May 29 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the most famous American presidents, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He led the country for just over two years, but managed to be remembered for both brilliant victories and deafening failures. Kennedy became not only a model of a political leader, but also an icon of style. After the president's assassination, his relatives continue to influence American politics. traced the history of the legendary dynasty and its most stellar representative.

Potato Famine Refugees

It was the invisible Phytophthora infestans in 1845 that potato tubers all over Ireland - the root crops began to rot right in the ground, depriving the peasants enslaved by the British of the only source of income. At first, the government tried to provide assistance to the victims, but the money ran out almost immediately.

Deprived of income from potatoes, English and Scottish landowners inflated the rental prices of their Irish land. The cold winter aggravated the situation: the hungry and freezing peasants were literally mowed down by epidemics of scurvy, typhus and dysentery. Tens of thousands of Irish people fled the country. Among those who left was and.

He got to American Boston, where he got a job as a cooper (barrel maker) - the work allowed him to maintain a tolerable standard of living.

clipped wings

Patrick's son already owned three saloons, but his grandson, Joseph, was really impressive: he actively invested in stocks, real estate, cinema and became fabulously rich. Rumor has it that he even supplied bootleggers with alcohol during the Prohibition years.

Joseph married the daughter of the mayor of Boston and met the president. This allowed him to enter big politics: Kennedy became the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the US ambassador to the UK.

Everything seemed to be going well, but Joseph was summed up by his position during the Second World War. He opposed US intervention in the conflict and pushed for better relations with Nazi Germany. In addition, the ambassador extremely resented the British prime minister, tirelessly predicting defeat for the kingdom.

Photo: J. A. Hampton / Topical Press Agency / Getty Images

His diplomatic career was interrupted, his political reputation was undermined, but Joseph did not give up: the children - four boys and five girls - became his instruments of influence. From childhood, they were taught to stick to each other and remember that the family is above all.

Joseph encouraged the spirit of competition between the boys and hoped that the eldest son, Joe, would make a political career. But Joe, who served as a naval pilot, died in the war - they say that he took on increasingly difficult tasks precisely because of a childish desire to prove his superiority over his sailor brother. After the tragedy, Joseph decided that it was John who should become an influential politician.

After the war, using connections and money, the patriarch of the Kennedy family achieved wide coverage of John's military exploits: the story of how the sailors of the torpedo boat sunk by the Japanese escaped under his command was printed by the New Yorker magazine and sold 100,000 copies. Kennedy Jr. constantly appeared on TV, showed his family to voters, became a kind of star. “The Kennedy family forever blurred the line between politician and celebrity,” said writer Vincent Bzdek.

Joseph's calculation was justified: John F. Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives, then to the Senate, in 1960 he defeated, which, against the background of a young and radiant Democrat, seemed to be an artifact of a bygone era, and finally took the Oval Office in the White House.

Legendary person

"The Greatest President", "Best Man Ever", "God, how we miss him!" - such inscriptions are most often found in the memorial book of the Sixth Floor Museum in the same building in Dallas, Texas, from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot at President Kennedy.

Kennedy was indeed the first in many ways: the first president born in the 20th century, the first young World War II veteran in the White House, the first Catholic president, the youngest head of state in history. He came to power with a promise to break with the stagnation of the previous eight years, which had passed under the sign of a military-glorious but passive Republican general.

Kennedy had had enough of failures: a failed invasion of Cuba, a lot of stalled bills in Congress. Meeting with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1961 in Vienna is still considered a model of national humiliation in the United States. “Worst event in my life. He just tore me, ”the president himself recalled.

Nevertheless, he was remembered not for failures and not even for indisputable successes, such as ending the Caribbean crisis, when the world risked plunging into the abyss of nuclear war. As The Atlantic writer Alan Brinkley writes, "Kennedy reminds us of a time when the possibilities of the nation seemed limitless, when the future seemed bright, when Americans believed they could solve difficult problems and do great things."

It was during his reign that he formulated: “The United States needs Great Purpose. We act as if our goal is to sit by the pools and contemplate our swollen bellies. The main thing is not that Great Purpose was correctly formulated, the main thing is that it exists and we go towards it.” This point of view was fully consistent with Kennedy's attitude: in 1961, in his famous speech, he announced the entry of the United States into the space race, the final point of which was to send an expedition to the moon.

