Kennedy family

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The Kennedys are the wealthy family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the Democratic Party and its liberal side. Harvard educations have been frequent among them, and they have contributed heavily to that university's Kennedy School of Government.

With the election of President John F. Kennedy, he and his two then surviving brothers all had prominent positions in the Federal government, and received intensive publicity, often emphasizing their youth (relative to comparably influential politicians), glamor, and education, and their collective future in politics was often discussed, often heightening (or ironizing) the romantic element by making a metaphor for the Kennedys out of the name of Camelot, the then current musical comedy involving King Arthur.

The family has undergone (then, before, and since) a series of deaths and other reverses that could not be fully remedied by wealth, sometimes called "the Kennedy curse"; it has included the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, three aircraft crashes, a case of mental retardation treated by prefrontal lobotomy, and at least three sets of allegations against individual family members and their relatives by marriage, including a murder conviction and a controversial fatal single-car crash. Just how severely these events restricted the family's influence is unknowable, but the assumption that even the last surviving brother's role was drastically diminished is popular. On the other hand, a number of Kennedy family members have since held high office, and the idea that the family's influence was snuffed out in the 1960s is an exaggeration.

Family tree

First generation

The family patriarch was Patrick J. Kennedy (1858–1929), a first generation American who married Mary Augusta Hickey. Patrick Kennedy was a politician involved in the local Democratic Party.

Second generation

In 1914, their son, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969) married Rose Fitzgerald (1890–1995), the daughter of Boston Mayor John F. Fitzgerald. Joe Sr. served as the first Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and as United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James's (United Kingdom) in the years leading up to World War II.

Third generation

Together Rose and Joe Sr. had nine children:

Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (1915–1944)

He was killed in action in WWII while flying a bombing mission over Europe. He was single at the time of his death and had no children, though he had been romantically linked to Edith Bouvier Beale, a cousin of his future sister-in-law Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, as well as Katharine Mortimer. (The latter reportedly rebuffed any more-serious involvement with Joe Jr., claiming that his family was too loud for her to contemplate marrying into.)

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963)

He was a U.S. representative, a U.S. senator and the 35th President of the United States. He was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas, TX. The events surrounding his death remain controversial. He married New York socialite Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and had four children, of which one was stillborn, one died soon after birth, and two survived to adulthood.

Rosemary Kennedy (1918–2005)

Likely dyslexic and considered to be slightly brain-damaged from birth, Rose Marie Kennedy (her christening name) was rendered incapable of intelligible speech or caring for herself by a lobotomy, a popular neurosurgical technique of the time, requested by her father, Joe Sr., that was intended to cure her increasing mood swings and make her more manageable. The operation instead reduced her to an infantile state. She lived in a residential care facility in Wisconsin until her death on 7 January 2005.

Kathleen Agnes Kennedy (1920–1948)

Known as Kick, she married a Protestant, the son and heir to the Duke of Devonshire, over her mother's strenuous religious objections. After being widowed when her husband, the Marquess of Hartington, was killed in action in World War II, she was killed in a plane crash in France with her lover, the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam.

Eunice Mary Kennedy (born 1921)

She is best known as the founder of the Special Olympics, an organization she began in honor of her sister Rosemary. She married Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., later a 1972 vice-presidential candidate, and they had five children.

Patricia Kennedy (1924–2006)

She married Rat Pack actor Peter Lawford (1923–1984) and had four children.

Robert Francis Kennedy (1925–1968)

He was U.S. attorney general in his brother's administration, later served as senator from New York, and was assassinated while running for president in June 1968. He married Ethel S. Skakel and had 11 children.

Jean Ann Kennedy (born 1928)

She married Stephen Edward Smith (1927–1990) and had two sons and adopted two daughters. She later served as the U.S. ambassador to Ireland.

Edward Moore Kennedy (born 1932)

Known as "Teddy" or "Ted", he has served as a senator from Massachusetts since 1962. Twice married, he has three children from his first marriage and two stepchildren from his second.

