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Kennedy family
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The Kennedy family is a family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the Democratic Party and more recently, its liberal wing. Harvard educations have been frequent among them, and they have contributed heavily to that university's Kennedy School of Government. The wealth, glamour, and photogenic quality of the family members, as well as their extensive and continued commitment to public service, has elevated them to iconic status over the past half-century.
With the election of President John F. Kennedy, he and his two then surviving brothers all held prominent positions in the Federal government, and received intensive publicity, often emphasizing their youth (relative to comparably influential politicians), allure, education and their collective future in politics.
The family has undergone (then, before, and since) a series of deaths and other reverses that could not be fully remedied by wealth, sometimes called "the Kennedy curse"; it has included the assassinations of brothers John and Robert, four aircraft crashes (Joe Jr, Kathleen, Edward, and John Jr), a failed prefrontal lobotomy on Rose Marie, carried out in the hope of calming the young woman's violent outbursts but resulting in severe mental retardation, and at least three sets of allegations against individual family members and their relatives by marriage, including a murder conviction and a controversial fatal single-car crash.
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Encyclopedia
The Kennedy family is a family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the Democratic Party and more recently, its liberal wing. Harvard educations have been frequent among them, and they have contributed heavily to that university's Kennedy School of Government. The wealth, glamour, and photogenic quality of the family members, as well as their extensive and continued commitment to public service, has elevated them to iconic status over the past half-century.
With the election of President John F. Kennedy, he and his two then surviving brothers all held prominent positions in the Federal government, and received intensive publicity, often emphasizing their youth (relative to comparably influential politicians), allure, education and their collective future in politics.
The family has undergone (then, before, and since) a series of deaths and other reverses that could not be fully remedied by wealth, sometimes called "the Kennedy curse"; it has included the assassinations of brothers John and Robert, four aircraft crashes (Joe Jr, Kathleen, Edward, and John Jr), a failed prefrontal lobotomy on Rose Marie, carried out in the hope of calming the young woman's violent outbursts but resulting in severe mental retardation, and at least three sets of allegations against individual family members and their relatives by marriage, including a murder conviction and a controversial fatal single-car crash. Just how severely these events restricted the family's influence is unknowable, but the assumption that even the last surviving brother's role was diminished is a theory. On the other hand, a number of Kennedy family members have since held high office, and the idea that the family's influence was snuffed out in the 1960s is seen as a gross exaggeration.
Family tree
- See also: List of descendants of Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy and Kennedy family political line
First generation
The family patriarch was Patrick J. Kennedy (1858–1929), a first generation American who married Mary Augusta Hickey. Patrick Kennedy was a politician involved in the local Democratic Party.
Second generation
In 1914, their son, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969) married Rose Fitzgerald (1890–1995), the daughter of Boston Mayor John F. Fitzgerald. Joe Sr. served as the first Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and as United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James's (United Kingdom) in the years leading up to World War II.
Third generation
- Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. (1915–1944)
- He died when taking part in Operation Aphrodite as a wartime test as pilot of a modified B-24 Liberator drone bomber experiment which accidentally exploded and crashed in Suffolk England. For this act, he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. He was single at the time of his death and had no children, though he had been romantically linked to Edith Bouvier Beale, a cousin of his future sister-in-law Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, as well as Katharine Mortimer. (The latter reportedly rebuffed any more serious involvement with Joe Jr., claiming that his family was too active for her to contemplate marrying into.)
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963)
- Sometimes referred to as "Jack" or "JFK", he was a U.S. representative, a U.S. senator and the 35th President of the United States. He was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas, TX. The events surrounding his death remain controversial. He married New York socialite Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and had four children, of whom one was stillborn, one died soon after birth, and two survived to adulthood.
- Rosemary Kennedy (1918–2005)
- Likely dyslexic and considered to be slightly brain-damaged from birth, Rose Marie Kennedy (her christening name) was rendered incapable of intelligible speech or caring for herself by a lobotomy, a popular neurosurgical technique of the time, requested by her father, Joe Sr., that was intended to cure her increasing mood swings and make her more manageable. The operation instead reduced her to an infantile state. She lived in a residential care facility in Wisconsin until her death on January 7 2005.
