Ireland 1938, Reddit
Rosemary Kennedy (1918-2005) was Joseph and Rose Kennedy’s first daughter. In Rosemary: Hidden Kennedy Daughter 2016, Kate Larson wrote when Rose went into labour with her third child, her nurse wouldn’t deliver a baby without a doctor there. When the doctor was late, she demanded that Rose hold her legs together tightly, delaying the delivery.
James Patterson’s book The House of Kennedy 2020 emphasised that the birth came in Boston’s 1918 pneumonia epidemic, complicating the birth by scarce medical resources. The baby’s exposed head had been pushed back into the birth canal for 2 hideous hours until Dr Good arrived. He finally arrived and delivered a healthy girl!
Rosemary took longer to crawl, walk and use fine motor skills than her brothers. But it was only once her younger sisters began to pass her developmentally that the parents saw a problem; a very beautiful girl but slow. Alas as Rosemary grew, she had fits which could have been seizures or mental illness episodes. So Rose never let Rosemary leave the house alone.
The youngster struggled in school, her disabilities impossible to ignore. Rose sought medical advice but their diagnoses were mental retardation, genetics or uterine accident. In the expanding house of competitive Kennedys, Rosemary was often left behind. She was held back in school until Rose finally hired private tutors at home.
The parents tried to hide Rosemary from their friends, sending her to a private boarding school at 11. While living at one school, she snuck out at night. Her family became even more concerned, so over the next 9 years, they moved her to 5 new schools. They chose schools that offered special support for intellectually challenged students and while some schools offered better programmes for Rosemary than others, the frequent changes were difficult.
In the 1920s, stigma associated with mental disability could ruin families. Many important Americans believed in eugenics, the pseudoscience advocating for forced sterilisation of defective citizens. But even for wealthy families, hospitals for the disabled could be nasty, filthy, with under-qualified staff, and patients could suffer from physical-sexual abuse and medical experiments. So sending Rosemary to a disability institution was too extreme for her parents. In any case, Catholics knew that disability was the result of sin.
The family moved to London where Joseph Snr was named Ambassador to the U.K in 1938, putting them in an immediate spotlight. A fortnight after their arrival in UK, Rosemary and Kathleen were to be presented at court, a tradition for young women then. Rosemary did whatever she had to, in order to master the protocols. UK media loved her radiant dress and style.
Left: Kathleen, mother Rose and Rosemary (aged 19) presented at court to King George VI
all looking beautiful
May 1938, Daily Mail
Back in U.S, Rose tried to find a special school for her daughter, but few places could take a disabled adult. Worse, her sexy figure was attracting male attention, horrifying Joe Snr. Dad was committed to the political careers of his oldest sons and an unwanted family pregnancy could damage their political futures. So her father consulted doctors & psychologists for a cure, unsuccessfully.
Swiss psychiatrist Dr Gottlieb Burckhardt had experimented with removing brain parts to ameliorate mental illness symptoms. Such experiments produced mixed results, yet inspired by watching his efforts, noted Portuguese Dr António Moniz began experimenting in 1935. Moniz claimed amazing results from his new procedure, publishing his first paper on pre-frontal lobotomy in 1936. He wrote his brain surgery reduced depression and aggressiveness, so people listened. After Moniz’s first lobotomy, Dr Walter Freeman and Dr James Watts started operating in the US.
Joe discussed the procedure with Rose who asked daughter Kathleen to investigate. Kathleen spoke to John White, a journalist analysing mental treatments. White said lobotomies had horrid effects, and that it had NOT been accepted by the American Medical Association. Kathleen immediately reported back to her mother it was NOT safe.
Kennedy spoke to Drs Freeman & Watts, U.S’s leading practitioners who were promoting lobotomies as a cure for physical and mental disabilities. In Nov 1941 Joe scheduled Rosemary for a lobotomy! Surgery at George Washington University Hospital involved drilling holes on both sides of her head, inserting a metal rod into her cranium near the frontal lobes, turning and scraping. Freeman used an ice-pick, hammering it in through the eye socket. This disconnected the frontal lobes from the rest of the brain. Larson: Rosemary was given only a local anaesthetic over the brain!
