The Kennedy Curse has long been talked about by millions, even more so following the recent passing of Senator Edward Kennedy this past Tuesday. Read more about the Kennedy Curse below plus photos and video.
Kennedy Brothers
The Kennedy Curse is a term that describes the several tragedies that have befallen the Kennedy family throughout the years. Believe what you may, but you simply cannot argue the fact that the Kennedy family has had their fair share of tragedy.
Dating back to August 12, 1944, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr, the oldest son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, was killed in an airplane crash after his plane was shot down during a World War II. Just four years later, Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish died in a plane crash as well while traveling to France. She was 28 years old.
In 1955, Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of John F. Kennedy, suffered a miscarriage, and one year later she gave birth to a stillborn daughter.
On December 19, 1961, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr suffered a stroke, and as a result was not able to speak and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
On August 9, 1963, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, the third child born to John and Jacqueline Kennedy, died two days after birth, as a result of being six weeks premature. Just three and a half months later, John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while in Dallas, Texas.
Ted Kennedy suffered numerous injuries and spent several months in a hospital when he was involved in a plane crash on June 19, 1964. Unfortunately, it took the lives of one of his aides and the pilot. Senator Birch E. Bayh II of Indiana pulled the Senator from the wreckage. He would later endure chronic back pain that would affect him the rest of his life.
On June 6, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan while he was in Los Angeles, after celebrating his win in the California Democratic presidential primary. He was 42 years old.
Just over a year later, Ted Kennedy and his aide, Mary Jo Kopechne, were driving home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island when the vehicle Kennedy was driving went off a bridge and into water. Kennedy was able to make it out of the vehicle but Kopechne drowned. The accident was not reported to authorities until 10 hours later.
Ted Kennedy’s oldest son, Ted Kennedy Jr, lost a leg to bone cancer in 1973. That same year, Joseph P. Kennedy, the son of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, was the driver of a vehicle that was involved in a car accident that left his passenger, Pam Kelley, paralyzed.
On April 25, 1984, David Kennedy, the fourth child of Robert and Ethel, died of a Demerol and cocaine overdose while in Palm Beach, Florida.
William Kennedy Smith was tried and acquitted of rape charges in 1991.
Michael Kennedy, the sixth child of Robert and Ethel, died in 1997 after hitting a tree while on a family ski vacation with other Kennedy family members.
And sadly, on July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr, his wife and his sister in law were killed after the plane Kennedy was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard.
Kennedy biographer Edward Klein published a book titled The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America’s First Family for 150 Years. He explains why the Kennedy family has had such a long history tragedy. A photo gallery of the Kennedy Curse can be found here.
Video chronicling the Kennedy Curse is below.
Kennedy Curse - Video