After a near-death experience in 1969, U.S. Senator Edward “Ted” Moore Kennedy famously questioned if there was a curse hanging over his family because of the similar catastrophes several people in his family had experienced. The misfortunes that have befallen the family have been known as the Kennedy Curse ever since.
The Kennedys are among the most prominent American families because of their long-standing involvement in politics, business, and public service. However, they’ve also become famous for a series of tragic incidents over the past decades, including the recent death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill in August 2019.
Joe Kennedy Jr. Died During A Top-Secret Mission
The Kennedy Curse seems to have started with Joseph “Joe” P. Kennedy, Jr., in 1944. When he was 29 years old, Joe Jr., lost his life while flying for a secret mission during World World II. The cause of the explosion that killed him remains a mystery.
Before his younger brother John F. Kennedy, Joe Jr., was groomed by his father to become president from a very young age. Prior to completing his law degree at Harvard University in 1941, he decided to enlist in the United States Naval Reserve, where he served as a bomber pilot.
JFK Tragically Lost Most Of His Children
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), and his wife, Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy, went through several heartbreaks while trying to grow their family. Jackie had a miscarriage in 1955, and the couple lost their daughter Arabella Kennedy during childbirth. They eventually had a daughter named Caroline Kennedy in 1957 and a son named John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., in 1960.
In 1963, JFK and Jackie lost their youngest child, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, two days after his birth. Patrick had been born prematurely when Jackie was about seven months and three weeks pregnant. Sadly, she was still recovering from the cesarean section, so she couldn’t attend her son’s funeral.
Murdered In A Very Public Assassination
The year 1963 was doubly tragic for the Kennedys. Just three months after losing Patrick, JFK was assassinated while he was riding through Dallas, Texas, inside a convertible with the top down. It was later revealed that he had been shot twice by Lee Harvey Oswald.
JFK was rushed to an emergency room only to die just 30 minutes later. At the time, he was 46 years old and had served as president of the United States for 1,036 days. The U.S. House of Representatives concluded in 1979 that the assassin hadn’t acted alone, which has spawned several conspiracy theories.
Kick Kennedy Died In A Plane Crash
Joe Sr.'s daughter Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy was the fourth of nine children. She initially became famous for dating banking magnate David Rockefeller. While her father was serving as the American ambassador to Britain, she attended Queen’s College, attracting a large circle of friends in British high society.
In 1948, Kick died at age 28 when her plane crashed while she was flying to Paris, France, to discuss marrying Lord Fitzwilliam with her father. Her husband, William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, had passed away not long before. Joe, Sr., was the only Kennedy who attended her funeral.
Robert Kennedy Was Assassinated Too
Five years after JFK’s assassination, tragedy struck again as his younger brother, Senator Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy, met a similar end at age 43. Having just won the California Democratic primary, Bobby was addressing his supporters at the Ambassador Hotel when Palestinian national Sirhan Sirhan shot him.
Bobby died 26 hours later at Good Samaritan Hospital, where he’d undergone neurosurgery in a desperate attempt to save him. Sirhan is currently housed at the Richard J. Donovan Facility on a life sentence for the crime. Bobby’s assassination has also been the subject of conspiracy theories.
Joseph P. Kennedy II's Automobile Crash
Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, Bobby’s son, had a troubled childhood that saw him expelled several times from school. When his father was assassinated, Joseph was just 15 years old. He subsequently turned his life around, even joining a federally funded program to treat tuberculosis in San Francisco, California.
Joseph was aboard the Lufthansa Airlines flight that was hijacked in 1972. The next year, he was driving a Jeep when the vehicle overturned in Nantucket, Massachusetts, with his brother, David Kennedy, and his girlfriend, Pam Kelley, inside. David fractured one of his vertebrae, while Pam was permanently paralyzed.
David Kennedy Overdosed On Cocaine
Bobby and his wife, Ethel Kennedy, actually had 11 children, of whom David was the fourth. Before his 13th birthday in 1968, David nearly drowned while swimming with his siblings in the Pacific Ocean. Bobby saved his son's life, bruising his forehead in the process.
David learned about his father’s assassination while watching the news. This traumatic experience, combined with the kidnapping threats he faced and the 1973 vehicle crash that had left his girlfriend paralyzed, ravaged his mental health. As a result, he became a drug addict and died in 1984 from a cocaine overdose.
Michael Kennedy Lost His Life In A Ski Tragedy
Bobby and Ethel’s son Michael Kennedy attended Havard University and briefly worked at a law firm in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1994, he helped organize his uncle Ted's re-election campaign. Michael tragically died in 1997 during a skiing trip in Aspen, Colorado, with some family members.
The family was playing football on skis when Michael hit a tree without wearing a helmet or any other safety equipment. At Aspen Valley Hospital, he was pronounced dead. Some reports claim that a ski patrol had warned them to stop playing such a dangerous game, while others deny that this warning was issued.
JFK Jr. Also Died In A Plane Crash
JFK’s son was yet another Kennedy killed in an aviation-related accident. On the night of July 16, 1999, JFK, Jr., was flying a light aircraft headed for the island of Martha’s Vineyard when he reportedly became disoriented and made a fatal mistake that crashed the plane.
JFK, Jr., was traveling with his wife, Carolyn Kennedy, as well as Lauren Bessette, his sister-in-law, to witness his cousin’s nuptials, but sadly they all died in the crash. At the time that his father was assassinated, he was about to celebrate his third birthday.
Kara Kennedy Keeled Over While Exercising
When she was 51 years old, Kara Kennedy lost her life in 2011 to a heart attack that struck while she was working out with some friends in Washington, D.C. Even more tragically, she had reportedly already fought off a lung malignancy nine years earlier.
