Chapter 1: What is the Kennedy Curse and its significance?
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Welcome back to Write Answers Mostly, a podcast on what you didn't learn in history class, but you really wanted to. I'm Claire Donald. And I'm Tess Belomo. And Rammies, welcome back to Kennedy's Month.
oh boy i never want it to end i know i'm sad really i know i'm like listen we have this episode we have another episode and we can always revisit the kennedys no it's true but i think it has reminded me that themes are really fun and we've always known this i mean we've always known this theater kids but like it is fun for ram isn't it it really is so if you guys have any more theme suggestion months uh kick them on over our way we will be doing women's history month next
But April and May are kind of open for some brainstorming. Yeah, we're open to workshop. Let us know.
You guys, today, I'm a little nervous, to be honest. Like, let's be real with each other. Just because it is quite depressing. But we've done depressing before on Ram. Well, it's history, so it's like there's always going to be an element of that. And we'll find humor in ways that we have to, because, you know, you must. You have to laugh to keep from crying.
Today, we are talking about the Kennedy curse.
Yeah.
Tess, what do you know about the Kennedy curse?
Well, I feel like, because I've told a few people, even like our tech guy just came in right now.
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Chapter 2: How did public scrutiny affect the Kennedy family?
Yeah. And it makes me very upset.
The lobotomy of it all?
Yeah.
Yes. So I feel like Rammies have been reaching out to us suggesting Rosemary Kennedy for so long. And I actually think that Rosemary Kennedy, a lot of people still don't even know about her.
No, that's why I'm so excited because I don't know like why they did that to her. LaBobbies are fucking wild. I can't believe that they used to do this to people.
Oh, Tess, you're about to be so upset.
No, I can already feel it.
It's really wild. But yes, today we are talking about the Kennedy curse. And just what this poor family has gone through and continues to go through today, you guys. We have some modern occurrences.
I know. Okay, let's just do it.
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Chapter 3: What happened to Rosemary Kennedy and why was it controversial?
Oh.
Right. Okay. All right. After Joe Kennedy Sr., if you're new here, please go back and listen to our Kennedy, the building of the Kennedy dynasty episode. So you can figure out why we call him Juicy Joe. Exactly. So everything happens after Juicy Joe. Okay. Okay. I'll get into my theories on the Kennedy curse maybe after the episode. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So let's talk about Rosemary.
Rosemary Kennedy was born at her parents' home in Brookline, Massachusetts on September 13th, 1918. Okay. She's a Virgo queen.
Oh, okay.
Fellow Virgo. She was the eldest daughter of Joseph Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy. And she's the third child overall. So it goes Joe Jr., JFK, and then Rosemary. So her birth, she was born in 1918. It took place during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. So you're just doomed from the start, really.
I mean, remember when COVID was happening and everyone's like, this is the next pandemic because the one before this was the Spanish flu. Yeah, not good. Not good. So this is what's going on in the world. And the Spanish flu killed 20 to 50 million people worldwide. Holy shit. Yeah, major.
Because there weren't antibiotics yet or anything, right?
Yeah, and we just didn't have the science. I mean, think about how many people COVID affected, you know? No vaccines? No vaccines. Exactly. So when Rose went into labor, her doctor was busy with patients, like helping them with the Spanish flu. So she's in full labor. She's giving birth at home. So he's caught up in that. Oh, home birth. It was a home birth.
I think a lot of her kids, if not all of them, were born home birth. Interesting. I know. That doesn't seem like them, but I guess maybe it was different back then. Yeah.
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Chapter 4: What were the implications of Rosemary's lobotomy?
I guess if you have like the best doctors at your house.
That is true. So Rose is in labor. And Rosemary's head had begun to emerge while she's in labor. And again, the doctor is caught up. So a midwife instructed Rose to delay delivery by keeping her legs clamped together to prevent the birth until the doctor had arrived. So Rose reportedly complied for roughly two agonizing hours.
Honey, just...
Release the baby. Release the baby.
Like, that is not healthy.
I've never experienced childbirth. I don't know if I ever will, but I can't imagine. Like, not letting what nature is supposed to do. Exactly. And how dangerous that is for everyone involved.
Also, like, the baby could suffocate, I feel, right?
Well, so the Kennedys later believed that the delay caused oxygen deprivation to Rosemary, which, like, of course. Yeah. So that was the story of Rosemary's birth.
Yeah.
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Chapter 5: How did the Kennedy family cope with their tragedies?
A little more information, but – Totally.
And like the Kennedys – you know, making their efforts to shield Rosemary's condition, like, makes it hard for us to know. But what is clear is that Rosemary was deeply aware that she was different, especially inside this family that was just obsessed with achievement.
I feel like this is going to make me cry.
