Kennedy family

The Kennedy family is a prominent family in American politics and government descending from the marriage of Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. The predominantly Democratic family is known for its political liberalism. Perhaps the best known Kennedy is the late President of the United States John F. Kennedy.

The Kennedys are often compared to the Adams and Bush families as among the most influential American political families. All three families have strong roots in the New England area of the United States. The Kennedy Compound is located in Hyannis, Massachusetts.

Some commentators in the early 1960s made predictions that President John F. Kennedy would be first of a dynasty in the White House. But these predictions were not borne out, and the idea largely dropped off the public's radar after Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 and Senator Edward Kennedy was involved in a possible drunk-driving incident (in which a passenger in his car was killed) in 1969. However, a number of Kennedy family members have held high office since then.

Family tree

• List of descendants of Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

First generation

The family patriarch was Patrick J. Kennedy (1858–1929) 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 ambassador to the 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 later president. He was assassinated. 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 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 of the 7th of January 2005.
• Kathleen Agnes Kennedy (1920–1948)
  • Known as Kick, she married the Protestant heir to the British dukedom 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, a British earl.
• 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 (born 1924)
  • She married Rat Pack actor Peter Lawford 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 1968. He married Ethel S. Skakel and had 11 children.
• Jean Ann Kennedy (born 1928)
  • She married Stephen Edward Smith 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," "Ted," or the "Liberal Lion," he has served as a senator from Massachusetts since 1962. He has been twice married with three children from his first marriage and two stepchildren from his second marriage. His detractors associate him primarily with the death of Mary Jo Kopechne on Chappaquiddick Island.

Fourth generation

• Joseph Patrick Kennedy had no children

• John Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier had three children:

1. Caroline Bouvier Kennedy - the co-founder of the Profiles in Courage Award, and is the president of the Kennedy Library foundation and the chairwoman of the American Ballet Theatre.
2. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. - a lawyer and publisher of George magazine, who was killed in a plane crash in 1999.
3. Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, who was born prematurely and died from 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, Jr. had five children:

1. Robert Sargent Shriver III - attorney and law professor at Pace University. He is best known for his many successful litigations to prevent water pollution, primarily in the New York area.
2. Maria Owings Shriver - TV anchor and First Lady of California as wife of Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
3. Timothy Perry Shriver
4. Mark Kennedy Shriver - a delegate in the Maryland state legislature for two consecutive terms.
5. Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver

• Patricia Kennedy and Peter Lawford had four children:

1. Christopher Kennedy Lawford
2. Sydney Malei Lawford
3. Victoria Francis Lawford
4. Robin Elizabeth Lawford

• Robert Francis Kennedy and Ethel Skakel had 11 children:

1. Kathleen Hartington Kennedy - former lieutenant governor of Maryland. She unsuccessfully ran for Maryland governor in 2002.
2. Joseph Patrick Kennedy II - former U.S. representative from Massachusetts.
3. Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr., environmentalist and political commentator
4. David Anthony Kennedy
5. Mary Courtney Kennedy
6. Michael LeMoyne Kennedy
7. Mary Kerry Kennedy
8. Christopher George Kennedy, Jr.
9. Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy
10. Douglas Harriman Kennedy
11. Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy

Jean Ann Kennedy and Stephen Edward Smith had four children:

1. Stephen Edward Smith, Jr.
2. William Kennedy Smith
3. Amanda Mary Smith
4. Kym Maria Smith

Edward Moore Kennedy and Virginia Joan Bennet had three children:

1. Kara Anne Kennedy
2. Edward Moore Kennedy, Jr.
3. Patrick Joseph Kennedy - current U.S. Representative from Rhode Island