Rose Kennedy

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Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995) married into the Kennedy family and became its matriarch in the 20th century, when its members helped shape American politics.

Rose holding Joe Jr, circa 1918


The Kennedy Family

Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy is the matriach of "The Kennedy Clan", which was embedded in the American political culture of the last half of the twentieth century like no other family. Inventors of "Camelot", the Kennedys were perhaps the closest thing to a royal family that America has ever known. They arrived at such a station through ambition, wealth and family loyalty, coupled with exuberance and glamour, honorable service to the nation, fierce family loyalty, and family tragedies impossible to keep private. No family has had such a powerful hold on the American imagination.

Three of their nine children would enter national politics, and one would become the youngest U.S. president, only to be assassinated in his first term. Another, a U.S. Attorney General, Senator and Presidential candidate gunned down in the midst of his campaign. And a third, a Senator forced to withdraw from his Presidential bid following a murky scandal.

Mrs. Kennedy rarely talked publicly about her personal grief. But it is said she once she remarked to a friend: "Wasn't there a book about Michelangelo called 'The Agony and the Ecstasy'? That's what my life has been." [1]

Childhood and Education

Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald born in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, was the eldest child of six born to John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (a prominent figure in Boston politics who served one term as a member of Congress and later became the city's mayor), and his wife, Mary Josephine Hannon.

The family lived for a time at 39 Welles Avenue in the Ashmont Hill section of Dorchester, Massachusetts, while she attended the local Girl's Latin School. The Victorian, mansard-style home, largest on the street, later burned down. A marker is there, at Welles Avenue and Harley Street, naming it "Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Square". The placement was celebrated by her son, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in 1992, on Rose's 102nd birthday.

She attended the New England Conservatory in Boston, studying piano.From there she went on to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Boston, Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in Purchase, N.Y., and finally a Catholic finishing school in the Europe. Not content with society teas, Rose organized groups to discuss current affairs and taught catechism in Boston's slums. [2]

With her father she toured Europe in 1908. They also visited the newly built Panama Canal.

Marriage

Rose Fitzgerald married Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. on October 7, 1914, after a courtship of more than seven years, and they lived at first in nearby Brookline, Massachusetts, in a house that is now a national historic landmark. In 1929, Joseph and Rose Kennedy bought the summer house they had been renting in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. In time, their children established homes on adjacent properties. The houses and the Cape Cod locale would serve as the backdrop for Kennedy family gatherings over the years.

Kennedy's business ventures included banking, stock trading, producing movies and selling liquor. He got out of the stock market before the crash of 1929 — after the major devaluation of everyone else's portfolios, his family was only more wealthy during the Great Depression, in the 1930s.

"Was she a fool, I asked myself... or a saint? Or just a better actress than I was?" (Hollywood star Gloria Swanson on Rose Kennedy). Joseph Kennedy's affair with Swanson was widely known. In fact, it seemed there was no effort to hide his constant philandering. It could not have been easy, but Rose chose not to acknowledge it. Joe's mistress Gloria Swanson recalled, "If she suspected me of having relations not quite proper with her husband, or resented me for it, she never once gave any indication of it." Rose's reaction to her situation was to focus on her religion and, perhaps, to distance herself from the children she shared with Joe. [3]

The Kennedys had the following nine children: Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr., John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Rose Marie Kennedy, Kathleen Agnes Kennedy Cavendish, Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver, Patricia Kennedy Lawford, Robert Francis Kennedy, Jean Ann Kennedy Smith, and Edward Moore Kennedy.

Family

In 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt named Joseph Kennedy Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, and the family stayed in England until World War II broke out. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. served with distinction in World War II and died flying a mission in Europe. John F. Kennedy, Naval veteran, Congressman and then Senator, was elected President of the United States in 1960, and was assassinated in 1963. Rosemary Kennedy, the first daughter, was mentally retarded, and her conditon was the source of the many efforts of the Kennedy family on behalf of the mentally retarded. Kathleen Kennedy worked for the American Red Cross in Britain, married William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, in 1944, and died in a plane crash in 1948. Eunice Kennedy married R. Sargent Shriver, Jr., and founded the Special Olympics. Patricia Kennedy was married to actor Peter Lawford. They later divorced. Robert F. Kennedy, Attorney General of the United States and Senator from New York, ran for president in 1968. He did much for the civil rights movement, for the farmworkers, and for the cause of justice. During his campaign, he was assassinated. Jean Kennedy married Stephen Smith, founded Very Special Arts, and was appointed as ambassador to Ireland by President Clinton. Edward Moore Kennedy has served for many years as Senator from Massachusetts.

