Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy (1941)
JFK’s sister, Rosemary, third of Joseph and Rose Kennedy’s nine children, underwent a lobotomy at age 23, a procedure that left her unable to speak or walk independently. He lived the rest of his life institutionalized.
The death of the firstborn, Joe Kennedy Jr. (1944)
Prepared by his father to become president, JFK’s older brother died at the age of 29 on a secret air mission during the Second World War. The plane exploded and the body was never recovered.
Other fatal plane crashes: John F. Kennedy Jr. (1999) and Kathleen Kennedy (1948)
Son of the 35th American president, JFK Jr. died at the age of 38 when the plane he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic, along with his wife and sister-in-law.
Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, one of the former president’s sisters, died at the age of 28 in a plane crash in the south of France, just four years after being widowed during World War II – her husband, British William Cavendish, was killed by a German sniper in Brussels, about a month after the death of Kathleen’s older brother, Joe Jr.
The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy (1968)
Senator and presidential candidate, brother of JFK, was killed in Los Angeles shortly after winning primary elections. The attacker, Sirhan Sirhan, claimed political motivations.
Ted Kennedy’s Accident (1969)
Another of JFK’s brothers, Ted Kennedy, survived the crash of the car he was driving, but Mary Jo Kopechne, a passenger, drowned. The delay in reporting the accident to the authorities ruined his presidential aspirations.
The Death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill (2019)
Granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, she died at the age of 22 due to an accidental overdose, reigniting public perception of the family’s “curse”.