# What is it with the Kennedys? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 2, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089 "2019-08-02T21:41:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/1 "2019-08-02T21:41:17Z")
I’m assuming most people have seen the news that another member of the Kennedy family has died a tragic death. They seem to have suffered a huge number of tragedies. Is it just perception? Would most families this size have experienced a similar number of events and we only notice it with the Kennedys because they’re famous? Or is it something about the Kennedys that have caused them to have more tragedies? Or are they just out at the unlucky end of the Bell curve? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/2 "2019-08-02T21:46:15Z")
I think it’s the first one. We only notice because a Kennedy is involved. However two of them were victims of political assassination, and that doesn’t happen to most families. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/3 "2019-08-02T21:49:11Z")
A lot of them were reckless self-serving idiots. That can’t have helped. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/4 "2019-08-02T21:54:29Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > A lot of them were reckless self-serving idiots. That can’t have helped. I don’t think, by and large, those are the ones were’ talking about. > **[Kennedy curse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_curse)** > > The Kennedy curse is a series of deaths, accidents, assassinations, and other calamities involving members of the American Kennedy family. The alleged curse has primarily struck the descendants of businessman Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., but it has also affected family friends, associates, and other relatives. Political assassinations and plane crashes have been the most common manifestations of the "curse". Following the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969, Ted Kennedy is quoted sa Events that have been... Some died in service to our country, some died as children. Some died in plane crashes. Some died while being a bit “reckless.” If you’re talking about JFK,jr., I don’t think he was a self-serving idiot, but perhaps he was reckless. ---
**Author:** ![Toledo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/34f0e0/32.png) [@Toledo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toledo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/5 "2019-08-03T01:04:07Z")
So they are Kennedys. At this point in time, who cares? I certainly don’t. Maybe it’s sad, but thousands of other people die every day. The Kennedy name apparently still gets attention in the news media. I didn’t even know of RFK having grandkids. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/6 "2019-08-03T01:08:20Z")
> [@Toledo\_Jim](#): > > So they are Kennedys. At this point in time, who cares? I certainly don’t. Maybe it’s sad, but thousands of other people die every day. The Kennedy name apparently still gets attention in the news media. I didn’t even know of RFK having grandkids. As many kids as he had, it would be a sure bet. But I think it’s simply statistics. Every family has its tragedies, but given that there are more Kennedys, there are going to be more tragedies. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/7 "2019-08-03T13:08:40Z")
It’s the name. I have a cousin who died of a opioid overdose - I don’t know if it even got a mention in the local news. Another cousin died in a bus crash - not from the crash, but he was eating a piece of hard candy and it lodged in his throat - by the time they figured it out, it was too late. And an uncle who was brutally attacked and spent several decades in a nursing home till he finally died. Life is full of tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/8 "2019-08-03T13:25:58Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Life is full of tragedy. The tragedy is not dead Kennedys, but a certain [live one](http://dailybeast.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr-spouts-his-insane-anti-vaxxer-conspiracy-theory-in-measles-hot-zone). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/9 "2019-08-03T13:45:12Z")
A dozen family members died tragic deaths in 75 years? Must be [The Kennedy curse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_curse). Shit happens. You hear about it cause it’s the Kennedys. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/10 "2019-08-03T14:17:25Z")
Assuming the OP is talking about Robert’s granddaughter. I don’t consider a drug overdose a tragedy but rather a personal choice. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/11 "2019-08-03T15:10:29Z")
What qualifies as “a Kennedy” these days and who many of them are there now? If there are several dozen people who can call themselves a Kennedy and one dies a tragic death every decade or so is it that rare? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/12 "2019-08-03T15:45:33Z")
RFK & Ethel’s 11 children were raised mostly on their own, with some emotional/behavioral issues which still carry forward today. That seems to have helped skew the numbers. Agreed that most families have their share of tragedy that we don’t see plastered across the media. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/13 "2019-08-03T15:50:42Z")
I think that if you leave out the political assasinations, what occurs to them isn’t that weird. If I looked at my own family, or the families of friends, some pretty bad shit has happened in the last 50 or so years. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/14 "2019-08-03T15:55:28Z")
They’re Irish. Tragedy is part of their bloodline. Quote … Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. W. B. Yeats ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/15 "2019-08-03T16:41:28Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > Assuming the OP is talking about Robert’s granddaughter. I don’t consider a drug overdose a tragedy but rather a personal choice. We have no way of knowing what led up to this. I have a daughter who has struggled with addiction and has come close to tragedy several times. She is kind, smart, courageous, and has an wonderful engaging personality. She has been through hell most of us could not withstand. If I ever lost her, I pray you don’t post a comment like this. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/16 "2019-08-03T17:11:25Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > What qualifies as “a Kennedy” these days and who many of them are there now? If there are several dozen people who can call themselves a Kennedy and one dies a tragic death every decade or so is it that rare? I think the generally accepted definition are the descendants of Joe and Rose Kennedy. They had nine children, twenty-nine grandchildren, and over ten thousand great-grandchildren (cite needed). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/17 "2019-08-03T17:13:50Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > We have no way of knowing what led up to this. Saoirse Kennedy Hill had a history of depression. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/18 "2019-08-03T17:15:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Saoirse Kennedy Hill had a history of depression. I see. I’m sure that was a “personal choice” too ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/19 "2019-08-03T17:29:33Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > We have no way of knowing what led up to this. I have a daughter who has struggled with addiction and has come close to tragedy several times. She is kind, smart, courageous, and has an wonderful engaging personality. She has been through hell most of us could not withstand. If I ever lost her, I pray you don’t post a comment like this. I agree we don’t know what led to it and I wish no ill to you or your daughter or anyone else but addiction is a choice. Is it an illness, sure, it gets to that point but to start drugs is a personal choice. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089/20 "2019-08-03T17:35:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m assuming most people have seen the news that another member of the Kennedy family has died a tragic death. They seem to have suffered a huge number of tragedies. > > Is it just perception? Would most families this size have experienced a similar number of events and we only notice it with the Kennedys because they’re famous? Or is it something about the Kennedys that have caused them to have more tragedies? Or are they just out at the unlucky end of the Bell curve? Yes, it’s just perception. It’s a large family–so there are lots of people who might meet an unfortunate end. It’s a rich family–so the members have a lot of resources to get into kinds of trouble that other families might not have. It’s a famous family–people take note when something happens to them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-the-kennedys/838089.md?page=2)