Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter (36 page)

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In spite of Kick’s efforts:
McTaggart,
Kathleen Kennedy,
70–87.

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“I think there’s so much made”:
TTR,
134.

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“didn’t spill things”:
Interview with EKS in DKG, 360.

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it “was embarrassing to be around Rosemary”:
Interview with a close friend of Jack Kennedy’s in LL,
The Kennedy Women,
303.

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“much happier when she sees the children”:
Letter, JPK to RFK, October 11, 1939, JPKP, box 2.

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Rosemary “seemed to realize”:
Interview with Lem Billings in DKG, 640.

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“aggressively unhappy”:
Ibid.

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“only their best”:
Donovan, “My Happy Life.”

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“fiercely fought” Monopoly tournaments:
Ibid.

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“In a large family”:
“Leadership,” diary notebooks, RFKP, box 5.

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“In our family”:
“The Tragic Story of . . . the Daughter JFK’s Mother Had to Give Up,”
National Enquirer,
November 5, 1967.

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calling for the family chauffeur:
David Deignan expenses, 1939–1940, JPKP, box 8.

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“bosses me so”:
Interview with Luella Hennessey Donovan in LL,
The Kennedy Women,
304.

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Drinking tea
and following: Ibid.

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“she was Mrs. Astor”
and following: Ibid.

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“somehow, Eunice seemed to develop”:
Interview with Lem Billings in DKG, 363.

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“She started to deteriorate”:
EKS, interview by Robert Coughlan, February 26, 1972, RFKP, box 10.

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“Some of these upsets became tantrums”:
TTR,
245.

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“Every day there would be”:
Interview with Lem Billings in DKG, 640.

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a type of psychogenic nonepileptic seizure:
See literature on nonepileptic seizures from the Epilepsy Foundation, at
http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/Medical/seizures/types/nonepileptic/weinonepilepsy.cfm
.

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after the worst of a seizure was over:
Letter, RMK to JPK and RFK, March 1, 1936, RFKP, box 13. See also EKS, interview by Robert Coughlan, February 26, 1972, RFKP, box 10.

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In those days:
See discussion of anticonvulsant medications, including Luminal and Dilantin and other Phenytoin-based sedatives, at Pub Med Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000549
; “Triumph in Epilepsy,”
New
York Times,
June 3, 1940; and Waldemar Kaempffert, “Science in the News,”
New York Times,
June 2, 1940.

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Rosemary had proudly told:
Letter, RMK to JPK, June 4, 1940, RFKP, box 13. Rosemary’s nephews Timothy and Anthony Shriver both recalled that Rosemary loved to be told she was beautiful. Author interviews with Anthony Shriver and Timothy Shriver, October 8, 2008, and November 2, 2010, respectively.

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“sexually frustrated”:
Interview with Lem Billings in Burton Hersh,
Edward Kennedy: An Intimate Biography
(New York: Counterpoint, 2010), 522. See also LL,
The Kennedy Men,
156.

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This had devastating consequences:
See Jeffrey L. Geller and Maxine Harris,
Women of the Asylum: Voices from Behind the Walls, 1840–1945
(New York: Anchor, 1994), 247–325 in particular.

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Though open and frank:
McTaggart,
Kathleen Kennedy,
103–4.

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many of her friends were “pairing up”:
Ibid., 91.

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She had built a small getaway cottage:
TTR,
239–42.

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“But isn’t it interesting”:
Letter, RMK to JPK, July 4, 1940, RFKP, box 13. Rosemary was also excited about the upcoming wedding of her friend Elaine, the daughter of Dr. Walter Dearborn, who had treated Rosemary during the mid- to late 1930s. According to Rosemary, Elaine had asked her to be her maid of honor.

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She would require:
Interview by author with Terry Marotta, daughter of camp director Caroline Sullivan, April 2, 2013.

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“she should have known”:
Terry Marotta, “Eunice and the ‘Other Sister,’”
Exit Only
(blog), August 12, 2009,
http://terrymarotta.wordpress.com/
; interview by author, April 2, 2013; and e-mails to author, April 1 and 8, 2013.

