Rosemary Kennedy, R.I.P.

Jesse Walker | January 10, 2005

Sheldon Richman remembers the late Rosemary Kennedy, a mildly retarded woman who was lobotomized for fear that she might hurt her brother's political career.

Comments

|1.10.05 @ 3:20PM|#

Does anyone have a link to a book or other source material to back up these claims? I do not doubt that it happened but it seems so monstrous as to be unbelieveable.

|1.10.05 @ 3:26PM|#

A retraction is warranted.

|1.10.05 @ 3:29PM|#

Just do a few searched for it. It's pretty well-known by now.

I could have sworn that I read that her symptoms of retardation weren't all that bad either. She most likely would have/could have lived a full life.

Joe was afraid she'd have sex and desecrate the family with a retarded child, so he stuck her in a nunnery. When she started busting out to live again, he had the docs do her in. Joe was a real peach, that's for sure.

What a bizarre family. Especially to be considered by some to be the first family of the country.

|1.10.05 @ 3:33PM|#

Rosemary's father was told by doctors that the lobotomy would eliminate her erratic behavior...She spent the rest of her life in institutions.

Just like her brother Ted.

Mike|1.10.05 @ 3:35PM|#

Insert obvious Barbara Bush lobotomizing George Jr. joke here.

|1.10.05 @ 3:48PM|#

But that joke has no relevance Mike, because the Bush family does not have a history of arguably criminal treatment of women followed by quick under the rug cover-ups.

Did you hear Kennedy questioning Gonzales about "water boarding?"

Mike|1.10.05 @ 3:58PM|#

But that joke has no relevance Mike, because the Bush family does not have a history of arguably criminal treatment of women followed by quick under the rug cover-ups.

True. Their criminal treatment of women -- in the guise of "healthcare" policies -- has never needed a coverup.

|1.10.05 @ 4:00PM|#

And there's Neil. And oh yeah, 41 had that little accident when he was vp too... not relevant!

|1.10.05 @ 4:41PM|#

Did you hear Kennedy questioning Gonzales about "water boarding?"

I did. What an incredibly juicy opportunity that was for a retort, but alas...

Kevin Carson|1.10.05 @ 4:44PM|#

Call me snake,

Margie Schoedinger, a 38-yr-old woman who filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Bush, was found dead of suicide by gunshot to the head in September 2003, according to a Houston Chronicle obit.

And yes, I also have serious doubts about the alleged "suicide" of Vince Foster.

BTW,

How come no Simpsons episode has given given Mayor Quimby an institutionalized sister with a lobotomy?

|1.10.05 @ 4:48PM|#

BTW,

How come no Simpsons episode has given given Mayor Quimby an institutionalized sister with a lobotomy?

It's possible there are some lines that even they won't cross.

While I would love the shot at the Kennedy clan in general, it's not fair to go that route. Rosemary was innocent in all of this.

I'd love to see an episode where Quimby drives his car off of the only bridge out of town.

|1.10.05 @ 4:49PM|#

What kind of blind ambition could have could have led Joe Kennedy to do that to his own child? Also, I wonder if it was easier for him because it was a daughter, not a son. What ever, I think that the man was one sick f***.

|1.10.05 @ 5:01PM|#

Being lobotomized, sterilized, etc., involuntarily (often at the order of the state or a family member) was all part of the great "progressive" project to "improve" our society. We're still suffering from the ideas of these "progressives."

|1.10.05 @ 5:02PM|#

See what happens when you remove the whiskey from an Irish family? Chaos and deviltry!!!!

|1.10.05 @ 5:17PM|#

Being lobotomized, sterilized, etc., involuntarily (often at the order of the state or a family member) was all part of the great "progressive" project to "improve" our society. We're still suffering from the ideas of these "progressives."

Yeah, uncle Joe was the first to try to the lobotomy thing to improve his family.

|1.10.05 @ 5:24PM|#

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me
than a frontal lobotomy.

|1.10.05 @ 8:36PM|#

Ah, Joe Kennedy, rum runner, irish mobster, and lobotomizer (is that a word?). What a legacy. Also interesting that none of this ever was revealed until decades after the Kennedy brothers were shot. It would be nice if there was a theological place of eternal punishment......

"Being lobotomized, sterilized, etc., involuntarily (often at the order of the state or a family member) was all part of the great "progressive" project to "improve" our society." True enough, but my great grandfather never had Aunt Emily lobotomized..........

|1.10.05 @ 10:38PM|#

Lobotomization was considered a progressive treatment in the 1930's-50's for several mental conditions, to the point that they were routinely prescribed for ailments that couldn't be affected by the treatment.

I honestly can't blame Old Joe for doing what so many doctors thought was sound neurological procedure in his day. Before you pass judgment, check your family trees everyone: everyone here likely has an older relative who was traumatized for being "different"; for example, my uncle in his 50's was considered mentally deficient because he was left-handed and the nuns would punish him for not using his right. True story.

|1.11.05 @ 8:28AM|#

I checked my family tree but apparently most of my relatives got drunk and fell out of it.

garym|1.11.05 @ 7:32PM|#

Take a look at this article. The excerpts from her diaries show that whatever "retardation" Rosemary Kennedy had was relatively mild.

The CNN obituary states that Joe Kennedy had her lobotomized because he was "worried that his daughter's mild condition would lead her into situations that could damage the family's reputation." He also didn't consult with his wife before ordering the procedure on his adult daughter.

"Old Man Joe" committed a monstrous act. Slapping people for being left-handed isn't in the same league with crippling their brains.

Chloe|1.18.05 @ 8:13AM|#

I'm stunned - I can't believe there are so many people, in this day & age, that didn't know about this incident... And worse, who would actually minimize it!

A frontal lobotomy is a hairline away from brain dead. It kills higher brain functions, so obviously it was NEVER seen as a cure or treatment for mental retardation.

And anyone who thinks it's a trifle should watch the biographical movie about Francis Farmer. And imagine yourself in that position. Because if it happened to her... She was not even mentally ill at all in any way!

And why is this so unbelievable anyway? In a world where people endure atrocities for war century after century, where women drown their babies, where parents starve their children, where men abduct, torture, kill, and then have sex with and eat the corpses.