Rosemary Kennedy
Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy (September 13, 1918 – January 7, 2005) was the first daughter born to Rose Fitzgerald and Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and the eldest sister of President John F. Kennedy, and Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy.
She was a young woman of beauty and grace, but displayed behavioural problems, as she fell behind her success-oriented siblings in academic and sporting life, through a mental disability that was long kept secret. Her father arranged one of the first prefrontal lobotomies for her at age 23, but it failed and left her permanently incapacitated. She spent the rest of her life in an institution in Jefferson, Wisconsin, with minimal contact from her family. Her condition is believed to have inspired her sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver to launch the Special Olympics.
Family and early life
Rose Marie Kennedy was born at her parents' home in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. She was named after her mother, and commonly called "Rosemary" or "Rosie". During her birth, the doctor was not immediately available and the nurse ordered Rose Kennedy to keep her legs closed, forcing the baby’s head to stay in the birth canal for two hours. The actions resulted in a harmful loss of oxygen.