Fourth generation

Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr., had no children
John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier had four children:
Arabella Kennedy - (stillborn in 1956)
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (b. 1957) - a lawyer, the co-founder of the Profiles in Courage Award, the president of the Kennedy Library foundation, and the chairwoman of the American Ballet Theatre. Married Edwin Schlossberg, has three children.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. (1960-1999) - a lawyer and publisher of George magazine, who was killed in a plane crash on July 16, 1999. Married Carolyn Bessette.
Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (1963-1963), who was born prematurely and died from infant respiratory distress syndrome two days after his birth

Rosemary Kennedy had no children
Kathleen Kennedy and William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington had no children
Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver have five children:
Robert Sargent Shriver III (b. 1954) - an attorney and President of RSS Inc., a Beverly Hills music, film and philanthropic company. Currently, he is also a Santa Monica city councilman.
Maria Owings Shriver (b. 1955) - Former TV newsanchor and current First Lady of California and wife of Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Has four children.
Timothy Perry Shriver- (b. 1959) chairman of Special Olympics. Married Linda Potter, has five children.
Mark Kennedy Shriver (b. 1964) - a delegate in the Maryland state legislature for two consecutive terms. Married, has three children.
Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver (b. 1965) activist for mental retardation. Founded the "Best Buddies" movement in Miami where he currently lives. Married, has four children.

Patricia Kennedy and Peter Lawford had four children:
Christopher Kennedy Lawford - professional actor.
Sydney Maleia Lawford
Victoria Francis Lawford
Robin Elizabeth Lawford

Robert Francis Kennedy and Ethel Skakel had 11 children:
Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend - former lieutenant governor of Maryland, unsuccessful candidate for Maryland governor in 2002. Married David Lee Townsend, has four children.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy II - former U.S. representative from Massachusetts. Divorced from Sheila Rauch, two sons; currently married to Anne Elizabeth ("Beth") Kelly, no children.
Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. - environmentalist and political commentator, attorney and law professor at Pace University School of Law. He is best known for his many successful litigations to prevent water pollution, primarily in the New York area. Divorced from Emily Ruth Black (two children); married in 1994 Mary Richardson, four children.
David Anthony Kennedy - died of a drug overdose in 1984
Mary Courtney Kennedy Married Jeffrey Robert Ruhe (divorced) and Paul Michael Hill (separated), has one child.
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy - died in a skiing accident on December 31, 1997. Married Victoria Gifford (separated), had three children.
Mary Kerry Kennedy - ex-wife of Andrew Cuomo, who is the son of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, has three children.
Christopher George Kennedy - president of Merchandise Mart commercial properties based in Chicago. Married Sheila Sinclair Berner, has four children.
Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy Married Victoria Anne Stauss, has three children.
Douglas Harriman Kennedy Married Mary Elizabeth Stark, has three children.
Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy Married Mark Bailey, has three children.

Jean Ann Kennedy and Stephen Edward Smith had four children:
Stephen Edward Smith, Jr.
William Kennedy Smith - 1991 rape acquittal, physician, activist against land mines
Amanda Mary Smith, married Carter Hood, two children
Kym Maria Smith

Edward Moore Kennedy and Virginia Joan Bennett had three children:
Kara Anne Kennedy Married Michael Allen, has two children.
Edward Moore Kennedy, Jr. Married Katharine Anne Gershman, has two children.
Patrick Joseph Kennedy - current U.S. Representative from Rhode Island

A popular misconception

Many sites on the Internet state that Rose Fitzgerald and her descendants are descended (twice) from the couple William Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Irby of colonial Virginia, the latter being a descendant of William Randolph, who was also an ancestor of Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Randolph, and Robert E. Lee. This is wrong. In fact, the earliest known Fitzgerald ancestor of the Kennedys was James Fitzgerald, who was born in 1772 in Ireland.

References

External links

America's Kennedys - An American Dynasty
"The Kennedys: A Family Tree", St. Petersburg Times Online
Interactive Kennedy Family Tree
Kennedy Family Tree, The American Experience (PBS)
Kennedy Family Tree, Ancestry.com
The Kennedy family at Political Graveyard
http://www.kennedy-web.com/

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Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 22:17:20 PDT (GMT -0700)
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