Kennedy Curse
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The Kennedy Curse is a presumed curse attributed by some to the Kennedy family.
Chronology
Believers in the "curse" generally cite the following events as evidence of the family's misfortunes.
- 1941 - Rosemary Kennedy is given a lobotomy to treat what may have been mild mental retardation or perhaps dyslexia. The results are disastrous, she remained in an institution until her death in 2005.
- 1944 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., the eldest son of the Kennedy patriarch Joseph Kennedy, is killed over the English Channel while flying a voluntary mission during World War II.
- 1948 - Kathleen Kennedy dies in a plane crash, this time in France.
- December 19, 1961 - Joseph P. Kennedy, the family patriarch, suffered a greatly disabling stroke which made movement and communication extremely difficult and limited until his death.
- August 7, 1963 - Patrick Bouvier Kennedy , the second son of John and Jacqueline Kennedy, dies just after being born nearly six weeks premature.
- November 22, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas.
- 1964 - Senator Ted Kennedy, the youngest of the original Kennedy children, nearly dies in a plane crash which takes the life of an aide, Edward Moss.
- June 5, 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy, brother to both John and Ted, is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles immediately following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary.
- 1969 - "Chappaquiddick Incident" - Ted Kennedy drives off a bridge on his way home from a beach party. Mary Jo Kopechne, an aide to Bobby Kennedy, dies in the accident.
- 1973 - Edward Kennedy, Jr. loses his right leg due to cancer.
- 1973 - Joseph P. Kennedy II, son of Robert and Ethel, is the driver in a Cape Cod car accident that leaves one passenger permanently paralyzed.
- 1979 - David Kennedy was robbed and beaten in Harlem while buying heroin.
- 1983 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was arrested in South Dakota for heroin possession.
- 1984 - David A. Kennedy, another son of Robert, dies from a Demerol and cocaine overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.
- 1986 - Patrick Kennedy, a son of Senator Ted Kennedy, begins treatment for cocaine addiction.
- 1988 - Christina Onassis, step-daughter of Jacqueline Kennedy, dies of drug abuse-related heart failure.
- 1991 - William Kennedy Smith, son of Jean Kennedy, is accused of raping a woman in Palm Beach, Florida. He is tried and acquitted.
- 1997 - Michael Kennedy, son of Robert, is killed in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado.
- 1999 - John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and Carolyn's sister Lauren Bessette, die when Kennedy's plane crashes into the ocean on a foggy afternoon en route from New York to Martha's Vineyard.
- 2002 - Michael Skakel, nephew of Robert, is convicted in the 1975 murder of teenage neighbor Martha Moxley.