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Dunn conveyed Rose’s requirement:
Letter, Elizabeth Dunn to Caroline T. Sullivan, July 1, 1940, private collection of Terry Marotta.

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the Sullivan sisters took Rosemary:
Invoice, Camp Fernwood, July 1940; and letter, Caroline Sullivan to RFK, August 16, 1940, private collection of Terry Marotta. See also Gail Cameron,
Rose:
A Biography of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
(New York: Putnam, 1971), 91.

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Rosemary did not properly dispose:
Terry Marotta, interview by author, April 2, 2013.

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the Sullivans had had enough:
Ibid.

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Rose had inquired:
Letter, Elizabeth Dunn to Caroline Sullivan, July 17, 1940, private collection of Terry Marotta.

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“left the final ordeal”:
Postcard, Caroline Sullivan to Grace Sullivan, July 23–24, 1940, private collection of Terry Marotta.

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“I see there is a $200 charge”:
Letter, RFK to Caroline Sullivan, April 7, 1941, private collection of Terry Marotta.

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“Our charge is based”:
Letter, Caroline Sullivan to RFK, May 1, 1941, private collection of Terry Marotta.

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“lovable and well meaning”:
Ibid.

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Caroline Sullivan still bore lingering anger:
Terry Marotta, interview by author, April 2, 2013.

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“better layout”
and following: “Rosemary Kennedy”; and letter, EM to RFK, June 7, 1940, RFKP, box 13.

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Moore wrote to Joe in London:
Letter, EM to RFK, June 7, 1940, RFKP, box 13.

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Rose remained secluded:
Letter, KK to JPK, August 6, 1940, JPKP, box 2.

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She had left Fernwood: Letter, Caroline Sullivan to RFK, August 16, 1940, private collection of Terry Marotta.
Letter, Caroline Sullivan to RFK, August 16, 1940, private collection of Terry Marotta.

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“I tried to get up”:
Letter, RMK to Caroline and Grace Sullivan, July 25, 1940, private collection of Terry Marotta. See also Marotta, “Eunice and the ‘Other Sister.’”

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“I am going to work so hard”:
Letter, RMK to Caroline and Grace Sullivan, July 25, 1940, private collection of Terry Marotta.

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“I am going to be a bit tired”:
Ibid.

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“Write to me soon”:
Postcard, RMK to Caroline and Grace Sullivan, July 25, 1940, private collection of Terry Marotta.

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Rose sent inquiries:
Letter, Paul Murphy (secretary to Joe Kennedy) to Mother Ann Elizabeth, August 2, 1940; and receipts for books, radio, Miss Dunn, August 12, 1940. Mary Durkin was the tutor. Books were sent to Rosemary that summer as
well, indicating she was studying, not just boarding there. See also letter, Ellen Dalton to RFK, August 25, 1940; and letter, Mrs. Arthur Bastien (Alice Cahill) to RFK, August 2, 1940; both in JPKP, box 26.

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“during the past ten or twelve years”:
Letter, V. Rev. Thomas J. Love to RFK, September 19, 1940, JPKP, box 26.

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“Dr. Waygood has had an abundance”:
Letter, Edward M. Day to RFK, September 20, 1940, JPKP, box 26.

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“had begun to get sort of emotional”:
EKS, interview by Robert Coughlan, February 26, 1972, RFKP, box 10.

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Rosemary was instead enrolled:
Letter, Paul Murphy to Mother Superior, October 24, 1940, JPKP, box 26.

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“went to see the President”:
“Visit to Washington, October 29, 1940,” diary entry, RFKP, box 3.

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“enable the retarded child”:
Benedict Neenan,
Thomas Verner Moore: Psychiatrist, Educator, Monk
(Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 2000), 180.

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“priest-psychiatrist”:
Ibid., ix.

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to “integrate a progressive world view”:
Ibid., 2–3.

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Moore considered girls to be:
Ibid., 165–66.

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When Moore first began developing:
Ibid., 175.

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a “clear vision”:
Ibid., 166.

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at the intersection of science and faith:
Ibid., 2–3.

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“Get all the assistance you can”:
Ibid., 183.

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He attracted student teachers:
Ibid., 184–87.

