Kate Clifford Larson

Bestselling Author and Award Winning Historian and Consultant

Author photos (c)Susan Wilson www.susanwilsonphoto.com

Rosemary, The Hidden Kennedy Daughter
A Conversation with the author Kate Clifford Larson
August, 2015

Why another Kennedy book? What’s new in Rosemary, the Hidden Kennedy Daughter and what makes your book stand out from the crowd?

Rosemary’s life has always been a small side story to the larger drama of the Kennedy family in the scores of books written about them. This is the first full length biography that puts Rosemary – an intellectually disabled child in a household of overachievers - at the core of that incredible family story. By placing her at the center of the narrative, I was able to see the family in a different light – particularly her parents, Rose and Joe. Their attempts to raise Rosemary to “fit in” with the rest of her more capable siblings is both tragic and inspiring. It is clear, however, that the very existence of Rosemary deeply and profoundly affected the lives of all the Kennedys. The actions and decisions made by them take on a different meaning when you look at them through Rosemary’s eyes.

What are some of your favorite stories from Rosemary’s life?

Rosemary was, in many ways, an enchanting, typical girl of her time. Several of her letters, written during her teen years, reveal a young girl delighting in her social life - being with her girlfriends, getting her hair and nails done, relishing new clothes, going to the movies, and enjoying the attention of boys. She was a debutante and was presented to the king and queen of England when her father was ambassador. Her preference for a social life over school worried her parents, though. She was strikingly beautiful, and very trusting, so they feared for her safety.

What were some of the more difficult aspects of her life?

Rosemary’s parents’ response to her intellectual disabilities created a tension in the family that progressively worsened as she aged into adulthood. She suffered terrible emotional trauma when Rose and Joe Kennedy began sending her away to a series of boarding schools from the age of eleven. She deeply missed her family, and she struggled with institutional and academic demands that were beyond her capabilities. She was also subjected to a variety of medical treatments under the mistaken belief that she could be “cured.” As she matured, her mental health suffered, causing her parents to seek more radical measures to control her.

Rosemary’s public life was cut short as a result of a misguided medical procedure. What did you discover about lobotomies, and why were they performed?

When Rosemary was forced to undergo a prefrontal lobotomy in 1941 when she was 23 years old, the experimental procedure had been performed on fewer than one-hundred patients. Dr. Walter Freeman, a psychiatrist, and his associate, Dr. James Watts, a neurosurgeon, promoted the surgery as a cure-all for psychologically impaired individuals. The doctors were convinced that the frontal lobes controlled the emotional center of the brain and were the cause of mental illness. By severing the frontal lobes of the brain, troubling psychosis and other mental health problems would be eliminated. Tragically, the surgery often left patients profoundly changed and unable to live independent lives. Some died from the surgery. The overwhelming majority of patients were women, and in an era with few patient rights and protections, many of them were forced, like Rosemary, to undergo the treatment. It was never meant to be used to treat people with intellectual disabilities, making the surgery even more horrifying in Rosemary’s case. The fact that her father – and possibly her mother – decided this was a good option for Rosemary is one of the most disturbing aspects of the Kennedy family story.

Why was Rosemary hidden from the public for so many years?

Hiding Rosemary from the public started when she was just a child and sent off to boarding school. Her high powered, successful parents were ashamed and frustrated by Rosemary’s intellectual disabilities. Though they sought educational situations that they believed would accommodate Rosemary, they also believed that strict control and constant attention to her deficiencies would somehow help her overcome her limitations and become an active member of their highly intellectual and physically vigorous family. After the lobotomy, she was so profoundly disabled - physically and intellectually - that they feared the public shame would derail the political aspirations of the Kennedy men.

How did Rosemary’s siblings cope with her disability?

Rosemary’s siblings loved her deeply, and were severely affected by her treatment as a child – the rejection she faced, the disappointments she felt when she could not measure up, and the loneliness she endured. After the surgery and Rosemary was sent away and institutionalized, they were taught not to ask about her and to get on with their lives. But her absence left a huge void in the family. Her sister Eunice, in particular, experienced Rosemary’s absence most intensely. It would drive Eunice to establish the Special Olympics. Jack, as president, would sign important legislation to promote research, treatment, and community resources in the field of intellectual disabilities. And Ted Kennedy, as senator, would sponsor numerous pieces of legislation aimed at accommodating and improving the lives of people with disabilities and their families, including the path breaking Americans with Disabilities Act. Many other Kennedys have committed themselves to improving the lives of the disabled. Rosemary’s legacy is alive today through these actions.

What are some of the sources that you used while researching this book? What hasn’t been seen before?