- Kathleen Agnes Kennedy (1920–1948)
- Known as Kick, she married a Protestant, the son and heir to the Duke of Devonshire, over her mother's strenuous religious objections. After being widowed when her husband, the Marquess of Hartington, was killed in action in World War II, she was killed in a plane crash in France with her lover, the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam.
- Eunice Mary Kennedy (born 1921)
- She is best known as the co-founder of the Special Olympics, an organization she began in honor of her sister Rosemary. She married Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., later a 1972 vice-presidential candidate, and they had five children.
- Patricia Kennedy (1924–2006)
- Robert Francis Kennedy (1925–1968)
- He was U.S. attorney general in his brother's administration, later served as senator from New York, and was assassinated while running for president in June 1968. He married Ethel Skakel and had 11 children.
- Jean Ann Kennedy (born 1928)
- She married Stephen Edward Smith (1927–1990) and had two sons and adopted two daughters. She later served as the U.S. ambassador to Ireland.
- Edward Moore Kennedy (born 1932)
- Known as "Teddy" or "Ted", he has served as a senator from Massachusetts since 1962. Twice married, he has three children from his first marriage and two stepchildren from his second. On May 20, 2008, it was announced that he has a malignant brain tumor. On January 20, 2009, during the inauguration luncheon of Barack Obama he suffered a seizure. Kennedy was taken out of the presidential luncheon on a stretcher after he had collapsed, and was rushed to a local hospital but after tests had been carried out, doctors believed the collapse was caused by "simple fatigue".
Fourth generation
- Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. had no children
- Rosemary Kennedy had no children
- Patricia Kennedy and Peter Lawford had 4 children:
- Christopher Kennedy Lawford - professional actor. Married and divorced Jeannie Olson, has three children.
- Sydney Maleia Lawford married (James) Peter McKevley, has four children.
- Victoria Francis Lawford married Robert Pender, has three children.
- Robin Elizabeth Lawford
- Robert Francis Kennedy and Ethel Skakel had 11 children:
- Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend - former lieutenant governor of Maryland, unsuccessful candidate for Maryland governor in 2002. Married David Lee Townsend, has four children.
- Joseph Patrick Kennedy II - former U.S. representative from Massachusetts. Divorced from Sheila Rauch, two sons; currently married to Anne Elizabeth ("Beth") Kelly, no children.
- Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. - environmentalist and political commentator, attorney and law professor at Pace University School of Law. He is best known for his many successful litigations to prevent water pollution, primarily in the New York area. Divorced from Emily Ruth Black (two children); married in 1994 Mary Richardson, (four children).
- David Anthony Kennedy - died of a drug overdose in 1984
- Mary Courtney Kennedy Married Jeffrey Robert Ruhe (divorced) and Paul Michael Hill (separated), has one child.
- Michael LeMoyne Kennedy - died in a skiing accident on December 31, 1997. Married Victoria Gifford (separated), had three children.
- Mary Kerry Kennedy - ex-wife of Andrew Cuomo, who is the son of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, has three children.
- Christopher George Kennedy - president of Merchandise Mart commercial properties based in Chicago. Married Sheila Sinclair Berner, has four children.
- Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy Married Victoria Anne Stauss, has three children.
- Douglas Harriman Kennedy Married Mary Elizabeth Stark, has three children.
- Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy Married Mark Bailey, has two children.
- Jean Ann Kennedy and Stephen Edward Smith had 4 children:
- Stephen Edward Smith, Jr.
- William Kennedy Smith - 1991 rape acquittal, physician, activist against land mines
- Amanda Mary Smith, Married (Harmon) Carter Hood, two children
- Kym Maria Smith, Married and divorced Alfie Tucker
Armorial bearings
On Saint Patrick’s Day 1961, the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland granted armorial bearings to the descendants of Patrick Kennedy. According to the rules of heraldic inheritance (see Primogeniture) the armiger, or heraldic “head of the family,” has been:
- Patrick Kennedy (1823–1858)
- Patrick Joseph Kennedy (1858-1929)
- Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (1888-1969)
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. (1960-1999)
- Joseph Patrick Kennedy II (born 1952)
The heir apparent is Matthew Rauch Kennedy (born 1980)
External links
- , St. Petersburg Times Online
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- , The American Experience (PBS)
- Ancestry.com
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