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“the treatment of emotional and behavior disorders”:
Katherine Keneally Stefic, “The Clinical Psychologist in the Reading Clinic,” in
Survey of Clinical Practice in Psychology,
ed. Eli A. Rubinstein and Maurice Lorr (New York: International Universities, 1954), 326.

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“disquieting symptoms”:
TTR,
244–45.

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“Many nights”:
Interview with Ann Gargan King in DKG, 643.

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The nuns would bring her back:
LL,
The Kennedy Women,
319.

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“Can you imagine”:
Interview with Ann Gargan King in DKG, 640.

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“out of the [newspaper] columns”:
Smith,
Hostage to Fortune,
xv.

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Even family members remain mostly in the dark:
Anthony Shriver and Timothy Shriver, interviews by author, October 8, 2008, and November 2, 2010, respectively. Oral testimony of other Kennedy family members gathered by reporters and historians over the past fifty years all reveal the same information: they, too, have no idea what happened or whether any singular event occurred that precipitated Joseph Kennedy’s ultimate decision to have his daughter lobotomized.

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had looked into having Rosemary attend:
Letter, JPK to William R. Hearst, June 21, 1941, JPKP, box 7.

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worried about “her welfare”:
Letter, Dr. Thomas V. Moore to JPK, November 12, 1941, JPKP, box 230, in DN, 533.

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“How is my old darling today?”:
Letter, JPK to RMK, October 10, 1941, JPKP, box 2.

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“I trust that she will be able”:
Dr. Thomas V. Moore to JPK, November 12, 1941, JPKP, box 230, in DN, 533.

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Joe had planned:
Letter, JPK to Father Cavanaugh, October 28, 1941, JPKP, box 216.

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“a neurological disturbance”:
TTR,
245.

7. NOVEMBER
1941

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Rosemary’s behavior had now become:
Interview with John B. White in Lynne McTaggart,
Kathleen Kennedy, Her Life and Times
(New York: Dial Press, 1983), 98.

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“was so afraid”:
Interview with Luella Hennessey Donovan in LL,
The Kennedy Men,
169.

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the procedure was not performed there:
“The Strange and Curious History of Lobotomy,”
BBC News Magazine,
November 8, 2011,
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15629160
. See also Elliot S. Vallenstein,
Great and Desperate Cures: The Rise and Decline of Psychosurgery and Other Radical Treatments for Mental Illness
(Lexington, Ky.: Elliot S. Vallenstein, 2010), 172–73.

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“problems to their families”:
Waldemar Kaempffert, “Turning the Mind Inside Out,”
Saturday Evening Post,
May 24, 1941.

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Rose, nevertheless, enlisted Kick’s help:
Interview with Kerry McCarthy in LL,
The Kennedy Women,
319.

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White later recalled:
Interview with John White in LL,
The Kennedy Women,
318–21. White also described the same story to author Lynne McTaggart. See McTaggart,
Kathleen Kennedy,
98; and DKG, 640–43.

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Saint Elizabeths did not allow:
Jack El-Hai,
The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness
(Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2005), 91, 123–24.

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“just not good”:
Interview with John White in LL,
The Kennedy Women,
318–19; see also McTaggart,
Kathleen Kennedy,
98. White’s article was never published.

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“Oh, Mother, no”:
Interview with Kerry McCarthy in LL,
The Kennedy Women,
319.

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“Joe took matters”:
DKG, 640.

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“I think he knew”:
Interview with Luella Hennessey Donovan in LL,
The Kennedy Women,
321.

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the feverish advocacy:
“Front Brain ‘Rules’ Thoughts on Future,”
New York Times,
April 8, 1939.

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“in spite of these improvements”:
“Neurosurgical Treatment of Certain Abnormal Mental States Panel Discussion at Cleveland Session,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
117, no. 7 (August 16, 1941): 517.

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“scientific knowledge”:
“Medical Men Warned Against ‘Cutting Worry’ Out of Brain,”
Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch,
August 15, 1941.

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Though the prefrontal lobotomy:
EKS, interview by Robert Coughlan, February 7, 1972, RFKP, box 10.