It was under him that many of the Great Society laws were formulated, which put an end to segregation and allowed the United States to become a modern multicultural and multinational society. His sayings - such as "Don't ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" - quickly became winged.

From the previous owners of the White House, Kennedy differed even in appearance. His dressing skills have been admired since his first appearance on TV: John looked great in the Oval Office, on the golf course, and surrounded by family.

"The phrase 'style icon' is hackneyed, but in Kennedy's case, it's practically part of his name," wrote Mr. porter. “Try to find a bad photo of Kennedy. Come on, we'll wait. Well, see? None!" - admired the author.

No matter how paradoxical it may sound, but Kennedy was finally immortalized by his assassination in 1963: 60 percent of Americans still believe that the president fell victim not to a lone Lee Harvey Oswald, but to mysterious conspirators. Gossip about the causes of his death is still ongoing.

Endurance and the Curse of an Eternal Dynasty

After John's death, the attention of the nation was riveted on his younger brother Robert, who was Attorney General during the presidency of a relative. In 1968, he was on the verge of winning the primaries and had every chance to lead the country, but was killed by a Palestinian, Serhan Serhan Bishara, who was dissatisfied with the politician's pro-Israeli views.

After the death of naval pilot Joe and the assassinations of John and Robert, people started talking about the "Kennedy curse", which even has a separate page on the English Wikipedia: from 1944 to the present day, eight members of a famous family died an unnatural death.

In 1969, Ted Kennedy, the only surviving son of the patriarch of the Joseph family, fell into the abyss from a bridge while driving a car. He miraculously survived, and the girlfriend who was sitting next to him died. He was further pursued by failures: an unhappy marriage, amputation of the leg of one of his sons due to a cancerous tumor, alcoholism and drug addiction of another. Nevertheless, he spent 47 years as a senator, lived until 2009, and by the end of his life became a prominent voice of American progressivism.

The younger generation is also following in the footsteps of their ancestors: John F. Kennedy's 36-year-old great-nephew Joseph III was elected Congressman from Massachusetts, 24-year-old Jack Schlosberg, the great-grandson of the legendary president, also hints at a desire to enter politics. It is possible that in the future America will still hear the slogan "Kennedy for President!", and the representative of the famous dynasty will once again rise to the top of the American political Olympus.

Text: Evgenia Yudintseva

Hindus call it bad karma, Christians call it family curse. Some may laugh at prejudices, but the stories of some families whose members have been dying unnatural deaths for many decades will make even the most severe skeptics doubt. We have made a selection of stories of famous clans with an unfortunate fate. Particularly impressionable is better to pass by this material!

Kennedy clan

Curse: death from terrible diseases and disasters

Who cursed McNorman women

Cause: murder

In the genealogical tree of the genus, posted in the Wikipedia electronic encyclopedia, the first of the Kennedys, the Irishman Patrick, who set foot on American soil in 1840, is not present. The initial capital of the Kennedy clan, which would later become one of the richest in the United States, was earned dishonestly. After all, Patrick Kennedy was known as the most common highwayman.

In 1850, in Texas, the Kennedy gang attacked Sir McNorman's stagecoach. Lady MacNorman was taking her young daughter Jill to a wedding. The booty was rich - the stagecoach was loaded with the dowry of a noble bride. But the bandits were not satisfied with the robbery, first they killed the coachman and all those accompanying them, then the women, having previously outraged them. Before their death, the mother and daughter cursed their killers...

After 8 years, Patrick died at the age of 35, leaving his wife Mary Joanna and newborn son Patrick Joseph a good inheritance. Despite the fact that the descendants of Patrick Kennedy were not to blame for anything, the McNorman curse took effect. Patrick's grandson - Joseph Patrick - ended his days as a paralyzed invalid. If he could speak, he would scream in pain as his children died one by one...

