[Miss Behave]

Rest, Rosemary, rest. Your pain is gone.

[ProudVet77]

Another disgusting episode in the Kennedy saga.

[Lurking in Kansas]

May she rest in Peace.

[GVnana]

born a year after her brother became president.
In 1941, Joseph Kennedy, worried his daughter's mild mental retardation would lead her into situations that could damage the family's reputation, arranged for Rosemary to have a lobotomy. She was 23.

Kennedy became president in 1960.

[Izzy Dunne]

Kennedy, the inspiration for the Special Olympics spearheaded by the Kennedy family, had been a patient since 1949 at St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children in Jefferson, Wis. She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, born a year after her brother became president.

Hmmm. Kennedy became president in 1961. She was "born a year later", but was a "patient since 1949".

I think I'm confused, but I'm not really sure....

[aberaussie]

She was 86...born a year after her brother became president?? Did I read that correctly? It doesn't add up.

[Torie]

arranged for Rosemary to have a lobotomy.

One of the long list of things Old Joe has had an opportunity to repent about, either later within his allotted time on this mortal coil, or thereafter.

[nuconvert]

I think there's a math problem here...................

[IncPen]

A fitting time to be reminded about how the Kennedys like their women.

Some folks believe Old Joe hacked her brain just because she was uppity.

And to think just yesterday Teddy was talking about water torture.

I wonder if forced lobotomy counts as torture?

[Ciexyz]

Back then, they used to sterilize the mentally retarded. How tragic that Rosemary was given a lobotomy for the family's convenience.

[Cultural Jihad]

She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, born a year after her brother became president.

She was born in 1962?!

[small voice in the wilderness]

In 1941, Joseph Kennedy, worried his daughter's mild mental retardation would lead her into situations that could damage the family's reputation

How ironic that it was in fact Teddy that damaged the family's reputation. They didn't see THAT one coming..

[GATECH]

This is sad and it shows the ultimate disgrace of a power hungry parent with now room for compassion.

[Elle Bee]

Doctors told Joseph Kennedy that a lobotomy, a medical procedure in which the frontal lobes of a patient's brain are scraped away, would help his daughter, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Rosemary's younger sister, recalled later.

Psychosurgery was in its infancy at the time, and only a few hundred lobotomies had been performed. The procedure was believed to be a way to relieve serious mental disorders. Leamer wrote that Rosemary was "probably the first person with mental retardation in America to receive a prefrontal lobotomy."

But Rosemary was reduced to an infant-like state, mumbling words and sitting for hours staring at walls, Leamer wrote.

.

What a wonderful family

Why didn't Ted just take her for a drive ?

.

[mystery-ak]

Rosemary was mildly retarded, after Joe got through, she was severely retarded....he didn't want to be embarrassed..

[ken21]

that's odd. i wonder what the truth is.

Joseph P. Kennedy : The Mogul, the Mob, the Statesman, and the Making of an American Myth
by Ted Schwarz (Hardcover - September 5, 2003)

schwarz leaves the impression that rose was involved too. and, that joe kennedy was frustrated by his daughter's emerging sexuality and wanted to thwart it. but he didn't mind his sons' sexual escapades, including a lifelong relationship with lem billings by jfk, described in a full-page footnote.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Are you good at math? ; )

[TheForceOfOne]

She was 86'd

[Jewels1091]

born a year after her brother became president.....she was 86????

something doesn't add up!

[Ellesu]

Did this headline have to have the word retarded?

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/news/shownews.jsp?content=w010793A