When I started this book project, a collection of Rose Kennedy’s diaries, letters, and scrapbooks had recently been opened to the public at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Over the next several years, more of that collection, and the papers of Joseph P. Kennedy, were made available. The two collections contain many letters to and from Rosemary, as well as scores of documents related to her education, treatment, and the family struggles to disguise her disabilities and hide her from the public. The records reveal the remarkable lengths Rosemary’s parents went to cure her, and their sometimes selfish motives that motivated their choices for her care. My research also included an examination of the often disgraceful treatment of people with intellectual and physical disabilities, and mental illness, during the early to mid 20th century. Women suffered the most at the hands of an uncaring public and a dehumanizing institutional system and medical establishment. Placing Rosemary at the center of this story also shed light on her mother’s belief systems – as a devout Catholic and a woman struggling to limit her own aspirations in support of her husband – and how that shaped the way Rosemary was treated. I was also fortunate to have access to private papers and photographs.

Why is it so important to have a biography of Rosemary now?

Rosemary, the Hidden Kennedy Daughter reveals a different perspective on the Kennedys, one that places Rosemary at the center of a dynamic family narrative where she belongs. Rosemary’s story still resonates today because it shows us, on the one hand, how much we as a culture have evolved in regards to the education, treatment, and accommodation of people with disabilities and mental illness, and on the other, the struggles that the disabled and their families still face. Rosemary’s life was marred by horrific tragedy, and it is within that story of heartbreak and pain that readers will find an enduring image of a loving young woman who changed her family forever.

Rosemary, The Hidden Kennedy Daughter

A New York Times Best Seller!

Editor's Choice! The New York Times Book Review calls it "a biography that chronicles her life with fresh details . . . By making Rosemary the central character, [Larson] has produced a valuable account of a mental health tragedy, and an influential family?s belated efforts to make amends." Read the full review by Meryl Gordon NYTBR

Listen to Larson's podcast interview with

Editor-in-Chief Pamela Paul in the New York Times Book Review -

NYTBR Podcast

"In-depth coverage of one Kennedy daughter who never gained the spotlight like her siblings....A well-researched, entertaining, and illuminating biography that should take pride of place over another recent Rosemary bio..."

Read m ore in Kirkus Reviews

"The forgotten Kennedy is forgotten no longer. Rosemary is a rare thing, a book about the Kennedys that has something new to say."—Laurence Leamer, author of The Kennedy Women

"Kate Clifford Larson delivers an engrossing portrait of Rose and Joe Kennedy?s tragic misunderstanding of their oldest daughter's capabilities, and of how her fate changed the Kennedy family forever. And yet it is Rosemary herself who shines from the pages of this profoundly revealing family story." —Marya Hornbacher, author of Madness: A Bipolar Life

"In her engaging and compassionate Rosemary, Kate Larson illuminates the poignant story of a resolute girl falling behind in a glamorous and competitive family. Rosemary's own story comes alive against the broader and often shocking background of twentieth-century attitudes toward the intellectually disabled, and sheds fascinating light on how the characters of Rose Kennedy, Joe Kennedy, and Rosemary"s famous siblings were indelibly shaped by her determined yet tragic life." —Will Swift, author of The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm

"...VERDICT This expertly researched work offers a candid examination of a once-forgotten member of one of America's most famous families. It will appeal to Kennedy devotees and readers interested in society's evolving understanding of the intellectually and physically disabled." Library Journal, 10/1/2015

"Larson...tracks the tragic story of the Kennedy sister hidden from public life for decades, the efforts her parents made to mask her disabilities, and what happened after her father, Joseph Sr, authorised an experimental lobotomy when she was 23. Rosemary is a heartbreaking book that makes clear the pain and passion behind the Kennedy family's efforts on behalf of the disabled." The BBC News "Ten books to read in October."

"Larson's well-researched and fascinating history includes Kennedy anecdotes as well as major developments in American life (e.g., Spanish influenza, the Great Depression, the beginning of the divide between the haves and the have-nots) in a depiction of one family?s decisions regarding a special daughter, whose ill-advised lobotomy rendered her nearly broken, physically and mentally. Heartbreaking and illuminating, this will serve not only Kennedy fans but also those curious about the history of disabilities in the U.S." Booklist, October 15, 2015.

"A haunting, heartbreaking portrait of Rosemary Kennedy...Kate Clifford Larson's account of Rosemary's life...uses new sources, including diaries, letters and interviews, and makes for fascinating but heartbreaking reading...Larson also skillfully weaves a Kennedy family history into Rosemary, detailing Joe and Rose's courtship, Joe's political ambitions for his sons and giving glimpses into the life stories of all nine children...Even as Rosemary ends on a redemptive note for the Kennedys, [what-ifs] will haunt the reader long after the last page is turned." Keith Herrel, BookPage, October 2015.

