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Kennedy political family

The Kennedy family is a prominent family in American politics and government descending from the marriage of Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. The predominantly Democratic family is known for its political liberalism. Perhaps the best known Kennedy is the late President of the United States John F. Kennedy.

The Kennedy family is often compared to the Adams and the Bush families as among the great American political families. All three families have strong roots in the New England area of the United States.

Some commentators in the early 1960s made predictions that President John F. Kennedy would be first of a dynasty in the White House, but these predictions were not borne out, and the idea largely dropped off the public's radar after Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 and Senator Edward Kennedy was involved in a possible drunk-driving incident (in which a passenger in his car was killed) in 1969. However, a number of Kennedy family members have held high office since then.

Family tree

• List of descendants of Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

First generation

The family patriarch was Patrick J. Kennedy (1858–1929) who married Mary Augusta Hickey. Patrick Kennedy was a politician involved in the local Democratic Party.

Second generation

In 1914, their son, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969), married Rose Fitzgerald (1890–1995), the daughter of Boston Mayor John F. Fitzgerald. Joe Sr. served as ambassador to the United Kingdom in the years leading up to World War II.

Third generation

Together Rose and Joe Sr. had nine children:

• Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (1915–1944)
  • He was killed in action in WWII while flying a bombing mission over Europe. He was single at the time of his death and had no children.
• John F. Kennedy (1917–1963)
  • He was a U.S. represenative, a U.S. senator and later president. He was assassinated. He married Jacqueline L. Bouvier and had four children, of which one was stillborn, two survived to adulthood.
• Rosemary Kennedy (born 1918)
  • Always mentally challenged, she was rendered incapable of caring for herself by a lobotomy requested by her father, Joe Sr. She is currently living in a residental care facility in Wisconsin.
• Kathleen A. Kennedy (1920–1948)
  • She married once and was killed in a plane crash in Europe shortly after her husband died in WWII. She was known as "Kick."
• Eunice M. Kennedy (born 1921)
  • She is best known as the founder of the Special Olympics, an organization she began in honor of her sister, Rosemary. She married Sargent Shriver, later a 1972 vice-presidential candidate, and together they had five children.
• Patricia Kennedy (born 1924)
  • She married Rat Pack actor Peter Lawford and had four children.
• Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968)
  • He was U.S. attorney general in his brother's administration, later served as senator from New York, and was assassinated while running for president in 1968. He married Ethel S. Skakel and had 11 children.
• Jean A. Kennedy (born 1928)
  • She married and had two sons and adopted two daughters. She later served as the U.S. ambassador to Ireland.
• Edward M. Kennedy (born 1932)
  • Known as "Teddy," "Ted," or the "Liberal Lion," he has served as a senator from Massachusetts since 1962. He has been twice married with three children and two adopted children from his second marriage. His detractors associate him primarily with the death of Mary Jo Kopechne near Chappaquiddick Island

Fourth generation

The most famous Kennedy of the current generation is the late John F. Kennedy Jr., a lawyer and publisher of George magazine, who was killed in a plane crash in 1999.

Several of the current generation are involved in national or state politics:

• Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is a former lieutenant governor of Maryland. She unsuccessfully ran for Maryland governor in 2002.
• Patrick J. Kennedy is a U.S. representative from Rhode Island
• Joseph P. Kennedy II is a former U.S. representative from Massachusetts.
• Mark Kennedy Shriver (son of Eunice Kennedy) served as a delegate in the Maryland state legislature for two consecutive terms.
• Actor and California Governor Arnold A. Schwarzenegger is associated with the Kennedy family by his marriage to television journalist Maria Shriver, daughter of Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver. Schwarzenegger is a Republican.

Fourth Generation kids include Jean Smith's Kids, Stephen Jr., William, Amanda and Kim. Patricia Lawford's Kids, Christopher, Sydney, Robin and Victoria. Robert Kennedy's kids are Kathleen, Joseph II, Robert Jr., David, Mary Courtney, Michael, Mary Kerry, Christopher, Maxwell, Douglas, and Rory. Edward Kennedy's kids are Kara, Edward Jr., and Patrick. Eunice Shriver's kids include Robert, Maria, Timothy, Mark and Anthony.

See also

• "The Kennedy Curse"
• List of U.S. political families

External links

• "The Kennedys: A Family Tree" (http://www.sptimes.com/News/111199/JFK/family-tree.shtml), St. Petersburg Times Online
• Kennedy Family Tree (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kennedys/sfeature/sf_tree.html), The American Experience (PBS)
• Kennedy Family Tree, (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kennedys/sfeature/sf_tree.html) Ancestry.com
• The Kennedy family at Political Graveyard (http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/1427.html)
• The Kennedys (http://www.kennedy-web.com/), links to various pages and message boards.

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