The House of Kennedy Read online

  On November 16, Joe fails to recognize the sound of Ted’s voice.

  “Please answer me,” Ted says, but Joe cannot. His father is dying, and Ted is convinced that his actions have pushed Joe toward his grave. “The pain of the burden was almost unbearable,” he says.

  On November 18, Rose brings a rosary to her husband’s lips, then wraps it around his clasped hands resting on his chest.

  The children are gathered in a semicircle around his bed. Eunice begins to recite the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father, who art in Heaven / Hallowed be thy name.”

  In turn, each sibling speaks a line. “Thy Kingdom come / Thy will be done / On earth, as it is in Heaven.”

  “Amen,” Rose says, in blessing on the creator of the House of Kennedy.

  He is dead.

  * * *

  Joe is buried in the Kennedy family plot at the Hollyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.

  “As the twenty funeral cars moved away,” the Boston Herald reports, “a woman in black, appearing to be in her sixties, knelt alone in front of the grave. She remained there for several minutes. The woman, who was well-dressed, walked alone and declined to give her name.”

  * * *

  “I wonder if the true story of Joe Kennedy will ever be known,” Rose Kennedy once said, according to an essay by Gore Vidal for the New York Review of Books. The same question is asked of any and all Kennedys, as the family story continues to be written—and lived.

  In 2010, Juan Romero, the busboy who comforted Bobby Kennedy on the night he was shot, has more to say to Kennedy, and in person. Dressed in the first suit he ever owned, he travels to Arlington National Cemetery and stands at Kennedy’s grave, marked with a plain white cross.

  “I felt like I needed to ask Kennedy to forgive me for not being able to stop those bullets from harming him. When I wore the suit and I stood in front of his grave, I felt a little bit like that first day I met him. I felt important. I felt American. And I felt good.”

  As JFK himself predicted on October 26, 1963, days before his death, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.”

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  Photos

  Twenty-six-year-old Joseph P. Kennedy and Twenty-four-year-old Rose Fitzgerald on their wedding day in Boston, October 7, 1914. (Photo by Morgan Collection/Getty Images)

  Rose and Joe Sr. at their beloved family vacation home, “La Guerida,” in Palm Beach, bought at a bargain price during the Depression. It’s later nicknamed the “Kennedy Winter White House” once Jack begins using it as a presidential retreat. (Photo above by Morgan Collection/Getty Images. Photo left by Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images)

  Rose and Joe Sr. at their beloved family vacation home, “La Guerida,” in Palm Beach, bought at a bargain price during the Depression. It’s later nicknamed the “Kennedy Winter White House” once Jack begins using it as a presidential retreat. (Photo above by Morgan Collection/Getty Images. Photo left by Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images)

  Joe Sr. makes a splash as a Hollywood studio head during the 1920s, and Gloria Swanson (right) stars in his notorious film Queen Kelly. His calls to her are cited as “the largest private telephone bill in the nation during the year 1929.” (Photo above by Morgan Collection/Getty Images. Photo right by United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock)

  Joe Sr. makes a splash as a Hollywood studio head during the 1920s, and Gloria Swanson (right) stars in his notorious film Queen Kelly. His calls to her are cited as “the largest private telephone bill in the nation during the year 1929.” (Photo above by Morgan Collection/Getty Images. Photo right by United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock)

  Jack (left) and Lem Billings (right), his childhood best friend, traveling in Europe in 1937. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

  Joe Sr. (center) demands great things of his two eldest sons, Joe Jr. (left) and Jack (right). (AFP via Getty Images)

  The Kennedys at Hyannis Port. From left: Jack, Jean, Rose, Joe Sr., Patricia, Bobby, Eunice, and Ted (holding football). (Photo by © CORBIS/ Corbis via Getty Images)

  Eunice (left) and Rosemary (right), smiling and waving. “Rosemary, you have the best teeth and smile in the family,” Eunice tells her older sister.(Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  Rosemary and Joe Sr. in England, where he serves as ambassador. Rosemary adores her father; he says of her, “I don’t know what it is that makes eight children shine like a dollar [coin] and another one dull.” (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  The Kennedys en route to England in 1938. From left: Kathleen, Patricia, Rose, Ted (in front), Bobby, and Jean. (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images)

  Kathleen, nicknamed Kick, with William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington. Kick declares her days in England made her “a person in her own right, not just a Kennedy girl.” (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  Kick marries Cavendish in wartime London. Despite his noble title, Kick’s Catholic family oppose her marrying a Protestant — except Joe Jr. (behind Kick), who gives the bride away. (Photo by Everett/Shutterstock)

  Joe Jr. (left) joins the war as a Navy pilot, and Jack (above) as a lieutenant in the Navy. Lifelong sibling rivals, Joe downplays the medal Jack receives for heroism when his PT Boat is sunk, but concedes, “To get anything out of the Navy is deserving of a campaign medal in itself.” (Photo left by Bettmann Archive/ Getty Images. Photo above by Denver Post via Getty Images)

