The Untold Atrocity That Happened to Rosemary Kennedy

At the age of just 23, the beautiful Rosemary Kennedy and sister to then-President JFK would disappear from society. At the time there was very little known or published about the disappearance because it was a secret trying to be covered up by the family mainly the father.

Born Friday 13 September 1918, Through her early years and into her adolescence Rosemary showed behavioural and educational difficulties. While that may not seem soo awful and unmanageable her father thought very differently. The head of the Family Joesph P. Kennedy tried to keep her disabilities a secret and not tarnish or shame the Kennedy name.

Some of Rosemary's, Happiest days were during 1938 in England when her father was appointed ambassador. During their time living in the UK Rosemary and Kathleen were presented to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. The 19-year-old Rosemary was deemed to be exquisite: the newspapers plastered photographs of her all over their front pages. The Evening Standard swooned over “Miss Rosemary Kennedy… in her picture dress of white and tulle embroidered with silver”.

As the Press focus more on Rosemary it began to weigh heavy on her and as a result the Belmont House, A school which helps students in all 5 senses. This school offered a safe haven for Rosemary to take refuge away from the prying eye of the media.

She once stated, “the most wonderfulest place I've been to”.

However, this all went downhill when Joseph's known Nazi sympathies, made his withdrawal as ambassador inevitable. In November 1940, with America on the brink of joining the conflict, he was sent back to the United States, his political career in ruins. Rosemary accompanied him.

Not being surrounded by the support she had at her school from England, Rosemary’s mental health began to regress and more incidents such as violent seizures and temper tantrums started becoming more frequent. She would often leave the Covent, sometimes found wandering around the streets in the late hours of the night. Some reports came out that she would solicit sexual acts from men.

When her father was notified of her actions by the nuns that lived with her in the Covent. He was mortified and was more concerned at how she was jeopardizing the political ambitions he had for his sons rather than her growing health concerns.

In 1941 Joesph hired two surgeons to operate a lobotomy on his eldest daughter Rosemary and he also did so without telling his wife.

This operation was new and performed around 5,000 a year, often on younger women. This operation required the separation or removal of certain pathways between lobes in the brain.

If that doesn't sound scary in and of itself, Rosemary was also fully awake for the procedure and felt every ounce of pain. From every cut and snip to the actual drilling into her skull. Her body was strapped to the operating table while kicking and screaming in angst until she couldn't handle the pain and eventually passed out into unconsciousness.

The operation was a complete and utter failure and as a result, Rosemary was unable to walk or talk rather she could only utter a few words. Instead of taking any responsibility for his actions, Joseph hid his daughter away in a mental institute where she needed full-time care. She was not allowed to receive visitors, Her own siblings had no idea where she was. She remained in hiding until age 64 when she was given a private cottage to live out the rest of her sad days.