly became clear that the surgery had not worked as hoped. Rosemary's mental abilities became like those of a two-year-old child. She could not walk or speak clearly and had trouble controlling her bladder.
After the Surgery
After the lobotomy, Rosemary was immediately placed in a special care facility. She first lived for several years at Craig House, a private hospital north of New York City. In 1949, she moved to Jefferson, Wisconsin. She lived there for the rest of her life on the grounds of the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children.
Archbishop Richard Cushing told her father about St. Coletta's, which cared for over 300 people with disabilities. Her father visited and built a private house for her about a mile from St. Coletta's main campus. The nuns called the house "the Kennedy cottage." Two Catholic nuns and other caregivers looked after Rosemary. She had a car for rides and a dog she could take for walks.
Because of her condition, Rosemary's parents kept her separated from her family for a long time. Her mother, Rose Kennedy, did not visit her for 20 years. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. also did not visit his daughter at the facility.
The lobotomy was kept secret from the family for 20 years. None of her siblings knew where she was. When her older brother John was running for re-election to the Senate in 1958, the Kennedy family explained her absence by saying she was a very private person.
The Kennedy family did not publicly explain her absence until 1961, after John had become president. They did not reveal that she was in a facility because of a failed lobotomy. Instead, they said she was considered "mentally retarded." In 1961, after Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had a stroke that made it hard for him to speak and walk, Rosemary's siblings finally learned where she was. The details of her lobotomy did not become public knowledge until 1987.
Later Life
After her father passed away in 1969, the Kennedy family slowly brought Rosemary back into family life. Rosemary sometimes visited relatives in Florida and Washington, D.C., and went to her childhood home on Cape Cod. By then, Rosemary had learned to walk again, but she had a limp. She never regained the ability to speak clearly, and one of her arms was weak.
Rosemary's condition is sometimes said to have inspired her sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, to later start the Special Olympics. However, Eunice told The New York Times in 1995 that Rosemary was just one of many people with disabilities she invited to her house to swim. Eunice said the games should not focus on just one person.
Rosemary Kennedy died peacefully on January 7, 2005, at age 86, at Fort Atkinson Memorial Hospital in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Her siblings (sisters Jean, Eunice, and Patricia, and brother Ted) were with her. She was buried next to her parents in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.
See also