Joseph Patrick's daughter Rosemary died in an insane asylum: in 1941, she was unsuccessfully lobotomized, as a result of which the girl turned into a "vegetable". Another daughter, Kathleen, was widowed during World War II and died in a plane crash in 1948 at the age of 28. Son Joseph volunteered for military aviation: in 1944, his plane, for unknown reasons, exploded in the air. Another son, John, the 35th President of the United States, was shot dead in 1963. After 5 years, in 1968, an Arab fanatic shot another son - Robert, a senator and presidential candidate from the Democratic Party. The youngest, Edward, lived a long life and died at the age of 77 from a brain tumor. But he also had some “adventures”: in 1969, the car of a 37-year-old presidential candidate fell off a bridge. Edward's mistress, Mary Jo Kopechne, was in the car. Kennedy himself swam out, but did not help the woman. A terrible scandal followed, all the media called Edward a scoundrel, and the presidency had to be forgotten.

Joseph Patrick's grandchildren were not so lucky either. Robert Kennedy's son David, as a teenager, was addicted to hard drugs - cocaine and heroin. In 1984, he made himself a lethal cocktail of vodka, cocaine, and heart medicine. David's brother Joseph was more fortunate: in 1973, he managed to survive in a terrible car accident, after which his companion was paralyzed. Another son of Robert, Michael, died in 1997 while skiing.

The son of John and Jacqueline Kennedy, John Fitzgerald Jr., died in 1999 in a plane crash: the plane in which he was flying with his wife Caroline fell into the ocean. The curse is still in effect: less than a year ago in his own barn, son Robert and nephew John, 52-year-old Mary Kennedy. Terrible, but the question is spinning on the tongue: who is next in line?

Clan Grimaldi

Curse: bad luck in marriage

Who cursed witch

Cause: resentment

According to the family legend of the Grimaldi family, the first prince of Monaco, Rainier, in the 13th century kidnapped a young girl in Holland, whom he then dishonored and abandoned. The beauty, who failed to become a princess, turned out to be a witch. "None of the Grimaldi will be given to know happiness in marriage!" she cursed the offender.

The prophecy has come true. As the old-timers of Monaco say, for centuries, not a single Grimaldi married for love. But in 1956, Prince Rainier III of Monaco decided to break this vicious circle and married not by calculation, as is customary among monarchs. His chosen one was the Hollywood actress Grace Kelly, who came from a very rich, but not at all noble family.

“Something strange is happening to me. I feel like I am getting happier every minute,” Kelly admitted when she arrived in Monaco for the wedding. The couple lived together for a quarter of a century. Three children appeared in the marriage - son Albert and daughters Caroline and Stephanie. It was whispered in the principality that the curse of the Dutch witch had lost its power. It wasn't like that.

A few years after the wedding, Grace felt unhappy. The crowned husband did not allow his wife to act in films, she was very bored, in the royal palace she felt like she was in a golden cage. And on September 13, 1982, the car that Grace was driving crashed into the abyss. Her 17-year-old daughter Stephanie was in the car at the time. The girl survived, and the 52-year-old princess died a day later without regaining consciousness.

After the death of his wife, Prince Rainier never remarried. But only the lazy did not gossip about the love affairs of his children. The first marriage of Carolina's eldest daughter, with the French banker Philippe Junot, lasted only 2 years. Her second husband, Stefano Casiraghi, died in an accident during the regatta. Caroline's third husband was Prince Ernst August V of Hanover, with whom she has been living separately since 2009. Interestingly, when in 2005 the prince was hospitalized with an acute attack of pancreatitis, some media even managed to “bury” him. Princess Grace's youngest daughter, Stephanie, outdid her sister in the number of novels. To list her men is an impossible task. The princess was officially married only twice (first to her personal bodyguard Daniel Ducret, then to the circus acrobat Adan Lopez Perez). Both marriages ended in divorce.

But the son of Rainier and Grace, the reigning Prince of Monaco, Albert II, distinguished himself most of all. He has a million love affairs (including affairs with Brooke Shields, Sharon Stone, Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer), two illegitimate children (one from a waitress, the second from a black flight attendant), as well as accusations of rape, pedophilia and homosexuality (nobody could prove anything). In the summer of 2011, Albert married the Olympic champion, swimmer from South Africa Charlene Wittstock, who. Despite the fact that the Principality of Monaco really needs a legitimate heir,.

Gandhi clan

Curse: killings

Who cursed people

Cause: breaking tradition

Even now, India is one of those few countries where a large part of the population honors traditions. And in the first half of the 20th century, almost everyone observed them - except for a handful of revolutionaries. Which, of course, include the first Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira. We will not go into the intricacies of the caste system, we will only say that it was strictly forbidden in India to marry a representative of another caste, and even more so of another faith.

