December 5, 2023 • 7 mins
The sister of a president and two senators, Rosemary Kennedy was subjected to surgery that destroyed her brain and her life...simply because she didn’t fit the mold.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're part of what is essentially America's royal family. Now,
the problem is you don't fit the mold, so the
family patriarch decides to surgically fix you. I'm Patti Steele,
the concealed Kennedy. Next on the backstory. The backstory is back.
(00:20):
You're born into a family whose world includes more money, power,
and fame than anybody could possibly imagine. You have a
devoted mother, a wildly ambitious father, and there are nine
children in your family. But you're different. You're equally as beautiful.
You have a sparkling personality, but you have some developmental
disabilities due to a bungled delivery at birth, and those
(00:44):
differences set you apart. Maybe you laugh too loud, your
grades in school aren't as good as the rest of
your brothers and sisters, and you have a bit of
a wild streak, especially when it comes to men. This
was Rosemary Kennedy, the sister of President John F. Kennedy,
Senators Robert and Ted Kennedy, and the third born child
(01:04):
of Joe and Rose Kennedy's nine kids. Now today we
often make room for those kinds of differences, But in
the wealthy, socially correct world, of New England in the
nineteen twenties and thirties. Pearances are everything in the roaring
twenties of post World War One America. It's all about jazz,
(01:28):
prohibition and a roaring economy. But understanding and support for
develop metal disabilities, yeah, not so much. Rosemary's parents were
frustrated with her lack of progress, and, starting at the
age of eleven, sent her to new boarding schools every
couple of years. She was desperate to catch up with
her siblings and desperate to please her parents. At fifteen,
(01:51):
she wrote to her dad from school, saying I would
do anything to make you so happy, But her father
called her backward, and although she she was poised and sociable,
her parents decided to give her experimental injections to treat
hormonal imbalances, which really didn't help very much. As she
got into her late teens, she really wanted more of
(02:12):
a social life, and on a bright note, her dad
was appointed US Ambassador to Great Britain when Rosemary was nineteen. Later,
she'd say the two years in England were the happiest
of her life. Her father formally introduced her to the
King and Queen in nineteen thirty eight, and she lived
a vibrant social life just like her brothers and sisters,
(02:34):
but she never got any independence from her father, who
was worried that her issues would have a negative impact
on the careers and lives of the other eight kids.
Of course, she did what most kids do, and she
s knuck out, meeting up with friends and interesting guys
at local clubs and bars late at night. Then World
War II breaks out, and of course the family has
(02:56):
to come home to the US. But once here, Rose
gets more difficult again, sneaking out and getting moodier. Her dad, Joe,
has even bigger political and business ambitions for his sons,
and he sees Rosemary as a major obstacle. He has
two main worries about her. First, she wasn't the competition
(03:19):
focused ideal of a Kennedy woman, and second, he felt
she was too sexually intense and much wilder than her sister's.
She simply did not fit the Kennedy mold. Joe winds
up paying a family friend to keep a constant eye
on her when she's out to prevent any scandal. He's
worried she'll get an STD or get pregnant. The guys
(03:41):
who are gold diggers will target her for her wealth
and beauty. Her parents send her to several more boarding
schools and summer camps, but again it's no use. She
gets even more difficult and even has some violent mood swings.
Joe's worries about her impact on the business and social
life of the family increase, so he looks for a fix.
(04:04):
Then a Harvard classmate of Joe's recommends getting Rosemary a lobotomy,
saying it's going to end those mood swings. Doctor Walter Freeman,
a neurologist in Washington, DC, is a huge proponent of lobotomies,
even though the AMA calls them risky. But Joe reaches
out to him. Despite the fact that more than one
(04:25):
hundred of his lobotomy patients died of cerebral hemorrhages. Doctor
Freeman calls it a simple procedure. After some reassurance, Joe
gives the go ahead for the surgery, which basically disconnects
the front part of the brain, the frontal cortex, from
the rest of the brain. Joe is told it would
leave Rosemary happy and calm and put a stop to
(04:48):
her impulsive outbursts. Instead, the lobotomy left her a shadow
of herself. She now had the mental capabilities of a
two year old. She could barely speak, Her head ed
was permanently drooped to the side. She lost the use
of one arm, and only after years of therapy, finally
was able to walk again, but even then with a limp.
(05:10):
Joe had allowed doctors to destroy part of Rosemary's brain
rather than risk his family's social and political position. Now
twenty three years old, she was totally incapable of caring
for herself. Her father sent her to a church run
facility in Wisconsin, where nuns cared for her in a
private cottage for the rest of her life. Joe never
(05:33):
saw her again, and her mother, Rose, ashamed of her
husband's choice, didn't visit her for twenty years. Where it
is Her eight brothers and sisters weren't even told where
she was for many years. After JF. K became president
in nineteen sixty one, the family made a public statement
about Rosemary, simply saying she was mentally retarded and lived
(05:56):
away from home. The lobotomy wasn't ignowned by the family
publicly until nineteen eighty seven, more than forty five years
after the fact. Now on the upside, the family began
to reconnect with her after Joe had a massive stroke
in nineteen sixty one and after he died in nineteen
sixty nine. They occasionally brought Rosemary to their homes in Washington,
(06:21):
d C. Palm Beach, Cape cod for family get togethers,
and several of them would also visit her in Wisconsin.
On top of that reconnection, Rosemary's struggles actually inspired her
younger sister Eunice to create the Special Olympics. Rosemary Kennedy
died in two thousand and five at the age of
eighty six, having been airbrushed out of the Kennedy family
(06:45):
history for more than half of her life. I'm Patty
steel The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,
the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
(07:06):
is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.
Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The
pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know
You're part of what is essentially America's royal family. Now,
the problem is you don't fit the mold, so the
family patriarch decides to surgically fix you. I'm Patti Steele,
the concealed Kennedy. Next on the backstory. The backstory is back.
(00:20):
You're born into a family whose world includes more money, power,
and fame than anybody could possibly imagine. You have a
devoted mother, a wildly ambitious father, and there are nine
children in your family. But you're different. You're equally as beautiful.
You have a sparkling personality, but you have some developmental
disabilities due to a bungled delivery at birth, and those
(00:44):
differences set you apart. Maybe you laugh too loud, your
grades in school aren't as good as the rest of
your brothers and sisters, and you have a bit of
a wild streak, especially when it comes to men. This
was Rosemary Kennedy, the sister of President John F. Kennedy,
Senators Robert and Ted Kennedy, and the third born child
(01:04):
of Joe and Rose Kennedy's nine kids. Now today we
often make room for those kinds of differences, But in
the wealthy, socially correct world, of New England in the
nineteen twenties and thirties. Pearances are everything in the roaring
twenties of post World War One America. It's all about jazz,
(01:28):
prohibition and a roaring economy. But understanding and support for
develop metal disabilities, yeah, not so much. Rosemary's parents were
frustrated with her lack of progress, and, starting at the
age of eleven, sent her to new boarding schools every
couple of years. She was desperate to catch up with
her siblings and desperate to please her parents. At fifteen,
(01:51):
she wrote to her dad from school, saying I would
do anything to make you so happy, But her father
called her backward, and although she she was poised and sociable,
her parents decided to give her experimental injections to treat
hormonal imbalances, which really didn't help very much. As she
got into her late teens, she really wanted more of
(02:12):
a social life, and on a bright note, her dad
was appointed US Ambassador to Great Britain when Rosemary was nineteen. Later,
she'd say the two years in England were the happiest
of her life. Her father formally introduced her to the
King and Queen in nineteen thirty eight, and she lived
a vibrant social life just like her brothers and sisters,
(02:34):
but she never got any independence from her father, who
was worried that her issues would have a negative impact
on the careers and lives of the other eight kids.
Of course, she did what most kids do, and she
s knuck out, meeting up with friends and interesting guys
at local clubs and bars late at night. Then World
War II breaks out, and of course the family has
(02:56):
to come home to the US. But once here, Rose
gets more difficult again, sneaking out and getting moodier. Her dad, Joe,
has even bigger political and business ambitions for his sons,
and he sees Rosemary as a major obstacle. He has
two main worries about her. First, she wasn't the competition
(03:19):
focused ideal of a Kennedy woman, and second, he felt
she was too sexually intense and much wilder than her sister's.
She simply did not fit the Kennedy mold. Joe winds
up paying a family friend to keep a constant eye
on her when she's out to prevent any scandal. He's
worried she'll get an STD or get pregnant. The guys
(03:41):
who are gold diggers will target her for her wealth
and beauty. Her parents send her to several more boarding
schools and summer camps, but again it's no use. She
gets even more difficult and even has some violent mood swings.
Joe's worries about her impact on the business and social
life of the family increase, so he looks for a fix.
(04:04):
Then a Harvard classmate of Joe's recommends getting Rosemary a lobotomy,
saying it's going to end those mood swings. Doctor Walter Freeman,
a neurologist in Washington, DC, is a huge proponent of lobotomies,
even though the AMA calls them risky. But Joe reaches
out to him. Despite the fact that more than one
(04:25):
hundred of his lobotomy patients died of cerebral hemorrhages. Doctor
Freeman calls it a simple procedure. After some reassurance, Joe
gives the go ahead for the surgery, which basically disconnects
the front part of the brain, the frontal cortex, from
the rest of the brain. Joe is told it would
leave Rosemary happy and calm and put a stop to
(04:48):
her impulsive outbursts. Instead, the lobotomy left her a shadow
of herself. She now had the mental capabilities of a
two year old. She could barely speak, Her head ed
was permanently drooped to the side. She lost the use
of one arm, and only after years of therapy, finally
was able to walk again, but even then with a limp.
(05:10):
Joe had allowed doctors to destroy part of Rosemary's brain
rather than risk his family's social and political position. Now
twenty three years old, she was totally incapable of caring
for herself. Her father sent her to a church run
facility in Wisconsin, where nuns cared for her in a
private cottage for the rest of her life. Joe never
(05:33):
saw her again, and her mother, Rose, ashamed of her
husband's choice, didn't visit her for twenty years. Where it
is Her eight brothers and sisters weren't even told where
she was for many years. After JF. K became president
in nineteen sixty one, the family made a public statement
about Rosemary, simply saying she was mentally retarded and lived
(05:56):
away from home. The lobotomy wasn't ignowned by the family
publicly until nineteen eighty seven, more than forty five years
after the fact. Now on the upside, the family began
to reconnect with her after Joe had a massive stroke
in nineteen sixty one and after he died in nineteen
sixty nine. They occasionally brought Rosemary to their homes in Washington,
(06:21):
d C. Palm Beach, Cape cod for family get togethers,
and several of them would also visit her in Wisconsin.
On top of that reconnection, Rosemary's struggles actually inspired her
younger sister Eunice to create the Special Olympics. Rosemary Kennedy
died in two thousand and five at the age of
eighty six, having been airbrushed out of the Kennedy family
(06:45):
history for more than half of her life. I'm Patty
steel The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,
the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
(07:06):
is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.
Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The
pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know
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