The procedure was to end Rosemary’s jaunts, but the result was far more extreme: it took months of therapy before she could move one arm. And one of her legs was permanently turned inward. Months after the surgery, she regained an ability to speak but only incoherently. Even her personality had been forever altered to that of a toddler.
Research into intellectual disabilities was underdeveloped in the early C20th, as were methods for diagnosis, education and treatment. And a stigma against people with intellectual and physical disabilities remained. So a decade after her death, examining Rosemary's legacy was still necessary. Sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the Special Olympics 1968, a leading advocate for disability rights.
Rosemary was incontinent, she couldn't talk and relied on grunting or shrieking
Rosemary took longer to crawl, walk and use fine motor skills than her brothers. But it was only once her younger sisters began to pass her developmentally that the parents saw a problem; a very beautiful girl but slow. Alas as Rosemary grew, she had fits which could have been seizures or mental illness episodes. So Rose never let Rosemary leave the house alone.
The youngster struggled in school, her disabilities impossible to ignore. Rose sought medical advice but their diagnoses were mental retardation, genetics or uterine accident. In the expanding house of competitive Kennedys, Rosemary was often left behind. She was held back in school until Rose finally hired private tutors at home.
The parents tried to hide Rosemary from their friends, sending her to a private boarding school at 11. While living at one school, she snuck out at night. Her family became even more concerned, so over the next 9 years, they moved her to 5 new schools. They chose schools that offered special support for intellectually challenged students and while some schools offered better programmes for Rosemary than others, the frequent changes were difficult.
In the 1920s, stigma associated with mental disability could ruin families. Many important Americans believed in eugenics, the pseudoscience advocating for forced sterilisation of defective citizens. But even for wealthy families, hospitals for the disabled could be nasty, filthy, with under-qualified staff, and patients could suffer from physical-sexual abuse and medical experiments. So sending Rosemary to a disability institution was too extreme for her parents. In any case, Catholics knew that disability was the result of sin.
The family moved to London where Joseph Snr was named Ambassador to the U.K in 1938, putting them in an immediate spotlight. A fortnight after their arrival in UK, Rosemary and Kathleen were to be presented at court, a tradition for young women then. Rosemary did whatever she had to, in order to master the protocols. UK media loved her radiant dress and style.
all looking beautiful
May 1938, Daily Mail
To present Rosemary, an intellectually disabled adult, to the king at Buckingham Palace in the debutante season was brave. A deb with intellectual disabilities might have stirred old prejudices, and Joe and Rose were determined to keep the family secret. Yet Rosemary was treated just like all the other eligible young women presented at court in 1938.
Rosemary was enrolled in Belmont House, a British boarding school run by Catholic nuns who used Montessori Methods to focus on learning via practical skills. Rosemary flourished under the guidance of the nuns, who trained her to be a teacher's aide.
WW2 started in 1939 causing the Kennedys pain; Joe Snr believed the US should not ally itself with Britain against Hitler’s Germany. After the Germans marched on Paris in mid-1940, Joe resigned and they returned home.
WW2 started in 1939 causing the Kennedys pain; Joe Snr believed the US should not ally itself with Britain against Hitler’s Germany. After the Germans marched on Paris in mid-1940, Joe resigned and they returned home.
Back in U.S, Rose tried to find a special school for her daughter, but few places could take a disabled adult. Worse, her sexy figure was attracting male attention, horrifying Joe Snr. Dad was committed to the political careers of his oldest sons and an unwanted family pregnancy could damage their political futures. So her father consulted doctors & psychologists for a cure, unsuccessfully.