The freedom-loving Indira Nehru did not give a damn about all these rules. While studying at the London School of Economics in England, the beauty met a Parsi (Parsis are followers of Zoroastrianism) Feroz Gandhi (he is not a relative, but just the namesake of Jawaharlal Nehru's mentor Mahatma Gandhi) and married him in 1942.

Since Indira was the daughter of the Prime Minister, this circumstance did not go unnoticed by the population of the country. The girl, who belonged to the Vaishya varna (traders, cattle breeders and farmers), received a lot of curses in her address from both ordinary people and clergymen.

At 43, Indira was widowed: in 1958, Feroz suffered a severe heart attack and died 2 years later, leaving his wife two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay. After 4 years, Gandhi was waiting for another loss: her father died of a heart attack.

When in 1968 her eldest son Rajiv decided to marry a foreigner, Italian Sonia Maino, whom he met while studying at Cambridge in England, Indira, who by that time had become the country's prime minister, did not mind. Rajiv did not plan to go into politics; Gandhi predicted a political career for her youngest son Sanjay. Grandiose plans were not destined to come true - in 1980, Sanjay died in a plane crash.

However, on the conscience of Indira is not only a violation of caste traditions. She, for example, introduced forced sterilization (of men who had two or more children) to curb population growth. Given that the birth of children for the Indians is a blessing from God, Gandhi again incurred the wrath of the people.

Fatal for her was the desecration of the shrine of the Sikhs - she crushed the uprising by invading the Golden Temple in Amritsar. For this, in October 1984, Indira was shot point blank by her own bodyguards. 20 bullets were found in the prime minister's body.

After the death of his mother, the government was headed by the eldest son of Indira Rajiv. But he survived her by only 7 years. In May 1991, he was killed by a Tamil suicide bomber who detonated a bomb hidden under his clothes at the moment when Rajiv approached the crowd. His son Rahul continues Gandhi's work. He is a Member of Parliament and Vice President of the Indian National Congress, and a potential prime ministerial candidate. Interestingly, the widow of Rajiv Sonia, despite her Italian origin, also became a prominent politician in India.

Agnelli clan

Curse: death

Who cursed unknown

Cause: cooperation with the Nazis

The Italians call the Agnelli family, which owns the FIAT automobile concern and the Juventus football club, their answer to the Kennedy clan. It is whispered that this family was also cursed by someone. Fortunately for Agnelli, they are as far from Kennedy as the moon, although there are indeed a couple of scary stories in the family chronicles.

Perhaps the most impressive of these happened in 1935, when the son of FIAT founder Giovanni Agnelli, Edoardo, was beheaded by the propeller of a seaplane, which he inadvertently approached. It sounds so creepy and implausible that some biographical sources prefer to write that Edoardo Agnelli died in a plane crash.

It was from this case that they started talking about the curse of the family. It was rumored that this happened because Giovanni Agnelli worked closely with the Nazis: thanks to Benito Mussolini, he managed to organize mass production of cars.

Due to the death of Edoardo, a non-family member, longtime friend Giovanni Vittorio Valetta, had to lead FIAT. Under his leadership, the company prospered, but in 1966 it returned to the ownership of Agnelli. Edoardo's son Gianni Agnelli became president. Under him, the business of the company did not go very well. Gianni also had no successors. His son Eduardo treated capitalism with deep contempt, and instead of business he was fond of Eastern religions and drugs. He liked to shock his father by making statements to reporters that after he took over the company, he would demolish all the factories and plant flowers in their place. When Eduardo was arrested for drug smuggling into Kenya, an enraged Gianni publicly disowned his son and named his nephew Giovanni Alberto as his successor. Alas, the plans were not destined to come true: in 1997, Giovanni Alberto died of stomach cancer, at the age of 33.

And in 2000, Eduardo, at the age of 46, committed suicide by jumping off the Turin Bridge. Then the media again started talking about the curse of Agnelli.

After the death of Gianni Agnelli in 2003 from cancer, FIAT was headed by his brother Umberto, who, however, died a year later from the same disease. In 2004, Gianni Agnelli's grandson, John, son of his daughter Margherita and writer Alain Elkann, became president of the company...

To be continued!

Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr., who is the founder of the Kennedy clan, made a fortune during Prohibition, selling bootleg alcohol from under the counter, as well as speculating on the stock exchange. Already at the age of 25, he took over as president of the bank, and ten years later, Joseph Patrick was enrolled in the ranks of multimillionaires. Kennedy's wife was Rose Fitzgerald, daughter of Boston Mayor John Francis Fitzgerald, who was the son of Irish immigrants. After the abolition of Prohibition in the United States, Joseph did not go bankrupt, but, on the contrary, managed to get rich: his company received exclusive rights to import brands such as Gordon's and John Dewar & Sons into the country. The couple had 9 children: 4 boys and 5 girls.

In 1941, their daughter Rosemary, who suffered from developmental delay, ended up in a psychiatric hospital, where, after an unsuccessful lobotomy, she became, in fact, a "vegetable". Her mental abilities were now those of a two-year-old child, Rosemary was unable to take care of herself, walk and talk coherently. She lived for several years in a psychiatric clinic near New York, and then moved to Wisconsin, where Joseph Patrick built a house especially for her. The girl was cared for by nurses and nuns, and the family practically ceased contact with her daughter. During the first twenty years of her forced seclusion, Rosemary's mother never visited her. During the election campaign of John F. Kennedy, Rosemary's true story was carefully hidden from the public.

Rosemary Kennedy became incapacitated at 23 after a botched lobotomy

The eldest son of the Kennedys, Joseph Patrick Jr., a brilliant young man with great promise, graduated from Harvard and then entered the London School of Economics and Political Science. It is not known how his fate would have developed if not for the Second World War. Joseph Patrick Jr. was drafted into the army, where he trained as a pilot. In 1944, during Operation Aphrodite, he died: the plane piloted by Kennedy was carrying explosives and blew up right in the air. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Navy Cross, the Air Medal, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr.

In 1948, Kennedy's daughter Kathleen died: she crashed in a plane crash. After the death of his daughter, Joseph Patrick Sr. spoke for the first time about the curse that weighed on their entire family.

John F. Kennedy, the second child of Joseph and Rose, made his father's blue dream come true, who dreamed of becoming the President of the United States. A handsome senator, womanizer and white-toothed charm, shining with a smile from TV screens, unexpectedly won the 1960 elections, beating the Republican Nixon. The attention of the entire nation was riveted not only to Kennedy's political activities, but also to his personal life: rumors about John's numerous novels and his relationship with Jackie interested Americans no less than the state agenda. On November 22, 1963, the 35th President of the United States was shot dead in Dallas while a motorcade was walking through the city. So the second son of Joseph and Rose died.

Bobby Kennedy, who also had a successful career in politics, rose to the post of senator and aimed for the presidency in the footsteps of his brother. One of his main activities was the struggle for the civil rights of the most vulnerable segments of the population, in particular, African Americans. Kennedy was able to attract the attention of representatives of various strata of society, from young intellectuals to wealthy conservatives and impoverished blacks. On June 5, 1968, Robert was shot by Sernan Bishara Sernan, a Palestinian who held anti-Zionist views. According to one version, his hatred of Kennedy was due to the latter's pro-Israel policy. Bobby died the next day from his injuries.

Of the four sons of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, only one survived to old age.

The last of the sons of the Joseph-Rose couple, Edward, or Ted, lived a fairly long life and died in 2009 at the age of 77. However, he, in his own way, suffered from evil fate: after a tragic incident, Ted's political career was put to rest. As a senator from Massachusetts, he was at the center of a scandal in 1969. Returning home from a party in the evening, Ted had an accident when his car flew off the Chappaquiddick bridge and fell into the water. In the car with him was his assistant and mistress, Mary Jo Kopechne. Ted was injured in the accident, but managed to get out of the sinking car, but he didn’t pull the girl out - the passenger drowned. For nine hours after the accident, Kennedy did not tell anyone anything. Later, when both the car and Kopechne's body were taken out of the water, the trial began. Ted pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two months of hard labor. By this point, Kennedy had not publicly announced his intention to run for president, but it was a logical step that was expected of him. The incident at the Chappaquiddick Bridge made it impossible for Kennedy to continue his political success, in spite of all his previous merits.

