The Curse
For an American dynasty, tragedy tumbles on the heels of joy and triumph. Last week it happened again
Indeed, John Jr. called his cousins to task for their reckless behavior, branding them "poster boys for bad behavior" in the pages of his magazine. It was right after Joe's remarriage and when Michael was caught having an affair with his children's nanny. In a remarkable editorial, Kennedy mused not only on his cousins failings but on the outraged public reaction: "Perhaps they deserved it. Perhaps they should have known better. To whom much is given, much is expected, right? The interesting thing was the ferocious condemnation of their excursions beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior. Since when does someone need to apologize on television for getting divorced?
"But perhaps there was some comfort in watching the necessary order assert itself. The discontents of civilized life look positively benign when compared with the holy terror visited upon the brave and stupid."
In the end, the boys made up and went back to being Kennedys. Those that were left were looking forward to being together for a sunny wedding on Martha's Vineyard. There were no comments coming from the family, which remained secluded in their vacation homes Saturday afternoon. But an appropriate sentiment came from an earlier interview with Ted Kennedy Jr. "You try not to think about it--to dwell on it--all the time," he said during his father's 1980 run for the presidency. "But it still sits there in your life. My father always tried to teach us that you can't let it defeat you. And he'd talk all the time about the things that had happened to my grandmother [Rose Kennedy] and point out how she kept moving ahead. 'You can't let the bad things win,' my father and my aunts and uncles would say."
LEGACY OF LOSSES
More tragedies than make sense
Since World War II, the Kennedy family has been plagued by a series of disasters that, taken together, stretch the bounds of coincidence
1944. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. perishes in plane crash during World War II, at the age of 29.
1948. Kathleen Kennedy, daughter of Joseph and Rose, dies in plane crash at age 28.
1963. August 7. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy gives birth to son, Patrick, six weeks prematurely; he dies two days later.
1963. November 22. John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.
1964. June 19. Edward M. Kennedy is seriously injured in a plane crash; an aide is killed.
1968. June 5. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles.
1969. July 18. Edward M. Kennedy drives a car off a bridge on Massachusetts's Chappaquiddick Island. Aide Mary Jo Kopechne is later discovered dead in the submerged car.
1973. Joseph Kennedy, son of Robert, runs his car off the road in an accident that leaves a female passenger permanently paralyzed.
1973. Edward M. Kennedy Jr.'s right leg is amputated because of cancer.
1984. David Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, dies of a drug overdose in a hotel in Palm Beach.
1985. Patrick Kennedy, son of Edward M. Kennedy, seeks treatment for cocaine addiction.
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