Laura's US History

The Kennedy Curse:

The Kennedy family is known throughout history for being notoriously unlucky. The high profile line of political leaders has baffled the nation many times with tragic accidences leading to life changing evens and even fatality. A comparable family to the Kennedys is sure to have a scandal or two, but the overwhelming number of freak accidents leaves America to one conclusion: a curse. Knowing nothing about the Kennedy history I went to “What is the Kennedy Curse?” which gave me a lot of background information about their unfortunate history. To Americans it seems to be the only explanation possible for this series of unfortunate evens to occur to, what seemed to be, the perfect family. I was skeptical at first; there’s no such thing as a curse, but after researching I found the death toll and was astonished!

I knew the Kennedys were a popular political family, but I besides that they were just a section of history that I didn’t know about. I read an article on “Ted Kennedy” and politics on the Kennedy family for more help on their political reign. I went to AVL to find out more on the “Kennedy Curse”. This was a great source which talked about the deaths of the Kennedy curse in detail. The percentage of deaths in the Kennedy family is outstanding. Joseph P. Kennedy, SR., and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy had nine kids together, the oldest being Joseph Patrick Kennedys Jr. tragically died on impact when his bomber in WWII blew up during a complex landing. Their second child, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, became the President of the United States of American, and shortly after was assassinated while his limo drove him through a patriotic crowd in Dallas, Tx. Rosemary Kennedy, their third child and first daughter, was lobotomized and at 23 institutionalized for retardation. At this point I’m thinking any Kennedy is destined to die.

Much of my later research came from other sites such as The Curse and The Other Kennedy Curse which really keyed in on other persons other than just JFK and his immediate family. Already the Kennedy curse is quite obvious, but it doesn’t stop there. Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, the fourth child of Joseph and Rose also died in a plane crash when she was just 28. Their fifth and sixth children, Patricia and Eunice Mary Kennedy were succeeded the curse and lived normal, healthy lives. Robert Francis Kennedy was the seventh child who was assassinated when he was 42. Jean Ann Kennedy, like two of her sisters also lived a long life, but her younger brother Edward Moore Kennedy got caught up in a controversial scandal after nearly escaping a plane crash and car wreck.

At this point in my research I’m so confused. I knew it was a curse but geez, this is a ton of deaths! I knew the death toll percentage had to be extremely high, so I decided to make a pie chart to see just how high it is. I went to “Create a Graph” and it allowed me to visually organize my information.

As this pie chart clearly shows the survival rate their children is less than 50%. The question now is, is it really a curse or just an unlucky coincidence?

I also used the site on JFK Jr.’s Family Tree which gave a lot of information on other deaths besides I believe it is just an unfortunate coincidence. During that time World War II was still going on, so many young adults died serving the country (Joseph Patrick Kennedys Jr.). Planes in that time weren’t as efficient and safe as they are now, and because the Kennedy’s were such a high profile family they flew a lot and usually in small personal air crafts. Under these three conditions, the chances of crashing were almost tripled (Kathleen Agnes Kennedy).

Unfortunately for a reason not completely known, Joseph P. Kennedy decided to lobotomize their first daughter (Rosemary Kennedy), which is the process of literally poking a needle in their head and permanently damaging their brain, causing the child to be retarded. The two assassinations were devastating, but because they were such a high prized political family, they were all at constant risk. After hearing of these assassinations and what Joseph P. Kennedy did to his son I wondered, what kind of people were the Kennedy’s? And did they deserve this so called curse? So I found a newspaper of a journalist having a conversation with a Kennedy just to get the feel of their personalities. The Kennedy family seemed to be a loving and perfect family, which was proven through this casual talk in Christian Author Goes to Washington.

All of these factors led up to the high death toll. Due to their publicity and because it was during WWII the death rate was extremely high. It’s impossible for me to prove that this is just by chance, but at the same time there are so many freak accidents that nobody had control over. Between plane crashes, scandals, assassinations etc the Kennedys for multiple generations have had awful success at living past the age of 50. So although it might seem like a horrid curse see upon this political family, is it really?

I believe it’s just a really unfortunate coincidence.

“You can’t let the bad things win.” - Rose Kennedy