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Inside The Kennedy Family 'Curse' 41

Inside the Kennedy family 2. Woman dies in car driven by Ted 6. Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel
Kennedy convicted of murder
'curse'

It was known simply as Chappaquiddick, the Michael Skakel, nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's
By Thom Patterson tragedy that followed Ted Kennedy throughout widow Ethel Kennedy, was convicted in 2002 of
his political career. Chappaquiddick was the bludgeoning his neighbor, Martha Moxley to
Massachusetts island where campaign worker death during a jealous rage in 1975. Both were

How is it possible for one family to suffer so Mary Jo Kopechne died in a 1969 car crash, with 15 at the time of the killing and lived near each
Kennedy at the wheel. other in Greenwich, Connecticut.
much tragedy?
Kennedy was driving Kopechne home In 2013, he was granted a new trial and
For some, the string of untimely deaths
after a late-night party when he lost control of freed on bail. Three years later, prosecutors
and scandals in President John F. Kennedy's
the vehicle and crashed into the water. appealed the decision and the state Supreme
family may seem too unlikely to chalk up as bad
Kopechne was trapped inside the car but Court reinstated Skakel's conviction.
luck.
Kennedy was able to swim ashore and walked
In fact, JFK's brother, the late Sen.
back to his hotel.
Edward "Ted" Kennedy, actually wondered out 7. JFK's sister Rosemary Kennedy and
loud if his family were victims of an "awful He didn't alert police until 10 hours later. her failed brain surgery
curse" — as if curses could be real. Eventually Kennedy pleaded guilty to
leaving the scene of an accident and received a
Most people know about the The family had long described President
two-month suspended sentence.
assassinations of President Kennedy and his Kennedy's sister Rosemary Kennedy as
He went on national TV to explain the
brother Robert F. Kennedy in the 1960s. "intellectually slow." In hopes of improving her
tragedy, saying, "All kinds of scrambled
But, depending on your generation, these life, Kennedy family patriarch Joseph P.
thoughts ... went through my mind ... including
other terrible events within the Kennedy clan Kennedy allowed doctors to remove part of
such questions as ... whether some awful curse
may not be so well known. Rosemary Kennedy's brain in 1941, a relatively
did actually hang over all the Kennedys."
new procedure known as a prefrontal lobotomy.
A film titled "Chappaquiddick," starring
1. The Kennedy family's history of The operation only worsened her condition and
Kate Mara as Mary Jo Kopechne, is scheduled to
deadly plane crashes Rosemary was institutionalized until her death
hit theaters in April.
in 2005 at age 86.
Many remember the 1999 small plane crash off 3. RFK's son dies from drug overdose
Massachusetts that killed JFK's son, John F. 8. President and Jackie Kennedy lose
Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn Bessette their infant son
David Kennedy, one of Ethel and Robert F.
Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette. The
Kennedy's 11 children, died in 1984 in a Palm
crash was blamed on JFK Jr., who was piloting In 1963, President Kennedy and first lady
Beach, Florida, hotel after a drug overdose. He
the plane at night and became disoriented before Jacqueline Kennedy announced the birth of their
was 28. He had reportedly watched his father's
crashing into the Atlantic. third child, Patrick. Weighing just under 5
assassination on live TV as a boy and later
But perhaps not as well known: 35 years pounds, Patrick was born nearly six weeks early.
struggled with addiction.
earlier, Ted Kennedy survived a 1964 plane Patrick struggled to breathe, due to a lung
crash that killed two people. condition. The infant survived for less than two
JFK's brother Sen. Edward "Ted" 4. Another son of RFK dies in tragic ski days and was buried in the family grave site at
accident
Kennedy survived this deadly plane crash in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.
Massachusetts in 1964.
This tragedy happened during a Another son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, 9. Ted Kennedy's son loses leg to
campaign flight from Washington to Westfield, Michael Kennedy, died in a ski accident in cancer
Massachusetts. Ted Kennedy was flying with a Aspen, Colorado, on New Year's Eve, 1997. The
fellow senator, the senator's wife and a New York Times reported he was tossing a Cancer has also played a role in Kennedy family
legislative aide. The pilot and aide were killed. football with relatives while skiing down a tragedies. In 1973, Ted Kennedy's 12-year-old
Low clouds and fog made flying difficult mountain. The father of three was 39.
as the plane approached Westfield's airport. The son Edward Jr. lost a leg to bone cancer. "My
plane lost altitude and crashed in an orchard not 5. Kennedy nephew accused of rape father taught me that even our most profound
losses are survivable, and it is what we do with
far from the runway, killing the pilot and the
that loss, our ability to transform it into a
aide. In 1991, Ted Kennedy was forced to testify
positive event — that is one of my father's
Kennedy suffered a broken back and about a bar-hopping weekend near the family's
greatest lessons," Edward Jr. said after his father
ribs. Federal investigators blamed the crash on vacation home in Palm Beach, Florida, that led
lost his own battle with cancer in 2009.
pilot error. to sexual battery charges against his nephew,
President Kennedy's oldest brother, Joe William Kennedy Smith.
10. Sons: There's no curse
Kennedy Jr., died in a 1944 air disaster, after Smith was accused of raping a woman
volunteering to pilot a secret and extremely that he and the senator met at a trendy nightclub
After surviving bone cancer, Edward Jr.
dangerous World War II bombing mission in called Au Bar.
and his brother, Patrick Kennedy, told CNN they
Nazi-occupied France. Eventually Smith was acquitted of all
reject the idea of a family curse.
During the mission, two in-flight charges.
"No. No. Obviously my dad had a sense
explosions rocked his bomber aircraft "resulting Because the trial was allowed to be
of spirituality that transcended his ability to face
in the death of its two pilots," according to the televised live, cable news channels, including
these problems, you know, in a way that would
JFK Presidential Library. The cause of the CNN and the newly launched Court TV,
explosions remain a mystery. provided virtually nonstop coverage of have otherwise paralyzed the normal person,"
Four years after the family lost Joe Jr., testimony, creating fodder for the tabloid press, Patrick Kennedy said in 2009.
another plane crash killed President Kennedy's much to the chagrin of the Kennedy family. His brother Edward Jr. added, "The
Kennedy family has had to endure these things
sister Kathleen Kennedy, who was nicknamed Most news outlets chos not to identify
in a very open way. But our family is just like ...
"Kick." Kennedy Smith's accuser, whose face was
every other family in America in many ways." []
Kick Kennedy had married William covered by a blue blob during her testimony.
Cavendish, England's Marquess of Hartington, After Ted Kennedy's emotional
giving her the title Lady Hartington. In 1948, testimony, Kennedy Smith said of his uncle, "I Listen to
she and three others died when their small plane think this process has been unfair to him," The ‘X’ Zone Broadcast Network
crashed in France while flying in a storm. She Vanity Fair reported. 24 / 7 / 365 at
was 28. www.XZBN.net