"Stunned. Absolutely stunned. That was me, as I read this sit-still book. Yes, I was aware that Rosemary lived until relatively recently, tucked away in small-town Wisconsin, but the rest? I had no idea...author Kate Clifford Larson also lays out plenty of history, both of the family as a whole, and of the world. She reaches back to the earliest Kennedy years and, as she pulls us forward, she puts into context each phase of Rosemary's life, plunging us into the way things were early in the last century. Then, believe it or not, in Larson's hands, this tragic tale culminates in an oddly happy ending...I couldn?t get enough of this astounding book and, especially if you like a splash of historical biography in your scandal, you'll love it, too. "Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter" is a book I can't speak enough about." Terri Schlichenmeyer The Bookworm Sez, October 4, 2015.

"...Kate Clifford Larson...pulls Rosemary from the shadows [and] she succeeds in providing a well-rounded portrait of a woman who, until now, has never been viewed in full...Rosemary remains front and center in Larson's straightforward, chronological narrative, a testament to the author's desire to flesh out her subject's largely untold story. Kennedy compleatists will relish Larson's fleshed-out portrait of Rosemary, and readers interested in the changing attitudes toward the mentally disabled will find plenty to both inform and enrage." Eric Liebetrau, The Boston Globe, October 12, 2015.

"The Saddest Story Ever Told...Kate Clifford Larson?s heartbreaking biography of Rosemary Kennedy." Sylvia Jukes Morris, Wall Street Journal, October 2, 2015.

"Larson's style is so vivid and powerful that we want to read it through spread fingers like a jury looking at autopsy photos. I was wiped out when I finished the book. Here is a writer who rejects today's penny-ante responses of empathy and compassion and compels us instead to receive humanity's sacrament of pity." Florence King, National Review, November 2, 2015.

A "Briefly Noted" selection in The New Yorker Magazine, November 16, 2015!

One of People Magazine's Top Ten Book Picks of 2015

Named one of the Best Biographies of

ALL TIME by BookBub

See list @BookBub

Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer

"An urgent story for our times, Walk With Me hurls readers headlong into the violent and repressive context of rural Mississippi before voting was a protected right for all Americans, even as it paints a moving picture of indelible courage and breathtaking transformation. Historian Kate Larson does not withhold the excruciating details of Civil Rights era activism and backlash in this book; rather, she carefully pairs these violent accounts with the uplifting moments of song, food, faith, and resilience that characterized Fannie Lou Hamer's family and community life. Larson demonstrates once again that she is an adept biographer with an eye for the contexts and character traits that shaped ordinary people into extraordinary agents of change."

—Tiya Miles, author of All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake

"Kate Clifford Larson's page-turning biography of Fannie Lou Hamer takes readers on the journey of a woman born into the grinding poverty and racism of the Mississippi Delta who rose to become the voice of the unheard and the conscience of a nation. Based on prodigious research and extensive interviews with those who knew Hamer, Walk with Me is a masterpiece of historical scholarship, a layered portrait of an unlikely hero of the civil rights movement who gave her life for freedom."

—Dr. Joyce Ladner, Mississippi Civil Rights veteran and former interim president of Howard University

"Kate Larson has captured the fullness and simple grandeur of the life of Fannie Lou Hamer. For the first time, Larson has shared with us the context of Hamer's struggles and triumphs as a daughter of the Mississippi Delta. This work is an intimate portrait of a life that represents the best that America has to offer."

—Dr. Leslie-Burl McLemore, Professor Emeritus, Jackson State University, Founding Director, Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy

"For every situation, for every generation for all trying times, God sends forth a leader cloaked in spirit, motivated by faith and often with the voice of an Angel. I met Fannie Lou Hamer as a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee voter registration organizer as she came out of the cotton fields of Mississippi to challenge racial segregation and black voter denial. As she stepped on to the world stage Ms. Hamer was jailed, beaten and harassed but she remained nonviolent and she never turned back. This books captures her insight and envelops the reader in some important places that shaped her life during the revolutionary times of the 1960"s Civil Rights movement that challenged America to live up to its ideals of freedom and Civil Rights. It will be of great interest to present day organizers fighting racial, sex and cultural bias."

—Frank Smith, Jr., Mississippi Civil Rights veteran and Executive Director of the African American Civil War Memorial and Freedom Foundation and Museum in Washington, DC.

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