Not no.
Oh, God.
Not no, Tess. So how was Rosemary as a child? Family members and caretakers consistently described her as loving, playful, and excited to be included.
No.
Yes. No. And you know, she was also easily frustrated. Hear that. Who amongst us? Who amongst us? Emotionally reactive and prone to mood swings, especially in adolescence. And those swings were often triggered by embarrassment, comparison, or being pushed to perform at levels that she couldn't meet.
This just sounds like girlhood. Just sobbing when you're embarrassed and being like, my life is over.
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Chapter 6: What are the details surrounding Joe Kennedy Jr.'s death?
Marlene Dietrich's daughter is this woman, Maria Riva, who I think is an actress too. She wrote a book and she described her time that she went on a vacation with the Kennedy family. And what she said about it, they were at some beach or something. And she said, that all of the kids would be like splashing around in the ocean and Rosemary was off by herself under an umbrella, kind of isolated.
And she remembers the Kennedy kids being like, maybe Maria can go like connect with Rosemary because sometimes she has a hard time connecting with people and that she was just kind of a loner in that situation. And then she said this on Rosemary, quote, my only impression was that she was not as beautiful and as perfect as her sisters Eunice or Patricia or Jean.
I felt a kind of kindness towards her that I probably wouldn't have felt had she not looked different from her brothers and sisters. I mean, it dripped from their shoulders, the charm.
That's just what I've been thinking the whole time. Like, she's just not pretty or popular. So people are like, you are disgusting. Tess, that's exactly it. That they're like, you're a witch. No, it's like, God, that must suck to have, like, most, like, siblings I find have kind of similar personality. Like, it's a little bit more rare to have, like, opposite personalities.
complete personalities like you know and like that just seems really tough but in one of nine of course there's going to be one that's like i don't want to talk to people i don't want to be in the sun one shy one of course it's fine of course um but she did say this about jfk too that i had to put in what maria uh riva said she described jfk as having an apollo quality if you ever met jack you would absolutely follow him to the ends of the earth god
I'm just like, well, I had to put that in. Of course. I mean, what a way to describe someone. Follow them to the ends of the earth.
Follow you like a dog to the end of the earth. Jesus Christ. Yeah. And again, like that's your older brother. Yeah. No, it just is. It's just. It's tough. It's tough. So this is what Rosemary was going up against. And because she became increasingly aware that she was falling behind, it led to anger and acting out and occasional defiance and emotional outbursts, which of course.
Literally.
And this terrified her parents, not because they thought she was dangerous, but because they thought she was unpredictable.
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Chapter 7: How did Kathleen Kennedy's life reflect the Kennedy family legacy?
And she's like a little tomboy. She's not as beautiful, quote, as the rest of them, but she has the razz. This is who I'm picturing.
No, I think that she had the razz, too. I think that she would have loved grunge rock of the 90s. Yes. I think she would have loved feminism.
Actually, probably a lot more interesting than the rest of her siblings in a lot of ways.
Wow, clock that T, sis.
Just saying.
Clock that T, sis. So she really loved England. And while she's in England, her family does send her, I think she's like 19 at the time, they send her out of London to Belmont House, which was a Montessori school in the country. We have a fellow Montessori bebe right here. Where are my fellow Montessori rammies? Claire was probably just like cutting an onion when she was like two, slicing it up.
This is like Montessori is like based off of the five senses, like with learning. I loved Montessori though. It seems great. And it's great for people to learn at their own pace. Exactly. Which would have been great for Rosemary.
That's what I needed as a kid. I was all over the place.
Yeah. It's learn at your own pace. And it was great for Rosemary. She loved it. After a few weeks there, Joe enthusiastically wrote to his wife, Rose, quote, She has contended completely to be teaching with Mother Isabel.
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Chapter 8: What lasting impact did the Kennedy tragedies have on the family?
It's like, of course, a woman in her early 20s that has daddy issues.
You are just going to be getting out there and trying to find it in all the wrong places.
As much as you can. And if you get attention, you stick with that. So then Joe decides to send Rosemary to a convent.
Like a nunnery?
Like a nunnery. Because remember, they're super Catholic.
Oh, because you're a Latin whore.
Exactly. So they sent her to a convent school in Washington, D.C. Oh, my God. She's in her early 20s. So Rosemary's cousin, Ann Gargan, recounted that many nights the school would call saying she was missing, only to find her out walking around the streets at 2 a.m.
She's like, I just got some. Bet you guys can't say the same.
dude definitely can't right sisters she's like don't be jealous literally literally Tessa that's so funny yeah so which again like also she's in her early 20s like she doesn't need to be like watched by nuns no like you're fine oh my god so she would it soon emerged that Rosemary was sneaking out to meet men in taverns
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