Swiss psychiatrist Dr Gottlieb Burckhardt had experimented with removing brain parts to ameliorate mental illness symptoms. Such experiments produced mixed results, yet inspired by watching his efforts, noted Portuguese Dr António Moniz began experimenting in 1935. Moniz claimed amazing results from his new procedure, publishing his first paper on pre-frontal lobotomy in 1936. He wrote his brain surgery reduced depression and aggressiveness, so people listened. After Moniz’s first lobotomy, Dr Walter Freeman and Dr James Watts started operating in the US.
Joe discussed the procedure with Rose who asked daughter Kathleen to investigate. Kathleen spoke to John White, a journalist analysing mental treatments. White said lobotomies had horrid effects, and that it had NOT been accepted by the American Medical Association. Kathleen immediately reported back to her mother it was NOT safe.
Kennedy spoke to Drs Freeman & Watts, U.S’s leading practitioners who were promoting lobotomies as a cure for physical and mental disabilities. In Nov 1941 Joe scheduled Rosemary for a lobotomy! Surgery at George Washington University Hospital involved drilling holes on both sides of her head, inserting a metal rod into her cranium near the frontal lobes, turning and scraping. Freeman used an ice-pick, hammering it in through the eye socket. This disconnected the frontal lobes from the rest of the brain. Larson: Rosemary was given only a local anaesthetic over the brain!
The procedure was to end Rosemary’s jaunts, but the result was far more extreme: it took months of therapy before she could move one arm. And one of her legs was permanently turned inward. Months after the surgery, she regained an ability to speak but only incoherently. Even her personality had been forever altered to that of a toddler.
Feeble Rosemary and supportive sister Eunice
Daily Mail
Dr Freeman, who had no surgical training and no proof of “his” amazing results, should have read results of a 1961 controlled study.
After being released from the hospital, Rosemary had to be immediately institutionalised. Dad moved Rosemary to Craig Psychiatric House in NY for 7 years. In the late 1940s, he moved her to a residential St Coletta's School for Exceptional Children, Jefferson WI.
After being released from the hospital, Rosemary had to be immediately institutionalised. Dad moved Rosemary to Craig Psychiatric House in NY for 7 years. In the late 1940s, he moved her to a residential St Coletta's School for Exceptional Children, Jefferson WI.
For 20 years Rosemary was totally hidden from her family. Only after another two decades, after Joe Snr became incapacitated by a severe stroke in 1961, did her 8 siblings learnt the truth about Rosemary: she was still in the WI Catholic facility for the mentally disabled. In early 1962, Rose finally saw her daughter again.
Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff, author of The Missing Kennedy, visited Rosemary at St Coletta where Elizabeth’s aunt was one of the caretakers for 30+ years. Koehler-Pentacoff said Rosemary attacked her mother during their first meeting - angry and abandoned, Rosemary was fighting for herself. By then brother Jack was a rising political star so her absence was explained by her being reclusive. Or she was a teacher for disabled children.
Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff, author of The Missing Kennedy, visited Rosemary at St Coletta where Elizabeth’s aunt was one of the caretakers for 30+ years. Koehler-Pentacoff said Rosemary attacked her mother during their first meeting - angry and abandoned, Rosemary was fighting for herself. By then brother Jack was a rising political star so her absence was explained by her being reclusive. Or she was a teacher for disabled children.
Research into intellectual disabilities was underdeveloped in the early C20th, as were methods for diagnosis, education and treatment. And a stigma against people with intellectual and physical disabilities remained. So a decade after her death, examining Rosemary's legacy was still necessary. Sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the Special Olympics 1968, a leading advocate for disability rights.
Sister Paulus was a trusted companion.
Rosemary's nephew Anthony Shriver became an activist for people with developmental disabilities and founded an international non-profit. Brother John Kennedy, 35th US President, signed the Maternal and Child Health and Mental Retardation Planning Amendment to the 1963 Social Security Act, major legislation combating mental illness. This precursor to Americans with Disabilities Act was championed by brother MA Senator Ted Kennedy from 1962 who worked for America’s Association of People with Disabilities. Sister Jean Kennedy Smith founded Very Special Arts, art programming for disabled citizens.
