For our purposes with The Kennedy Heirs, I ask that you consider the first generation of Kennedys to be the one that includes those children born to Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. (born 1888) and his wife, Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy (born 1890). Their first child was Joseph Patrick Jr. (born 1915). The rest followed quickly: John Fitzgerald (born 1917), Rose Marie (born 1918), Kathleen Agnes (born 1920), Eunice Mary (born 1921), Patricia Helen (born 1924), Robert Francis (born 1925), Jean Ann (born 1928), and Edward Moore (born 1932).
The second generation are the surviving children of Joseph and Rose, and their spouses: John and Jacqueline Bouvier (born 1929), Eunice and Sargent Shriver (born 1915), Pat and Peter Lawford (born 1923), Bobby and Ethel Skakel (born 1928), Jean and Stephen Smith (born 1927), and Ted and Virginia Joan Bennett (born 1936) and, later, Victoria Reggie (born 1954).
The third generation—the primary subject of this work—comprises the progeny of the second, and there were many, twenty-nine in all.
John and Jackie were the parents of Caroline Bouvier (born 1957) and John Fitzgerald Jr. (born 1960).
Eunice and Sargent were the parents of Robert Sargent III (born 1954), Maria Owings (born 1955), Timothy Perry (born 1959), Mark Kennedy (born 1964), and Anthony Paul (born 1965).
Pat and Peter Lawford were the parents of Christopher Kennedy (born 1955), Sydney Maleia (born 1956), Victoria Francis (born 1958), and Robin Elizabeth (born 1961).
Bobby and Ethel were the parents of Kathleen Hartington (born 1951), Joseph Patrick II (born 1952), Robert Francis Jr. (born 1954), David Anthony (born 1955), Mary Courtney (born 1956), Michael LeMoyne (born 1958), Mary Kerry (born 1959), Christopher George (born 1963), Matthew Maxwell Taylor (born 1965), Douglas Harriman (born 1967), and Rory Elizabeth (born 1968).
Jean and Stephen were the parents of Stephen Edward Jr. (born 1957), William Kennedy (born 1960), Amanda Mary (born 1967), and Kym Maria (born 1972).
Edward (Ted) and Joan were the parents of Kara Anne (born 1960), Edward Moore Jr. (born 1961), and Patrick Joseph (born 1967).
The fourth generation, then, would be the many children of the third, some of whom are also considered for this work, such as Joseph Patrick III (son of Joseph II and Sheila Rauch, born 1980), John Conor (son of Robert II and Mary Richardson, born 1994), and John “Jack” Bouvier Kennedy (son of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Arthur Schlossberg, born 1993).
MY MANDATE WITH this volume was not to write about every Kennedy of the third generation who ever drew breath. Admittedly, as I was doing my research, some held my fascination more than others. In the end, I sought to tell what I think are the stories that best explored the truth of who these people were in one another’s lives and that also revealed their true selves, warts and all, as well as their many contributions to our society. After all, this is a generation that was ubiquitous in our culture in the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, into the ’90s, and beyond, and, as you will read on these pages, even today. Maybe Life once put it best when the magazine reported of them: “They were America’s children. Born at a time when the nation itself seemed reborn, the grandchildren of Joseph and Rose Kennedy became a compelling symbol of the future for people hungry for change. And we couldn’t get enough of them. Americans probably saw more of the Kennedys on television and in photographs than they saw of their own families. At a time when the American family was said to be falling apart, the Kennedy family seemed of biblical strength.”
A myth I think worth dispelling from the outset is that these particular Kennedys did little to nothing of any great significance in our culture. In fact, they were all raised to have a strong sense of noblesse oblige. Of course, when one considers the global ramifications of what President Kennedy did with his time in office, maybe not much can compare. The same holds true of the great work of Bobby and Ted, not to mention Sargent and Eunice. “They’re all competing with icons and legends,” political consultant David Axelrod, who has advised several of them, noted of the younger Kennedys. However, as you will read, so many of them have contributed a great deal to the world, if not in elected office, then as activists. Ethel’s daughters Rory and Kerry make films about poverty and travel the world as warriors for social justice, for instance; Eunice’s son Tim Shriver runs his mother’s Special Olympics; Jackie’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, works tirelessly to raise funds for education. “If such causes appear modest next to staring down the Russians, integrating the South or going to the moon, they are not,” Time once observed. “They are simply of their time.” Some would change the world in small ways in the private sector, others in a much bigger manner while in public office. The number of legislation, for instance, either sponsored or cosponsored by Ted’s son Patrick Kennedy during his many years in government amounts to 3,156. Put it this way: There aren’t many who do nothing with their lives. Not in that family.
What I have also learned over the years as a Kennedy historian is that, despite the complexities of their lives, personal and political, it’s really not that difficult to understand them. Of course, some of their experiences have been amplified tenfold because of money, power, and prestige. Also, fame does tend to twist everything. However, at the heart of their stories are the kinds of choices and decisions similar, at least I think, to those we may have made in our own lives as we’ve attempted to navigate the sometimes rocky terrain of getting along with parents, siblings, and children. I believe we can relate to the Kennedys on a deep, visceral level that has to do with a thing so basic and so uncomplicated: our shared humanity. To my mind, this is why the Kennedys’ story continues to resonate. Plus, of course, the many tragedies of their lives have reached out to us over the years, causing our hearts to ache unbearably for them.
At a symposium on the legacy of the Kennedy women at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Kerry Kennedy told me, “It’s difficult when your most private moments are also your most public moments, but it’s interesting, too, because we have never really felt alone in any of it. We have always felt at one with the American public, and I think they have felt the same dynamic with us. There’s this special, symbiotic relationship Americans have with my family going all the way back to my grandparents, to President Kennedy and my aunt Jackie, to my father, my mom … Uncle Teddy, Aunt Joan … my late brother David … and while I think a lot of it has to do with basic empathy, I also think it has to do with a collective human experience. All people have troubles in their lives. If understanding how we have dealt with our own problems can in some way help people cope with their own, well, then I think that’s good. In fact, I think that’s very good, and I know my family members would agree.”
Senator Ted Kennedy put it this way in addressing the question of how the Kennedys dealt with tragedy. “Yes, we have had some hard knocks,” he told me. “But we have survived because we have heart. And heart matters.”
Here’s a hard truth, though: The name “Kennedy” can inflame as much as inspire; there are people for whom the very name stirs up anger and resentment. Their critics believe the Kennedys, especially those of the third and fourth generations, to be an entitled and spoiled lot used to getting away with bad behavior and never suffering true consequences because of it. Maybe Newsweek put it best in 1998 when describing what it called “the duality of the Kennedy experience in the popular imagination—sin and service.” There have certainly been times of great disgrace—many of which have to do with self-inflicted tragedies—that remain an integral part of family history and, as such, are closely examined in these pages. However, I hope you’ll agree that even those parents, sons, or daughters of this American dynasty who’ve at times been perhaps not so deserving of our admiration still have certain traits instantly recognizable not only in people we know and love, but maybe in ourselves, too.
“Family is family,” John Kennedy Jr. told me when I had a chance to interview him after the press conference for the unveiling of his George magazine in September 1995. “You can pick the Kennedys apart, and I’m sure you will,” he said with a nod at what he knew I did for a living, “but at the end of the day, we’re just people trying to understand each other as we share this incredible life we’ve all been blessed with. It’s nothing more than just that, if you really want to know the truth.”
I have come to believe it’s a lot more than just that, if you really want to know the truth. It is my hope that as you read The Kennedy Heirs you will agree.