Who are the Kennedys?
This family of Irish immigrants began to gain influence with Patrick Kennedy, born in 1858. A businessman and politician, 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 take shape. In 1914, Joseph married Rose, thus 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, future President of the United States, Robert, known as Bobby, and Edward, known as Ted.
Spurred on by Joseph, the patriarch who became the architect of their lives, the little Kennedys grew up with the idea that no dream was too big for them. The members of this eminently American family fascinated and intrigued beyond the country's borders, especially John and Jackie, the attractive presidential couple who made the United States shine around the world in the early 1960s. The tragically interrupted presidential term of John, nicknamed JFK, will be remembered for the progress made in the conquest of space, the establishment of the Peace Corps and the Cuban missile crisis. As for his personal life, it will be remembered for his alleged affair with Marilyn Monroe.
The "Kennedy Curse"
If the Kennedy clan enjoys such renown, it's not just for its political successes, of which there are many. The family has produced a president, two presidential candidates and three senators. Even today, the Kennedys remain active on the American political scene: Joe Kennedy III represents Massachusetts in Congress until 2021, while Caroline Kennedy, John and Jackie's only living child, was US Ambassador to Japan until 2017. The heir to the Kennedy clan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently declared his candidacy (as an independent) for the 2024 presidential election.
But the family also collects tragic deaths, so much so that the rumor of a "Kennedy curse" has been circulating since the 1960s. When listed one by one, the dramatic events that have struck the clan follow one another at an alarming rate: John and Bobby were assassinated, their elder brother Joseph Jr. who was destined to become president, died in a plane crash during the Second World War. 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, when the car driven by Ted Kennedy (who had himself survived a plane crash five years earlier) went off the road and ended up in the water, killing its passenger; Rosemary Kennedy's lobotomy requested by her father Joseph, which led to her ending up in a mental institution ; the overdoses that claimed the lives of David and Saoirse Kennedy, Robert's son and granddaughter respectively; and the disappearance, in April 2020, of Robert's granddaughter Maeve Kennedy McKean and her son during a canoe trip.
Of this litany of tragedies, 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. When he died, Jackie had to leave the White House in a hurry with her two young children so that the new president, Lyndon Johnson, could take up residence. But the Kennedy clan's political ambitions didn't disappear with JFK: five years later, Bobby, her youngest son, ran in the Democratic primary. While in California, where he had just won the primary election, he was shot several times and died of his wounds the next day. Neither Bobby's assassination, nor John's five years earlier, have been solved, but wild theories to explain them continue to circulate to this day. For some, it was a CIA job. In the case of JFK, the Mafia, the KGB, Fidel Castro and even Vice-President Lyndon Johnson have been suspected of involvement. Terrible as they were, these tragedies forged the Kennedy legend and helped fuel the rumor of a curse upon the clan. Even Senator Ted Kennedy, some time after the assassination of his brother Bobby, openly wondered whether members of his family were the victims of an " awful curse ".
Following in the footsteps of the Kennedys
Anyone visiting Massachusetts will be following in the footsteps of the Kennedys. This is particularly true in Boston, where members of the clan have left their footprints in a variety of places. Some places associated with the Kennedys are part of the Freedom Trail. These include the Massachusetts State House, where JFK gave a speech a few days before his presidential inauguration, and Faneuil Hall, where Ted Kennedy announced his candidacy for the 1980 presidential election. As for the Omni Parker House Hotel restaurant, it was the setting for John's proposal to Jackie in 1963. There's also the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, which looks back on the life of the 35th Americanpresident . In the Boston suburb of Brookline, you can visit the house in which he was born in 1917, the J. F. Kennedy Historic Site.
In the rest of Massachusetts, the town of Hyannis, on Cape Cod, is especially rich in Kennedy memorabilia. The John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum recounts the Cape Cod years of the 35th president and his family. You can also admire the JFK Memorial, a statue erected facing the ocean in his honor. Hyannis is also home to the Kennedy Compound, made up of three houses, the first of which was purchased by Joseph Kennedy in 1928. Members of the Kennedy family still live there today, so it's impossible to visit. But you can follow the Kennedy Legacy Trail to make sure you don't miss a thing. In the rest of the state, and far beyond, there are countless parks, squares, streets and monuments dedicated to the Kennedys, and in particular to John F. Kennedy, who was a beloved president. Throughout his presidential term, his popularity rating hovered around 70%. The "Jackie effect", his untouchable wife turned icon, undoubtedly had something to do with it.
