Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter

Kate Clifford Larson reconstructs the life of Rosemary Kennedy, the eldest daughter of Joe and Rose Kennedy, who was born with intellectual disabilities. The narrative tracks her upbringing alongside her famous siblings, her time in specialized British schools, and the family’s efforts to hide her condition from the public to maintain their political image. Larson details the medical decisions that led Joe Kennedy to authorize a prefrontal lobotomy on twenty-three-year-old Rosemary in 1941, a procedure that left her permanently incapacitated and hidden away in an institution for decades.

This biography serves historians and readers interested in the intersections of political dynasty and medical ethics. It clarifies how the Kennedy family’s private struggle with disability eventually influenced federal policy and the creation of the Special Olympics. Readers finish the book with a technical understanding of mid-century psychiatric practices and the social pressures of mid-century elitism. The text provides a factual account of how one woman’s forced isolation shaped the public advocacy of surviving family members like Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Clear-cut; a moderate read.

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