Who are the Kennedys?
This family of Irish immigrants began to gain influence with Patrick Kennedy, born in 1858. A businessman and politician, a member of the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives, he had four children, including Joseph, known as Joe, with whom the Kennedy clan really began to form. In 1914, Joseph married Rose, linking the destinies of two of Boston's most influential families: the Kennedys and the Fitzgeralds. Rose and Joseph would have seven children, the best known being John, the future president of the United States, Robert, known as Bobby, and Edward, known as Ted.
Driven by Joseph, the patriarch who became the architect of their lives, the little Kennedys grew up with the idea that no dream is too big for them. Members of this eminently American family fascinated and intrigued beyond the country's borders, especially John and Jackie, the attractive presidential couple who brought the United States to the world in the early 1960s. The tragically interrupted presidential term of John, nicknamed JFK, will be remembered for the progress in the conquest of space, the establishment of the Peace Corps and the Cuban missile crisis. As for his personal life, it will remain marked by his supposed affair with Marilyn Monroe.The "Kennedy Curse"
If the Kennedy clan enjoys such renown, it is not only because of its political successes, which are numerous. The family has produced a president, two presidential candidates and three senators. Today, the Kennedys are still present on the American political scene: Joe Kennedy III is Massachusetts' representative to Congress, while Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of John and Jackie, was the U.S. ambassador to Japan until 2017. But the family also collects tragic deaths, so much so that rumors of a "Kennedy Curse" have been circulating since the 1960s. When they are cited one by one, the dramatic events that have struck the clan follow one another at an alarming rate: John and Bobby were assassinated, their older brother Joseph Jr., who was destined to become president, died in a plane crash during World War II. JFK's son John-John suffered the same fate when his plane crashed off Martha's Vineyard in 1999. Not to mention the "Chappaquidick accident" in 1969, in which the car driven by Ted Kennedy (who himself had survived a plane crash five years earlier) went off the road and ended up in the water, killing his passenger; Rosemary Kennedy's lobotomy requested by her father Joseph, which led to her ending up in a mental institution; the overdoses that cost the lives of David and Saoirse Kennedy, Robert's son and granddaughter respectively; or the disappearance, in April 2020, of Robert's granddaughter, Maeve Kennedy McKean, and her son during a canoe trip.
Of this litany of dramas, the assassination of John F. Kennedy during his presidential term occupies the most important place. The 35th president of the United States died in Dallas on November 22, 1963, nineteen years after his older brother, Joseph Jr., from whom he had borrowed destiny. Upon his death, Jackie must leave the White House in a hurry with her two young children so that the new president, Lyndon Johnson, can take up residence. But the political ambitions of the Kennedy clan do not disappear with JFK: five years later, Bobby, his younger son, runs for the Democratic primary. While he is in California, where he has just won the primary elections, he is the target of several shots and dies of his wounds the following day. Neither Bobby's murder, nor John's murder five years earlier, has been solved, but crazy theories to try to explain them are still circulating to this day. For some, it was a CIA hit. In the case of JFK, the Mafia, the KGB, Fidel Castro and even Vice President Lyndon Johnson were suspected of being involved. Terrible as they are, these dramas have forged the legend of the Kennedys while contributing to the rumours of a curse raging over the clan. Even Senator Ted Kennedy, some time after the assassination of his brother Bobby, came to openly question whether his family members were the victims of an " awful cur se".Following in the footsteps of the Kennedys
Anyone who visits Massachusetts follows in the footsteps of the Kennedys. This is especially true in Boston, where members of the clan have left their footprints in various places. Certain places associated with the Kennedys are part of the Freedom Trail, for example. These include MassachusettsState House,where JFK gave a speech a few days before his presidential induction, and Faneuil Hall, where Ted Kennedy announced his candidacy for the 1980 presidential election. TheOmni Parker House Hotel restaurant served as the setting for John's 1963 proposal to Jackie. There isalso the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum,
which looks back at the life of the 35th American president. In Brookline, on the outskirts of Boston, you can visit the house where he was born in 1917, the J. F. Kennedy Historic Site. In the rest of Massachusetts, the town of Hyannis, Cape Cod, is the main site of Kennedy memorabilia. The John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum recounts the Cape Cod years of the 35th President and his family. It also features the JFK Memorial, a statue erected across the ocean in his honour. Hyannis is also home to the Kennedy Compound, which consists of three houses, the first of which was acquired by Joseph Kennedy in 1928. Members of the Kennedy family still live there today, so it is impossible to visit it. In the rest of the state, and far beyond, there are countless parks, squares, streets and monuments dedicated to the Kennedys, especially John F. Kennedy, who was a beloved president. Throughout his presidential term, his popularity rating hovered around 70 percent. The "Jackie Effect," his iconic, untouchable wife, may have had something to do with it.
