Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Book Explores Rosemary Kennedy's Life

Interesting review of “The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women” by Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff. Bancroft Press (Baltimore, 2015). 258 pp., $27.50.

The story of young Rosemary Kennedy (1918-2005), the first daughter born to the celebrated Boston family, invites sad contemplation of what might have been. One wonders if things would have turned out quite differently for the younger sister of President John F. Kennedy, who at age 7 was diagnosed as intellectually disabled (or “mentally retarded,” as it was then termed), if during her delivery the nurse had not directed Rosie’s mother to close her legs and thus delay delivery for some two hours until the attending physician could arrive.

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