  Joe Jr. (left) joins the war as a Navy pilot, and Jack (above) as a lieutenant in the Navy. Lifelong sibling rivals, Joe downplays the medal Jack receives for heroism when his PT Boat is sunk, but concedes, “To get anything out of the Navy is deserving of a campaign medal in itself.” (Photo left by Bettmann Archive/ Getty Images. Photo above by Denver Post via Getty Images)

  Posted to DC before shipping off to the South Pacific, young Jack falls in love with Inga Arvad, a twice-married Danish journalist suspected of being a Nazi spy, whom Hitler once called “the most perfect example of Nordic beauty.” (Photo left by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images. Photo right by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  Posted to DC before shipping off to the South Pacific, young Jack falls in love with Inga Arvad, a twice-married Danish journalist suspected of being a Nazi spy, whom Hitler once called “the most perfect example of Nordic beauty.” (Photo left by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images. Photo right by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  A decade later, Jack has to work hard to woo Jacqueline Bouvier; but as friend Lem Billings says, “there was nothing Jack liked better than a challenge.” (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  Jack, seated under an early campaign sign and photos of his parents, first enters congress at the age of 29 in 1947, but is often mistaken for a staffer, given his youth and often disheveled appearance. (Photo by Yale Joel/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images)

  Jack is known to call up Judy Garland (seen here campaigning for Kennedy in 1960) to request she sing him “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by telephone. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

  Judith Exner, who briefly dated Frank Sinatra, acts as a liaison between mobster Sam Giancana and Jack Kennedy. (Photo by Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

  Founding member of the “Rat Pack” Frank Sinatra is a big Kennedy booster, and considers himself part of the “Jack Pack” inner circle. (AFP/AFP via Getty Images)

  Advertisement for the 1960 Presidential TV debates between Kennedy and Nixon, and a “Youth for Kennedy” campaign button. (Photo left by David J. & Janice L. Frent/ Corbis via Getty Images. Photo above by David J. & Janice L. Frent/Corbis via Getty Images)

  Advertisement for the 1960 Presidential TV debates between Kennedy and Nixon, and a “Youth for Kennedy” c
ampaign button. (Photo left by David J. & Janice L. Frent/ Corbis via Getty Images. Photo above by David J. & Janice L. Frent/Corbis via Getty Images)

  iJack and Jackie in a ticker-tape parade. (Photo by Frank Hurley/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

  Marilyn Monroe is one of many stars at JFK’s forty-fifth birthday gala, where she performs her iconic “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” in a “beads and skin” gold rhinestone gown. (Monroe seen here at the after-party with Stephen Smith, Jean Kennedy’s husband.) (Photo above by David J. & Janice L. Frent/Corbis via Getty Images. Photo left by Cecil Stoughton/AP/Shutterstock)

  Marilyn Monroe is one of many stars at JFK’s forty-fifth birthday gala, where she performs her iconic “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” in a “beads and skin” gold rhinestone gown. (Monroe seen here at the after-party with Stephen Smith, Jean Kennedy’s husband.) (Photo above by David J. & Janice L. Frent/Corbis via Getty Images. Photo left by Cecil Stoughton/AP/Shutterstock)

  The Kennedy women. From left: Joan Bennett Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. (Photo by The Estate of Jacques Lowe/Getty Images)

  Joe Sr. and Jack playing golf with Stephen Smith (left) and Peter Lawford (right). (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  Jack and Jackie in Hyannis Port with their children, Caroline and John Jr. (Photo by Brooks Kraft LLC/ Sygma via Getty Images)

  Jack frequently visits Hyannis Port after Joe Sr. suffers a debilitating stroke in 1961, from which he never fully recovers. (Photo by AP/Shutterstock)

  President Kennedy and the First Lady in Dallas on November 22, 1963, only hours before JFK is assassinated. (Photo by Art Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

  One of Bobby Kennedy’s toughest fights on the Senate Labor Racket Committee is against Teamster President, Jimmy Hoffa (right).“I used to love to bug the little bastard,” Hoffa recalled. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  In March 1965, Bobby commemorates his brother’s death by ascending the highest unclimbed peak in North America and christening it Mount Kennedy. (Photo by Anonymous/AP/Shutterstock)

  Ethel and Bobby with their son David at a senate campaign rally. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  Ethel and Bobby with their son David at a senate campaign rally. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  In addition to his own brood of (ultimately) eleven, Bobby is close with Jack’s children. Clockwise from top: Bobby’s daughter Kerry, son Michael, son David, nephew John Jr., niece Caroline, and daughter Courtney. (Photo by George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

  “Bobby is Good” is a sentiment shared by many, including those who knew him back in his harsh “Bad Bobby” days. Supporters and detractors alike agree that he seems to have truly grown and changed. (Photo by Steve Schapiro/Corbis via Getty Images)