Senator's car being pulled out of the water

A similar incident happened to Joseph Kennedy, Bobby's son, who was in a car accident while carrying a passenger. Joseph survived, but the girl remained paralyzed for life. Robert Kennedy's son got off with a $100 fine for unsafe driving. Bobby's other offspring, David Kennedy, a "golden boy" who led a very erratic lifestyle, died of a drug overdose at 28 years old. David took a large dose of drugs, which, in combination with alcohol and cocaine, led to cardiac arrest. Bobby's sixth son, Michael, died while skiing in Aspen at the age of 39.

The first son of John and Jackie Kennedy (and in fact the only one, since the second, Patrick, died in infancy), John Fitzgerald Jr., also lived a not too long life: on July 16, 1999, at the age of 38, he died in a plane crash. The plane, which the man flew himself, fell into the Atlantic Ocean. Along with John, his wife and her sister were also on board.

John and Jackie lost 2 children in infancy, their son was in a plane crash

It is difficult to say whether members of the Kennedy clan really consider their family cursed, in any case, now living descendants. Skeptics argue that, given the abundance of offspring in the family, the number of deaths is not so great. Violent death is attributed to political activity, and accidents to careless behavior. But the legend about the curse of the family still exists, moreover, it has many versions.

One of the most mysterious and, at the same time, truthful is the story of how Kennedy's ancestor, Irish businessman Thomas Fitzgerald, Rosa's grandfather and great-grandfather of all her children, got rich. He was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1830. In his youth, Thomas dreamed of the fabulous wealth that he could get by finding the treasure. He fantasized about how one day he would find a real pot of gold. Thomas traveled around Ireland in search of the very place where the treasure could be buried.

President John F. Kennedy and his family, 1962

In the end, after long wanderings, fate brought him to Urid, a tiny village in County Galway. Together with a fellow treasure hunter named O'Malley, Thomas toured the area around Urid as a shepherd. According to legend, one night, he met an old woman who was lying exhausted near the road. Fitzgerald brought the old woman to the house of the family for whom he worked, where they gave her food and warmth. The next morning, having recovered, she pointed to the cauldron that stood in the hearth. Allegedly, there was an encrypted inscription on the surface of the boiler, which the old woman could read. The letters pointed to the burial place of the golden treasure.

Great-grandfather Kennedy, who found cursed gold, is considered the culprit of rock

With the help of the old woman's instructions, Thomas found a cache hidden under a hawthorn. It contained another cauldron full of gold coins. Fitzgerald shared the treasure with O'Malley and received a new nickname - from now on he was called "Honey Fitz". However, this wealth was notorious. Many villagers were afraid not only to take possession of it, but even to touch it. There was a belief that hidden gold brings bad luck to all who appropriate it. The origin of the treasure is not known for certain, but, according to one version, it was hidden in these parts by the Spaniards, who landed on the shores after a successful sea voyage.

Shortly after discovering the pot, O'Malley's wife killed herself, furthering rumors of a curse. However, the Honey Fitz himself was not particularly worried about this: the treasure only contributed to its further prosperity. He left Ireland and moved to America, where he established his own band of robberies. Thomas and his wife Rosana had 12 children, of whom only three survived. If a certain curse hangs over the Kennedy family, then posterity probably blames it on Honey Fitz, who became rich after finding a pot of gold.

The Kennedy family was one of the strongest clans in America. Presidents, senators, prominent politicians - members of the clan could boast of an excellent career. But, alas, Kennedy's career did not go for the future. Family members died in car accidents, at the hands of murderers, under other unexpected circumstances. It was as if a curse had come over them. According to rumors, it was the head of the clan, Joe Kennedy, who insulted the old rebbe, who cast the spell. And since then, Kennedy did not know happiness.

In contact with

Odnoklassniki

Rosemary Kennedy- lobotomy

Rosemary, daughter of Joe Kennedy and sister of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was born with serious mental problems. Since childhood, she lagged behind her peers in development. Rosemary spent her childhood in hospitals and boarding schools, and then was sent to a monastery. However, she behaved violently, and constantly ran away from the monastery. When she was 23, her father, Joe Kennedy, decided to resort to the last resort and allowed her daughter to have a lobotomy. However, the effect was negative: Rosemary lost the ability to move and speak. Gradually, the ability to stand on her feet returned to her, but her hands still remained inactive. Rosemary Kennedy lived out her days in strict isolation and died in 2005.

