kennedy political 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 Kennedy family is often compared to the Adams and the Bush families as among the great American political families. All three families have strong roots in the New England area of the United States. 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 P. 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 F. Kennedy (1917–1963)

He was a U.S. represenative, 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 managable, the operation instead reduced her to an infantile state. She lived in a residental care facility in Wisconsin until her death of the 7th of January 2005.

Kathleen A. 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 M. 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 Sargent Shriver, 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 F. 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 A. 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 M. 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:

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy - the co-founder of the Profiles in Courage Awards, and is the president of the Kennedy Library foundation and the chairwoman of the American Ballet Theatre.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. - a lawyer and publisher of George magazine, who was killed in a plane crash in 1999.

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:

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.
Maria Owings Shriver - TV anchor and First Lady of California as wife of Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Timothy Perry Shriver
Mark Kennedy Shriver - a delegate in the Maryland state legislature for two consecutive terms.
Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver