The Kennedy Curse: Deaths, Accidents and Assassinations | Chronology of the fatal events in the family

It has been 61 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, an event etched in the annals of American history on November 22, 1963. The Kennedy family, known for its contributions to politics and public service, has suffered an extraordinary series of setbacks that some attribute to the so-called “Kennedy curse.” Today we revisit this legacy.

Tragic losses for the Kennedy family

The Kennedy family’s history is marred by a series of heartbreaking tragedies.

The 1960s were further marked by other incidents that affected the Kennedy family:

The following decades brought even more sadness. In 1974, Athalia Ponsell Lindsley, who was dating Joseph P Kennedy Jr., was murdered at her home. On April 25, 1984, David Kennedy died of a drug overdose. On New Year’s Eve 1997, Michael Kennedy met a tragic end in a skiing accident when he crashed into a tree. John F. Kennedy Jr., a charismatic figure in his own right, died in a plane crash in 1999 alongside his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette.

In the years that followed, Kara Kennedy died in 2011, Mary Kennedy in 2012, Christopher Kennedy Lawford in 2018, Saoirse Kennedy Hill in 2019, and Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean in 2020, who tragically died in a canoeing accident with her son Gideon. It has truly been a catalog of disasters.

Kennedy keeps the family name alive

As the Kennedy family dealt with these heartbreaking losses, some members continued to carry on the family legacy. Notable survivors include the children and grandchildren of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who still contributed to public life.

Patrick Kennedy, son of Senator “Ted” Kennedy – and nephew of President JFK – was an eight-term congressman from Rhode Island. Joseph Kennedy II, son of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., served six terms as a Massachusetts congressman, while his sister Kathleen Kennedy Townsend served two terms as lieutenant governor of Maryland. Then there is Caroline Kennedy, JFK’s daughter and only surviving child. She nearly replaced Hillary Clinton in the Senate in 2009, but chose a different path.

However, the most prominent of the Kennedys at this time is certainly the aforementioned Robert. And he is pushing for more information to be released about his uncle’s death.

What about the JFK assassination data?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the late president’s cousin and current nominee to become U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration, launched a petition calling on the Biden administration to release the remaining government documents linked to this historical event. In 1992, Congress passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, which required all materials related to JFK’s assassination to be stored in the National Archives and Records Administration. The law required the disclosure of all data by 2017.

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Although both Presidents Trump and Biden have released thousands of documents, Citing national security, law enforcement and foreign affairs concerns, some data remains classified. Kennedy Jr. argues that revealing the full, unredacted documents is crucial to restoring confidence in the government. The Biden has released 99 percent of the information about the murderciting the need to protect against identifiable damage to military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, and foreign relations.

But Kennedy Jr. believes that releasing the remaining data is essential for transparency and democracy and urged President Biden to comply with the 1992 law. Kennedy Jr. questions the hesitation and asks, “What is so embarrassing that they don’t want to show to the American public sixty years later?”

Despite the launch of the petition, the White House has yet to respond to Kennedy Jr.’s request. Now RFK, as part of the Trump administration, may be able to release the last 1 percent.