John F. Kennedy Jr. died 25 years ago: What is behind the “Kennedy curse”?

Did the “Kennedy curse” strike again 25 years ago? John F. Kennedy Jr. (1960-1999), his wife Carolyn (1966-1999) and her sister Lauren Bessette (1964-1999) were killed in an accident on July 16, 1999. The three had taken off from New Jersey in Kennedy’s light aircraft, a Piper Saratoga, and were on their way to Massachusetts, where his cousin Rory Kennedy (55) wanted to get married.

John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the assassinated US President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), was himself at the controls of the plane when it crashed off the island of Martha’s Vineyard. The takeoff had already been delayed, it was dark and visibility was poor, and Kennedy did not have his flight instructor at his side as usual. He apparently lost his bearings over the sea.

With John F. Kennedy Jr., who worked as a lawyer and publisher and was, like his father, a great heartthrob, another prominent member of the family died under tragic circumstances. The pictures from November 1963, in which he can be seen saluting in front of the coffin of his father, who was murdered in 1963, went around the world. It was his third birthday. Five years later, Kennedy’s uncle, Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968), was murdered. Like his older brother, he was shot by an assassin. Later, JFK’s brother, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy (1932-2009), even wondered out loud whether his family was the victim of a “terrible curse”… In addition to the two murders of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, there were also these tragedies in the family…

Airplane crashes

35 years before John F. Kennedy Jr. was killed in a plane crash with his wife and sister-in-law, Ted Kennedy, the younger brother of JFK and RFK, survived a plane crash in 1964, which killed two people, but was seriously injured. Kennedy was on the campaign trail when the private plane lost altitude in poor visibility and crashed in an orchard not far from the runway. Authorities blamed the pilot, who died in the accident.

President Kennedy’s eldest brother, Joe Kennedy Jr., died in a plane crash in 1944 at the age of 29 after volunteering as a pilot for a secret and extremely dangerous war mission.

Four years later, President Kennedy’s sister Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy lost her life in another plane crash. In 1948, she and three other passengers died when their small plane crashed in a storm in France. She was 28 years old.

The Chappaquiddick Incident

The tragedy of Chappaquiddick accompanied Ted Kennedy throughout his political career. Chappaquiddick is the island in Massachusetts where campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne (1940-1969) died in a car accident in 1969. Kennedy was behind the wheel at the time. He was driving Kopechne home after a party when he lost control of the vehicle and the car plunged into the water. The young woman was trapped in the car, Kennedy was able to swim to shore and walked back to his hotel. He did not call the police until ten hours later. He received a two-month suspended sentence for this. In a TV appearance he explained the tragedy with the words: “All sorts of confused thoughts went through my head. Including questions like: Is there really a terrible curse on the Kennedys?”

Overdose

David Kennedy (1955-1984), one of the eleven children of Ethel (96) and Robert F. Kennedy, died of a drug overdose in a hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1984. He was 28 years old. As a boy, he reportedly watched his father’s assassination live on television and later struggled with drug addiction for many years.

In 2019, Robert and Ethel’s granddaughter, Saoirse Kennedy Hill (1997-2019), was found dead on her family’s estate in Massachusetts. The 22-year-old’s cause of death was an accidental overdose. The family stated: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise and love. She cared deeply for friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie and her grandmother Ethel.”

Death during sports

Another son of Robert F. Kennedy, Michael Kennedy (1958-1997), died in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado, on New Year’s Eve 1997. The father of three was 39 years old.

Kara Kennedy (1960-2011), daughter of Senator Ted Kennedy and niece of JFK, died of a heart attack on September 16, 2011 at the age of 51 while working out at a gym in Washington, DC.

RFK granddaughter Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean (1979-2020) and her then eight-year-old son Gideon died in a canoeing accident in the Chesapeake Bay in 2020. The two apparently wanted to retrieve a ball that had landed in the water, but went too far out. Their bodies were found a few days later.

Serious allegations against Kennedy nephew

In 1991, Ted Kennedy was forced to testify about a night of partying near the family’s vacation home in Palm Beach, Florida. His nephew, William Kennedy Smith (63), was accused of raping a woman he and the senator had met in a bar. Smith was ultimately acquitted of all charges. The trial was broadcast live on TV.

Failed brain surgery

JFK’s sister, Rosemary Kennedy (1918-2005), was long described as “intellectually slow.” In hopes of improving her life, Kennedy family patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy (1888-1969) allowed doctors to perform a lobotomy in 1941. The brain procedure worsened her condition, and Rosemary was placed in a nursing home until her death in 2005 at the age of 86.

JFK loses his newborn son

In 1963, President Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-1994) announced the birth of their third child, Patrick. He was born nearly six weeks premature and had trouble breathing. The infant died two days after birth.

Early cancer

In 1973, Ted Kennedy’s twelve-year-old son Edward Jr. (63) lost a leg to bone cancer. He then had to undergo a long, difficult two-year drug treatment.

suicide

The estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (70), Mary Richardson Kennedy (1959-2012), died by suicide on May 16, 2012. Two years earlier, the politician had filed for divorce.