The Kennedy tragedies,^[1][2][3] colloquially called the Kennedy Curse, is a term sometimes used to describe a series of events involving members of the Kennedy family.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} The notion of a curse is superstitious and was created and is fostered by the news media.^[9][10][11]

Chronology[link]

Believers in the curse generally cite the following core events as evidence of the family's misfortunes:

• 1941 – Rosemary Kennedy is believed to have been mentally challenged. However, some sources have claimed she was suffering from mental illness, such as depression. Because of her increasingly violent and severe mood swings, her father, Joe, Sr., arranged in secret for her to undergo a lobotomy. The surgery impaired her cognitive abilities even more, and as a result, she remained institutionalized until her death in 2005.^{[4][5][6][12][13]}
• August 12, 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. died at 29 when his plane exploded over East Suffolk, England, as part of Operation Aphrodite.
• May 13, 1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington died at 28 in a plane crash in France.^{[4][5][6][13]}
• August 23, 1956 – Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Arabella.^[6] (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 name her Arabella.)^[14]
• August 9, 1963 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy died two days after his birth.^[4][6][12]
• November 22, 1963 – US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas.^{[4][5][6][13]}
• June 19, 1964 – US Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy was 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 and spent weeks in a hospital recovering from a broken back, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding.^{[15][4][5][13]}
• June 6, 1968 – US Senator Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles immediately following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary.^{[4][5][6][13]}
• July 18, 1969 – In the Chappaquiddick incident, Ted Kennedy accidentally drove his car off a bridge in Chappaquiddick Island, fatally trapping his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne inside.^{[4][5][6][7][13]} In his July 25 televised statement, Kennedy stated that on the night of the incident he wondered "whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys."^[16][17]
• August 13, 1973 – Joseph P. Kennedy II was the driver of a car which crashed. His passenger, Pam Kelley, was permanently paralyzed.^[4][6][12]
• November 17, 1973 - Edward M. Kennedy, Jr., twelve-year-old elder son of Ted Kennedy, has his right leg amputated because of bone cancer.
• April 25, 1984 – David Kennedy died at 28 of a Demerol and cocaine overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.^{[4][5][6][12][13]}
• April 1, 1991 – William Kennedy Smith is arrested and charged with the rape of a young woman at the Kennedy estate in Palm Beach, Florida. The subsequent trial attracted extensive media coverage.^[18] Smith was acquitted.^{[1][3][4][12]}
• December 31, 1997 – Michael Kennedy died at 39 in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado.^{[1][4][5][6][12][13]}
• July 16, 1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr. died at 38 when the Piper Saratoga light aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard due to pilot error.^{[4][5][6][13]}
• September 16, 2011 – Kara Kennedy Allen died at 51of a heart attack while exercising in a Washington, D.C. health club.^[19][20]
• May 16, 2012 – Mary Richardson Kennedy hanged herself on the grounds of her home located in Bedford, Westchester County, New York.^[13][21]

External links[link]

The Kennedy family
The Kennedy family at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts (September 4, 1931). Seated left to right: Robert, John, Eunice, Jean (on lap of) Joe, Sr., Rose (behind) Patricia, Kathleen, Joe, Jr. (behind) Rosemary. Ted was not born yet. The dog in foreground is "Buddy".
Ethnicity	Irish American
Current region	Hyannis Port, Massachusetts
Information
Place of origin	United States
Notable members	Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. John F. Kennedy Robert F. Kennedy Edward M. Kennedy
Connected families	Auchincloss Bouvier Cavendish Colton Fitzgerald Hill Lawford Murphy Onassis Radziwill Reggie Schlossberg Schwarzenegger Shriver Skakel Smith Townsend
Estate	Kennedy Compound

In the United States, the phrase Kennedy family commonly refers to the family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald that was prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the Democratic Party. Harvard University educations have been common among them, and they have contributed heavily to that university's John F. Kennedy School of Government. The wealth, glamour and photogenic quality of the family members, as well as their extensive and continuing commitment to public service, has elevated them to iconic status over the past half-century and has led to their reputation as "America's Royal Family".^[1]

Following the 1960 election of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, he and his two younger brothers, Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, soon all held prominent positions in the federal government, and received intensive publicity, often emphasizing their youth (relative to comparably influential politicians), allure, education and collective future in politics. From 1947, when John F. Kennedy was first elected to Congress, to 2011, when Patrick J. Kennedy departed Congress, there was a 64-year run of a Kennedy family member holding an elective office in Washington.^[2] This spans more than a quarter of the nation's existence.^[2]

The family has suffered numerous tragedies known as "the Kennedy curse". These include Rosemary's failed lobotomy, the assassinations of brothers John and Robert, the controversial Chappaquiddick incident, and four airplane crashes (Joe, Jr., Kathleen, Ted and John, Jr.; all but Ted's were fatal).

Family tree[link]

^{[dated info]}