  Ethel and Bobby on June 5, 1968, celebrating his win in California towards securing the Democratic presidential nomination, moments before his assassination. (Photo by Julian Wasser/The LIFEImages Collection via Getty Images/ Getty Images)

  Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the LA coroner known as the “Coroner to the Stars,” performed autopsies on both Marilyn Monroe and Bobby Kennedy. (Photo by Paul Harris/ Getty Images)

  Joan and Ted Kennedy, during anearly senate campaign. Ted’s win in 1962 launches what will become the third-longest career in the Senate. (Photo by Carl Mydans/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

  In 1964, Ted nearly dies in a plane crash that kills two of the five people on board. He escapes with a punctured lung and broken vertebrae in his back. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  On July 18, 1969, Ted drives a car off a bridge in Chappaquiddick Island, resulting in the death of former RFK staffer Mary Jo Kopechne. Ted, seen here attending Mary Jo’s funeral in a neck brace, is charged with leaving the scene of an accident. (Photo above by Express Newspapers/Getty Images. Photo right by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  On July 18, 1969, Ted drives a car off a bridge in Chappaquiddick Island, resulting in the death of former RFK staffer Mary Jo Kopechne. Ted, seen here attending Mary Jo’s funeral in a neck brace, is charged with leaving the scene of an accident. (Photo above by Express Newspapers/Getty Images. Photo right by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

  The Kennedys’ compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, is the scene of many family get-togethers, often involving athletic competitions or spirited games of football. (Photo above by Stew Milne/AFP via Getty Images. Photo right by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

  The Kennedys’ compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, is the scene of many family get-togethers, often involving athletic competitions or spirited games of football. (Photo above by Stew Milne/AFP via Getty Images. Photo right by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

  Senator Kennedy with his mother, Rose. Of all the Kennedy children, youngest son Ted is the one most devoted to their parents. (Photo by Jam/AP/Shutterstock)

  iTed with Bobby’s daughter Courtney, his close friend and fellow senator John Tunney, and Bobby’s widow, Ethel. (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

  (left) Bobby’s oldest son, Joe, shaking the hands of passengers aboard his father’s funeral train from California to DC in 1968, leading to speculation on the 16-year-old’s own political possibilities. Joe goes on to win his first term in congress in 1987, taking over from Tip O’Neill the same seat his uncle Jack once held. (above) Joe and his brother Michael (left).(Photo left by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images. Photo above by Mario Suriani/AP/Shutterstock.)

  Ethel’s nephew Michael Skakel has been accused of killing neighbor Martha Moxley in 1975, when both were teenagers, but Bobby Jr. staunchly defends his cousin’s innocence. (George Etheredge/ The New York Times/Redux)

  JFK Jr. (left), a Manhattan Assistant DA, leaves a Palm Beach courthouse with his cousin William Kennedy Smith (right) in 1991. Willie’s rape trial is the first case ever broadcast on Court TV. (Photo by Kathy Willens/AP/Shutterstock)

  Bobby with his young son David (above) in 1958. The two have a special connection, and Bobby is extra-protective of his most sensitive child. David (right) struggles throughout his adolescence and twenties, never regaining equilibrium after witnessing his father’s assassination live on television. (Photo above by The Estate of Jacques Lowe/Getty Images. Photo right by Ron Galella/ Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images.)

  Bobby and Ethel’s granddaughter, Saoirse Roisin Kennedy Hill. Saoirse, Courtney’s daughter, is open about her struggles with depression, and about not stigmatizing it. (Photo by David L Ryan/The Boston Globe/Pool/ EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

  Young John Jr. adores planes and helicopters. President Kennedy jokes that people will falsely assume his son is racing to embrace him when he disembarks, but “Little do they know — that son would have raced right by his father to get to that helicopter.” (Photo left by Estate of Stanley Tretick LLC/Corbis via Getty Images. Photo above by Estate of Stanley Tretick LLC/Corbis via Getty Images)

  John attempts to board any plane or helicopter he comes near, “weeping bitterly” when he is left behind, though his father often consoles him with toy planes. (Photo by Harvey Georges/AP/Shutterstock)

  Jackie walking with John Jr. (right), Caroline (left), and her nephew Anthony Radziwill (center). John Jr. and Anthony grow up together and remain close their whole lives, speaking nearly every day. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)

  Jackie is a devoted mother, who wants Caroline and John Jr. to have “normal and fun” childhoods. “I don’t want my young children brought up by nurses and Secret Service men,” she tells the New York Times. (Photo left by Ron Galella/WireImage. Photo below by Ron Galella/ Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

  Jackie shocks the world when she marries Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis on October 20, 1968, though she credits him with bringing her “into a world where one could find happiness and l
ove.” (Photo by Everett/Shutterstock)

  Teenage Caroline and John. (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)