Rosemary died in Jan 2005 at 86, with her siblings by her side. The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site is important.
Rosemary died in Jan 2005 at 86, with her siblings by her side. The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site is important.
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20 comments:
The medical incompetence and unethical surgery performed on her were not excusable! The term "Montessori Methods" ring a bell. I think I have heard of something along the line in the past.
Haven't been here for ages. all going well, I hope. Was the lobotomy ever banned in the USA? Or here for that matter?
roentare
I suspect the early lobotomy industry was predominately on patients hospitalised in old-fashioned private asylums. So probably the medical authorities had no feedback from these non-surgeons because there was no mandatory regulation. If permanent damage was done to many patients who suffered from lobotomies, who would have reported it to the American Medical Association?
The five principles of the Montessori method are 1.respect for the child, 2.the absorbent mind, 3.sensitive periods, 4.the prepared environment and 5.auto education. Examine its relevance for older people in https://montessorifordementia.com.au/
Oh dear, this entry touched a nerve with me! This poor soul was brutalised her whole life by people she should have been able to trust. This story reminds me of my own grandmother who was hospitalised for schizophrenia for almost 4 decades (from her late 20s to her passing). It was the trauma of war and rising antisemitism in Egypt that had tipped her over the edge. If she (and Rosemary) had the resources we have now, both could have lived fulfilling lives outside of institutions.
What a horrifying story.
First of all, I cannot understand how a birth can be prevented for such a long time. That must have been agonising for Rose Kennedy. Rosemary was doomed from the start.
How her parents can have thought that a lobotomy would be the answer to Rosemary's condition is understandable, given the medical 'fashions' of the time. I wonder if they were told of the barbaric nature of the procedure.
Lobotomy has never been banned and lobotomies are still conducted today, though rarely, and under less horrific circumstances.
LMK
good to see you!
Banning lobotomies depended on the decade and on the countries doing the procedure. Psycho-surgery was developed in the 1940s after doctors reported that a person’s behaviour could be altered by making incisions in the front of their brain. From the 1950s, thousands of procedures were conducted in US and Europe but eventually they were banned in Russia, Japan, Germany etc (never banned in the US).
Once less extreme mental health treatments like anti-psychotics came into use, lobotomies became rarely used. So now research into psychosurgery, brain surgery performed to treat psychiatric disorders, will continue anew.
Mandy
It was always the most vulnerable members of society that found themselves isolated in remote institutions, away from their beloved family members, home and job. My grandmother was locked up in a TB asylum outside Melbourne for a long time, and her children were _never_ allowed to visit her. And schizophrenia was even worse.. because the victim lost the ability to have a legally binding opinion :(
How could Rosemary Kennedy not be asked if she wanted a metal rod inserted into her cranium near the frontal lobes? Her hand writing might have been babyish, but she was socially competent!
jabblog
I agree that the home birth was a disaster, and was certain to have a marked impact on the youngster's life. But half the population have an IQ under 100, and many of them need extra support at home, school and eventually the work force. Rosemary was attractive, dearly loved the oldest siblings and looked just like her mum, so why did she not get the family support she needed?
Because her father, Joe Kennedy Snr, had two goals in his life. 1]He concentrated full time on getting his sons to great success in politics and may not have even remembered his daughters' names. 2]He was passionate about his girls not having sex before marriage and particularly that they should not get pregnant before marriage.
I can only guess why Mrs Kennedy didn't take her daughter's side, and tell her brutal husband to leave the poor girl alone.
How awful for you and your family, Hels
Mandy,
my dad's family crisis was back in the 1930s. But it still horrified us now that institutionalised patients had no basic human rights.