Joe Kennedy Jr.- exploded plane

Joseph Patrick Kennedy was the eldest son of Joe and Rose Kennedy, and the elder brother of the future president. In 1942, after dropping out of law school, he volunteered for the army, becoming a pilot in the navy. Alas, in 1944, during the execution of another mission, lightning hit Joe Kennedy's plane. The pilot is dead.

Kathleen Kennedy- plane crash

Kathleen Kennedy, the elder sister of President John F. Kennedy, dreamed of joining the family of British aristocrats since childhood. Shortly after her London debut, she met Billy Hartington, the future Duke of Devonshire. They got married, despite the opposition of the Kennedy family: after all, the groom was a Protestant, and they were Catholics. Alas, soon Hartington died, participating in the fighting in France. Immediately after that, Kathleen began an affair with the next aristocrat, Count Peter Fitzwilliam, who was married and was going to leave his family for Kathleen. However, the wedding never took place: when the couple flew from Paris to Cannes on Fitzwilliam's private plane, the plane crashed due to bad weather conditions. Kathleen and her fiancé are dead.

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy- died 2 days after premature birth

President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline had problems having children. In 1955, Jacqueline had a miscarriage, in 1956 she gave birth to a dead child. Two successful pregnancies followed. In 1963 she was pregnant for the third time. However, the pregnancy failed again. The boy, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, was born in August 1963, three weeks premature and died two days later from respiratory failure.

John Kennedy- murder

In November 1963, John F. Kennedy actively campaigned for the presidency, seeking reelection for a second term. But this did not happen. On Friday, November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas. The assassination of the president shocked all of America and subsequently became one of the most striking evidence of the existence of the "curse of the Kennedy clan."

Ted Kennedy- random rescue

Senator Ted Kennedy, younger son of Joe Kennedy and younger brother of the president, lived to a ripe old age. But the curse followed close behind him. In 1964, the private plane in which Ted was flying crashed. The pilot and assistant to Kennedy died, but he himself survived, although he spent many months in the hospital. And five years later, in 1969, Ted Kennedy's car fell off the bridge. His passenger died, but Ted himself managed to swim out. Looks like Ted Kennedy is one of the few family members who knows how to cheat death.

Robert Kennedy- murder

Robert Kennedy, John's brother, was the US Attorney General and the nation's youngest senator. In 1968, he announced his candidacy for the presidency. On June 5, 1968, he won a resounding victory in the California presidential primaries. However, he could only enjoy this for a few hours: on the same day, he was shot dead by a 22-year-old Palestinian Seran Serhan, who said that in this way he took revenge on Robert Kennedy for his public support of Israel.

Joseph P. Kennedy II- car accident

Joseph Patrick Kennedy, son of Robert and Jacqueline Kennedy, had a terrible accident in 1973. Oddly enough, he himself got out of it unharmed, but his passengers were badly injured. His brother David Kennedy was seriously injured, because of which he got hooked on painkillers and soon died, and passenger Pamela Berkley remained completely paralyzed for life. It is difficult to say how lucky Joseph himself was. Perhaps the thought that he had ruined the lives of two people, including his brother, with his clumsiness behind the wheel, became his worst curse.

Ted Kennedy Jr.- leg amputation

Ted Kennedy Jr., son of Edward, nephew of John and Robert Kennedy, developed osteosarcoma at the age of 12. There was almost no hope, and they agreed to subject the boy to experimental treatment with methotrexate. He became a guinea pig, on which doctors selected the correct dosage of the drug. Fortunately, Ted Jr. was lucky - he managed to survive, however, having lost one leg. Of course, he had to forget about the traditional career of a public politician for the Kennedy family, but he managed to become a good lawyer and even took part in political activities - but, of course, not as brightly and actively as his relatives.

David Kennedy- died of a drug overdose

David Anthony Kennedy was the fourth son of President Robert Kennedy. It was he who was in the car with Joseph Kennedy II when he had an accident. David was seriously injured, and doctors gave him drugs to numb the pain. Soon he could no longer do without them. After the hospital, he quickly switched from painkillers to heroin. In 1976 and 1978, doctors struggled to pump it out after overdoses. In 1985, another heroin overdose became fatal for David.

