Despite their fame, power, and glamour, the Kennedy family has suffered a seemingly endless series of tragedies that have been dubbed the "Kennedy Curse."
Could there really be a “Kennedy curse” picking off members of America’s most prominent political dynasty one by one?
Throughout the golden years of the Pax Americana, the Kennedy family became synonymous with beauty, glamour, and political success. Cavorting with Hollywood A-listers, charming foreign dignitaries, and facing down the Soviet Union seemed to be all in a day’s work for the family from “Camelot.”
Stan Wayman/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty ImagesAt President John F. Kennedy’s funeral in November 1963, hundreds of thousands of mourners joined his family in grieving.
But behind the glitz of this American lineage, you’ll find some of the most devastating events ever to befall a family. From assassinations and mental illnesses to bizarre accidents, these are the tragic stories of the Kennedy curse.
The Kennedy Curse Begins With Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.
The Kennedy curse supposedly began with Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr., the handsome eldest son of Joseph P. Kennedy and the grandson of John Francis “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald.
Born in 1915 just after his grandfather’s second term as Mayor of Boston ended, Joseph Jr. was groomed for high office from the beginning. His grandfather even announced to the local papers, “This child is the future president of the nation.”
Wikimedia CommonsThe last known photograph of Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., taken just before his fatal flight.
Stinging from the scorn poured down on ambitious Irish Catholics by New England’s old moneyed class, his family did everything they could to ensure they would someday see young Joseph in the Oval Office.
To that end, Joseph Kennedy, Sr. was so dedicated to the image of his family’s respectability that he even had Joseph Jr.’s younger sister, Rosemary, secretly lobotomized rather than allow her violent mood swings to ruin his son’s chances of success.
Wikimedia CommonsEnsign Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. in 1942. His father had groomed Joseph for political office from a young age.
Joseph was given a first-rate education, starting at Connecticut’s Choate boarding school and ending at Harvard, where he was involved in over a dozen extracurricular activities — including five sports — and student government.
But before he could finish his studies, Joseph took a commission in 1941 as a pilot in the U.S. Naval Reserve. For two years, he flew patrols over the Caribbean Sea before transferring in 1943 to Bombing Squadron 110, a U.S. unit hunting U-boats under British command.
In England, he was the only Kennedy able (and willing, given their mother Rose’s objection to marrying into the Church of England) to attend the May 1944 wedding of his sister Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy to aristocrat William Cavendish. It seemed that the Kennedys had finally arrived at the social respectability so longed for by their father.
Wikimedia CommonsKathleen “Kick” Kennedy on her wedding day, with brother Joseph behind her.
A seasoned combat pilot after 25 missions, Joseph Jr. was eligible to go home in 1944. But in August of that year, he volunteered to fly a bomb-packed, radio-controlled B-24 bomber over U-boat pens in the North Sea.
He and his co-pilot were to guide their plane to the correct altitude before parachuting out. Instead, the explosives detonated prematurely over the east coast of England, killing the Kennedy heir at age 29.
Joseph Jr. wasn’t the only one of his siblings to be struck by the Kennedy family curse in 1940s Britain. Kathleen’s husband William Cavendish was killed by a German sniper in Belgium just weeks after his brother-in-law, and Kathleen herself was killed in a plane crash in 1948 as she flew to Paris to beg Cavendish’s father for his blessing for a second marriage.
The Tragic Death Of Infant Patrick Bouvier Kennedy
Getty ImagesMourners were welcome to pay their respects at the graves of Patrick Kennedy and his stillborn sister Arabella. Months later, their father would be assassinated in Dallas.
The Kennedy curse struck again nearly twenty years later.
Following the death of his older brother, John F. Kennedy became the family’s hope for the presidency. After serving in the House of Representatives and the Senate, John won the 1960 presidential election. With his stylish wife Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, John symbolized the optimism and energy of the post-war era in America.
Though the young couple was idolized in the press, they suffered several private tragedies. Jacqueline Kennedy’s pregnancies were all difficult, and their hopes for a growing family were repeatedly dashed.
Her first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, and her second ended in a stillbirth. Her third pregnancy resulted in the birth of her daughter, Caroline, who had been born safe and healthy. John Jr. would follow, and though he was premature, he too was healthy.
She became pregnant again in 1963, and was understandably worried while facing her third trimester. On the morning of August 7, 1963, Jackie felt labor pains and was taken by helicopter to a birthing suite previously set up for her at Otis Air Force Base Hospital. There, Patrick was born after an emergency Cesarean section at 12:52 pm, but he drew almost no air.
Wikimedia CommonsJohn and Jackie Kennedy with their children, Caroline and John Jr. The Kennedys lost three infants to miscarriage and difficult births.
By the time the president arrived 40 minutes later, doctors had placed his 4-pound 10-ounce son in an oxygen-supplied incubator. Patrick was stricken with infant respiratory distress syndrome, which is an inability to breathe caused by underdeveloped lungs. Just two days after his birth, he succumbed to the condition and died.
But Patrick’s death wasn’t without impact. Such a high-profile death spurred interest in curing neonatal diseases which had been killing thousands of children every year. In addition to private research and development, President Kennedy soon granted $265 million for research into neonatal medicine, saving countless lives through medical advances.