We are fortunate to live in better times where one would hope this couldn't happen. Although with his wealth and domineering personality who's to say a modern day Joe Kennedy would be any different.
Fun60
I really distrusted Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, a bitter anti-Semite, from the moment he opposed an American alliance with Britain in 1939, in favour of a pro-German alliance or neutrality.
But I hoped that his devout Catholic family life would at least be full of love and protection. Of course we now know nothing stopped him on his domineering path - he destroyed Rosemary's life at 23, he brutally overran his wife's love for her first daughter, he lied to the other siblings about their beloved sister for over 20 years etc and banned her name from EVER being mentioned in his house :(
You would hope that couldn't happen today, but the Kennedys were the most educated, intelligent and well connected family in the USA. If they couldn't protect their sister and mother from Joe Snr, I suspect ordinary families could still do little to change their dreams now.
it’s 1938. War is looming in Europe. Hitler takes Austria. Hitler wants Czechoslovakia. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain seeks appeasement — “peace in our time.” Ambassador Kennedy approves, insisting that U.S involvement would lead to a second Great Depression at best and utter devastation at worst.
According to confidential German documents made public by the U.S State Department in 1949, Joseph P Kennedy Sr. met with the German Ambassador to Great Britain, Herbert von Dirksen, in June 1938. Dirksen later informed Baron Ernst von Weizsaecker, State Secretary of the German Foreign Ministry, that Kennedy told him that the “Jewish question” was of vital importance to U.S-German relations. Kennedy continued for years to loudly advocate for appeasement, in London and at home, arguing that Britain would be destroyed otherwise. He attempts to set up a personal meeting with Adolf Hitler, again failing to inform the State Department, but it never materialized.
The Dark Side Of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., The Patriarch Of The Kennedy Family
By Kellen Perry
ati
I will read the entire paper, thank you.
In the end, Joseph Kennedy's opposition to any anti-Nazi policies led to his resignation in disgrace from his important ambassadorship to the UK.
I would like to know if Kennedy thought he was in the dominant political position re Germany back in the USA, or if he found himself disliked and distrusted. After all I know Pres Franklin D Roosevelt sought to keep the U.S out of the war in Europe in 1939 and 1940 via neutrality legislation. So where was the disgrace?
Bom dia de domingo com muita paz e saúde.
Excelente qualidade de material e matéria.
Luiz Gomes.
Hello Hels, The story of Rosemary Kennedy is indeed heartbreaking. I had not heard before about the "withheld birth" but it is yet another example of misplaced propriety holding sway when medical care, love or just plain common sense are what is needed. Her own father ordering the procedure from the most selfish and horrifying motives is simply monstrous.
--Jim
Luiz
I think the issues raised by Rosemary's life were unthinkable in her own life time, but actually the same questions remain about children's rights now. Can domineering fathers still control their family's fate? Can doctors operate without the patient's consent? What happens in those countries were lobotomies are still legal?
Parnassus
Old Man Kennedy was so wealthy, so well connected and so ambitious for his sons that he had no idea his decision-making power should be limited. It didn't occur to him, the most important US ambassador on the planet, to negotiate with his wife, older sons or priest about Rosemary.
Imagine losing son Joseph Patrick in WW2 action and then daughter Kathleen Kennedy in a a plane crash in 1948. And then knowingly destroying the life of another healthy child :(
I didn't know about Rosemary's birth experience. I grew up in Massachusetts and the Kennedy's were always in the gossip news and regular news too. They are a fascinating family. I haven't read this book but your post was really interesting. I think I'm going to add it to my reading list. Thanks Hels. Have a great weekend.
Erika
I worked in psychology and child protection for 20 years. Although I met some terrible families, the idea of lobotomising your own beautiful daughter, to make her docile and asexual, was unthinkable. Thank goodness Rosemary's amazing brothers and sisters eventually found her locked away and loved her for the rest of her life.
Have a tissue next to the bed when you read the book.
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