Michael LeMoyne Kennedy- death on the ski slope

Michael LeMoyne Kennedy was the sixth child of Robert Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. In December 1997, 39-year-old Michael went to the prestigious Aspren ski resort in Colorado. He did not expect that he would find his death here. On December 31, 1997, while skiing, LeMoyne ran into a tree at high speed. He was taken to the hospital, where he soon died from his injuries.

John F. Kennedy, Jr.- plane crash

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., a well-known journalist and lawyer, by 1999 was the only living child of President John F. Kennedy. On July 16, 1999, he took the wheel of his private jet, along with his wife Caroline and her sister, on their way to the wedding of his cousin Rory Kennedy. But the plane did not make it to its destination, crashing off Martha's Vineyard, on the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts. None of those on board survived.

Kara Kennedy- heart attack

Kara Ann Kennedy was the eldest daughter of Senator Ted Kennedy. In 2002, at the age of 42, she was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Kara was preparing to die, but her father Ted Kennedy, who knew how to defeat the old woman with a scythe, found a surgeon who agreed to operate on Kara. He risked not in vain - the woman survived and even got rid of cancer. And yet, Kara died a few years later - in 2011, she died from an unexpected heart attack. This time, her father did not have time to come to her aid.

The ancestor of the Kennedy clan is an Irish immigrant who came to America in the late 40s of the 19th century.

His life was short: Patrick did not have time to lay the foundation for the future prosperity of the family. This mission was carried out by his only son Joseph, who made a fortune by the age of 30.

In addition to selling alcohol, Democrat Patrick Kennedy Jr. was fond of politics, which helped him become a senator from Massachusetts.

The next Kennedy, named Joseph, is hailed by clan biographers as the architect of the family's success. Just 25 years old Joseph headed the Boston bank Columbia Credit, saying that he would soon become a millionaire.

Joseph was suspected of ties to the mafia and the illegal sale of alcohol during Prohibition, but he kept his oath. Joe's fortune by the 40s was estimated at a fabulous amount - $ 400 million.

After the repeal of Prohibition, Joe's company became the exclusive supplier of a number of European alcohol brands to the United States.

Joseph's additional income was the production of low-quality films at his own film studio and trading in securities.

Joseph married Rose Fitzgerald, daughter of the first Irishman to become mayor of Boston. The father taught the children the science of winning: in the family it was considered a shame to lose. Obviously it was motivating.

After laying the foundation for his clan's success, in 1961, Josef suffers a stroke. The next 8 years, until his death, he will spend almost silent, sitting in a wheelchair.

John F Kennedy - those very shots will sound soon.

Thanks to money and friendship with President Roosevelt, Joseph managed to become ambassador to England, but this was the end of his career as a politician. Joseph is the father of 9 children. The most famous of them (and of the Kennedy family as a whole) are the brothers John, Robert and Edward.

The wealth of the clan and the revealed political gift John helped him become president in 1963. His brothers took positions in the government, and the clan turned into America's "Family No. 1".

Kennedy's most significant project is the New Frontier Declaration. Americans believed in the reforms proposed by John: the president was trying to change the life of the nation for the better. But he didn't.

Unflappable and benevolent John attributed failures in foreign policy to the CIA, which could not please the head of the department, Allen Dulles.

After the murder of John, his wife married Aristotle Onassis, the richest Greek.

After the death of John in 1963 and the unsuccessful presidency of Johnson, the next Kennedy put forward his candidacy for election - Robert. The brother of the late president easily won the primaries in 1968, but was shot dead.

June 5, 1968 - Robert Kennedy delivers victory speech after the California primary. Then he will go to the hotel, where the Palestinian Serhan Bishara Serhan will shoot him 3 times. 26 hours will fight for the life of the candidate, he will die in the hospital.

The next of the brothers to run for president Edward. But a loud scandal allowed Jimmy Carter in 1980 to bypass the representative of the clan. Edward lived a long life, attended the inauguration of Barack Obama (during the ceremony he fainted).

"Family No. 1" managed to achieve the American dream. Representatives of the clan became rich, famous and influential, but the chain of tragic events forced journalists to talk about some kind of "curse".

The descendants of the Kennedy brothers were given everything from birth, but they either died from drugs, or went to prison, or were seriously ill. Only one son of Robert named Joe III managed to get into Congress and succeed in business.