Kara was the daughter of Ted and his wife, Virginia Joan Kennedy. She helped her father during his presidential bid in 1980 before going off to pursue higher studies. After graduating, she began a career in television, working at Fox News and later at WBZ-TV.
Mary Richardson Kennedy Committed Suicide
Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s estranged wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, hanged herself in 2012 at her home in Bedford, Massachusetts. An autopsy revealed that she had been on antidepressants. Sadly, Thomas W. Richardson, Mary’s brother, and Bobby, Jr., engaged in a legal battle over her remains.
Bobby, Jr., had filed to divorce Mary in 2010, and she had been arrested three days later for driving while drunk. She had a history of struggling with alcoholism. Bobby, Jr., had gained temporary custody of their children while they waited for the separation proceedings.
Bobby’s Granddaughter Saoirse Kennedy Hill
Saoirse Roisin Kennedy Hill was the granddaughter of Bobby’s widow, Ethel. Saoirse attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where she penned opinion pieces for The Deerfield Scroll, the school newspaper. The articles discussed her struggle with bouts of depression that got worse in her sophomore years.
Saoirse then majored in communication at Boston College and served as vice president of the College Democrats. One of her professors, Marcus Breen, described her as an engaging student who actively participated in the classroom while she was studying social justice and social media under him.
Saoirse Died Way Too Young
Tragically, Saoirse reportedly passed away on August 1, 2019, when she was only 22 years old. Emergency responders had been called to the residence in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where she had lived with her mother, Courtney Kennedy Hill, as well as her maternal grandmother, Ethel.
Saoirse had a cardiac arrest and died moments later at a Cape Cod hospital from what is suspected to have been a drug overdose. She is the latest victim in the litany of Kennedy tragedies, her death reviving the rumors about the Kennedy Curse.
Ted Kennedy Survived A Plane Crash
Ted was the youngest of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy and Joe, Sr.’s children. In 1964, he was aboard a private plane headed to Massachusetts from Washington, D.C., when the terrible weather conditions caused the plane to crash into an apple orchard in Southampton, New York.
Ted managed to survive the crash, but his aide, Edward Moss, and the pilot weren’t as fortunate. Birch Bayh, a fellow senator, pulled him out of the wreckage. Ted suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung, a severe back injury, and internal bleeding from the crash.
Ted's Infamous Automobile Disaster
Ted had another misfortune five years after he survived the plane crash. In what became known as the Chappaquiddick incident, Ted swam away when his vehicle plunged into a pond in Massachusetts, leading to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, who had been his passenger.
Eventually, Ted pled guilty to fleeing the scene of an accident and received a suspended sentence of two months in jail. In a national broadcast that evening, he denied driving while intoxicated. The incident is widely believed to have ruined his chances of ever becoming president.
Edward M. Kennedy Jr. Lost A Leg
Sadly, Ted's son, Edward M. Kennedy, Jr., was diagnosed with a bone malignancy when he was just 12 years old. To stop the disease from spreading, he had to have one leg amputated. Edward’s father, who had been escorting his cousin Kathleen Hartington Kennedy down the aisle, flew back to be by his side.
Edward's mother, Joan, later revealed that he was meant to have boarded Air Florida Flight 90 in 1982, which ended up crashing and killing 74 people. Missing the flight had literally saved his life. Edward has become a successful attorney who advocates for people with disabilities.
Rosemary Kennedy's Failed Brain Surgery
Rose and Joe, Sr.’s third child, Rosemary Kennedy, had always been thought to be mentally disabled. When she started exhibiting erratic behavior at age 23, the family decided to have her lobotomized. The psychosurgery was meant to stop her violent outbursts and mood swings.
Joe, Sr., informed his wife of the lobotomy only after the procedure. The surgery failed, and physicians later diagnosed Rosemary with a mental illness. It left her with a mental capacity much like that of a two-year-old until her death in 2005 from natural causes.
Michael Skakel Was Convicted Of Murder
Ethel’s nephew, Michael Skakel, found himself on the wrong side of the law when he was convicted of murder in 2002. Michael had been accused of bludgeoning Martha Moxley, his neighbor, in 1975 as a result of jealous rage. At the time, they were both 15 years old.
Michael had a new trial in 2013 and was released on bail. In 2016, prosecutors appealed the case, compelling the Supreme Court to reinstate his conviction. He remains free, however, as the verdict is reconsidered based on the counterarguments he submitted in his own defense.
The Kennedys: The American Version Of A Royal Family
The Kennedy family moved to America from Ireland around the 1840s, and they have often been compared to the British royal family. Patrick Joseph "P.J." Kennedy became the first member of the family to hold public office, a tradition that many Kennedys have followed to this day.
P.J.’s dynasty reached the height of its power when his grandson JFK became president of the United States. The Kennedy family has also brought forth a long list of authors, activists, and lawyers who champion the rights of those with mental and physical challenges.
The 35th President Of The United States
JFK's father, Joseph "Joe" Patrick Kennedy, Sr., chose him to follow in Joe, Jr.'s footsteps. Like his older brother, JFK attended Harvard University and joined the United States Naval Reserve. He also earned a Pulitzer Prize for Profiles in Courage, a book he published while serving in the U.S. Senate.
As the 35th U.S. president, JFK is well known for his contributions to American politics. He led the United States through some of the most intense moments in the Cold War between his nation and communist states. But when JFK married Jacqueline Bouvier, the couple had no idea of the perils awaiting their own family.