In 1984, at the age of 94, Rose Kennedy suffered a stroke, which left her confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Death and legacy

At her death from complications of pneumonia at the age of 104 on January 22,1995, Rose Kennedy was the longest-lived Presidential relative in history. She was also the oldest resident of Barnstable, Massachusetts (population: 55,000), where she was residing at the time of her death. She was well-known for her philanthropic efforts, as well as leading the Grandparents' Parade at age 90 at the Special Olympics. Her life and work with the Special Olympics are documented in the Oscar-nominated short documentary Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember.

Joseph and Rose Kennedy's children today

As of November 28 2006, only three of Joseph and Rose Kennedy's nine children were living. The only two surviving daughters were 85-year old Eunice Kennedy Shriver and 78-year old Jean Kennedy Smith, while the only surviving son is 74-year-old Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy.

Of the six deceased children of Joe and Rose Kennedy, the only two to die of natural causes were their daughters Rose Marie Kennedy and Patricia Kennedy Lawford. Rosemary (who was Joe and Rose's first daughter and third child) underwent a lobotomy in 1941 at the age of 23 after Joe Kennedy was informed that his daughter's mild mental complications could be cured by such an operation. Unfortunately, the lobotomy went wrong, and Rosemary was left with profound mental retardation. Rosemary was cared for at St. Coletta's institution in Wisconsin from 1949 until her death of natural causes on January 7, 2005 at the age of 86. Patricia (who was the fourth daughter and sixth child) died from complications due to pneumonia on September 17, 2006 at the age of 82. The surviving children have grown particularly close as the years have passed.

Longevity

Four of Joe and Rose Kennedys children might have died young in aircraft accidents and as the result of assassinations, but the longevity comes from Rose Kennedy's side of the family, for at the time of her death in 1995, Rose was 104 years old. She inherited the longevity from both her parents as her father, Honey Fitz, was 87 years old when he died on October 2, 1950, and her mother Mary died on August 8, 1964 at the age of 98. Many people speculate that if any of the surviving Kennedy siblings have inherited their mother's longevity, it will most likely be Eunice, who is, at age 85, noted for her excellent health.

Rosemary Kennedy, the third child born in the immediate Kennedy family, underwent a lobotomy in 1941 at age 23 after Joe Kennedy was informed that his daughter's mild mental complications could be cured by such an operation. However, the lobotomy resulted in profound mental retardation. Rosemary Kennedy was cared for at St. Coletta's in Wisconsin beginning in 1949. Due to the severity of her mental condition, Rosemary became largely detached from the Kennedy clan. However, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics and an advocate for the disabled on Rosemary's behalf, visited her frequently, and beginning in the 1970s Rosemary paid visits to her mother. On January 7, 2005, Rosemary Kennedy died at the age of 86, at the institution where she had spent the last fifty-five years. Hers was the first natural death among the children of Joe and Rose Kennedy. A true testament to the merging of the Kennedy siblings, at her side upon her death were her surviving sisters and her brother, Senator Ted Kennedy.

Miscellaneous

  • The Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, Massachusetts is named AFTER her.
  • The Rose Kennedy Cocktail is a popular drink in bars in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States.
  • Although she is listed as the oldest resident of Barnstable, Massachusetts, she was declared a legal resident of Florida upon her death to take advantage of Florida's more favorable estate tax laws. She had not left her Hyannis home for over a decade prior to her demise, but her heirs successfully argued that the Kennedy Estate in Palm Beach, Florida was her legal residence.Template:Citationneeded
  • According to Michael J. Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000, when he apologized to her for jokes about her age, she replied he shouldn't apologize — she found her own longetivity funny as well.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; excerpted from an obituary in the Boston Globe, January 23, 1995, Retrieved January 25, 2007
  2. ↑ Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Pearson Education - Infoplease, Retrieved January 25, 2007
  3. ↑ Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy PBS - An American Experience, Retrieved January 25, 2007

Sources and Further Reading

External links

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