'Tragedy revisits the Kennedys,' intoned the New York Times in an editorial that mourned 'a family of unfinished journeys, of magnetic personalities cut down far too early.'
asserted
that → revisit → personalities
The month was July 1999 and the tragedy in question was the deaths of 'perfect couple' John F Kennedy Jr and his wife Carolyn Bessette, along with her sister, Lauren, when the light aircraft Kennedy was flying crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
asserted
Kennedy → fly → Vineyard
When even the usually austere 'Gray Lady' resorts to such dramatic language, readers might be tempted to think that there really may be something in the whispers – repeated over decades as each successive tragedy has only strengthened the idea – that the Kennedy clan are cursed.
uncertain
clan → resort → idea
Over the years, the most illustrious political dynasty in American history has certainly been struck by the most astonishing ill fortune as plane crashes, drug overdoses, road accidents and, of course, assassins' bullets have prematurely laid waste to its ranks.
asserted
crashes → strike → ranks
The Times's pronouncement on the death of JFK's much feted only son and his wife came before further tragedies – including the 2011 death of Kara Kennedy, daughter of Ted, from a heart attack and the suicide of Mary Richardson Kennedy, former wife of current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in 2012.
asserted
pronouncement → fete → 2012
That was followed by the death from an accidental drug overdose of Saoirse Kennedy Hill – Robert F Kennedy's granddaughter – in 2019, and the drowning of Maeve Kennedy McKean, another of RFK's grandchildren, and her eight-year-old son, Gideon, during a short canoe trip on Chesapeake Bay the following year.
asserted
That → follow → Bay
Late last year, JFK's granddaughter Tatiana Schlossberg, died from cancer aged just 35.
asserted
granddaughter → die → cancer
Now comes another heartbreaking family bereavement – and yet another granddaughter of RFK.
asserted
bereavement → come → RFK
Kyle Kennedy, 42, died at her home in Westwood, Massachusetts, on September 21.
asserted
Kennedy → die → September
'Tragedy revisits the Kennedys,' intoned the New York Times in an editorial after the deaths of John F Kennedy Jr and his wife Carolyn Bessette
Kyle Kennedy, 42, died at her home in Westwood, Massachusetts, on September 21 - adding to the list of tragic Kennedy family deaths
Late last year, JFK's granddaughter Tatiana Schlossberg, died from cancer aged just 35
Saoirse Kennedy Hill, Robert F Kennedy's granddaughter, died of an accidental overdose in 2019
The Kennedys are a huge clan, Robert and wife Ethel had 11 children and 34 grandchildren, yet so great has been the attrition rate, that even family members have reportedly discussed whether there really could be a supernatural explanation.
uncertain
members → revisit → children
'It is a curse,' Senator Ted Kennedy's wife Joan reportedly told her sister-in-law Jackie, the widowed First Lady, after her husband escaped a 1964 plane crash – suffering three crushed vertebrae, broken ribs and a punctured lung – a year after his brother's assassination.
uncertain
husband → tell → assassination
'Look at the things that have happened.
asserted
that → look → things
Can we just chalk it up to coincidence?' Joan told Jackie.
asserted
Joan → chalk → Jackie
Kyle's cause of death has not yet been revealed and exactly how it happened is under investigation.
asserted
happened → reveal → investigation
According to an online obituary published by a local funeral home, the mother of two passed away 'peacefully.'
uncertain
mother → accord → two
She leaves two young children, Conor, 12, and Declan, ten, whom she shared with ex-husband Liam Kerr.
asserted
she → leave → Kerr
Conor's twin, Josie, died two days after her birth.
asserted
twin → die → birth
Kyle was 13 when her father Michael died in 1997 after skiing into a tree while playing 'ski football' with other Kennedy family members – throwing a ball to each other while skiing in Aspen, Colorado.
asserted
father → die → Aspen
She went into teaching and, unlike so many Kennedys, largely remained out of the spotlight.
asserted
She → go → spotlight
A rare exception came in 2012 when her cousin, Conor Kennedy, reportedly crashed her wedding with his girlfriend, one Taylor Swift.
uncertain
cousin → come → girlfriend
(The pop superstar insisted she was invited to the celebrations and that Kyle even thanked her for coming.)
asserted
Kyle → insist → her
In 2020, Kyle, who had been a keen long-distance runner, suffered a severe spinal cord injury which resulted in long term paralysis.
asserted
which → suffer → paralysis
The cause of her injury was never revealed but Kyle became an advocate for the disabled.
asserted
Kyle → reveal → disabled
According to her obituary, 'the years that followed [her injury] brought struggles but Kyle fought to maintain her dry wit and determination through it all, trying to be the best possible mother to her sons and caring for her two beloved, ill-behaved Wheaten terriers.
uncertain
Kyle → accord → terriers
'
Ethel Kennedy and her husband Robert had 11 children and 34 grandchildren, but so many tragedies have reportedly led family members to wonder about a supernatural explanation
uncertain
tragedies → have → explanation
It is a curse,' Senator Ted Kennedy's wife Joan reportedly told her sister-in-law Jackie, the widowed First Lady, after her husband escaped a 1964 plane crash
Having big families has long been a strong tradition within the Roman Catholic family, inevitably increasing the odds that some of them will meet with fatal mishaps.
However, the trend in the Kennedy family surely goes way beyond the laws of probability.
uncertain
trend → tell → probability
Family patriarch, businessman, ambassador and serial philanderer Joseph Kennedy, had nine children with wife Rose.
asserted
patriarch → have → Rose
The eldest, Joseph Jr, died in 1944 when his B-24 Liberator bomber plane, packed with high explosives, blew up over East Anglia in the UK while flying towards a target in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.
asserted
plane → die → II
Kathleen, nicknamed 'Kick,' was the favorite daughter of Joseph Sr and Rose although she certainly tested their love in 1944 when she married a Protestant, albeit a British aristocrat – William 'Billy' Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington.
asserted
she → nickname → Hartington
Just five weeks later, he was killed by a sniper's bullet while serving in the British Army in France.
Five years on, the Dowager Marchioness of Hartington – as she was titled – fell for another British nobleman, the womanizing Earl Fitzwilliam.
asserted
she → kill → nobleman
He was another Anglican but, confident she could win over her staunchly Catholic parents, Kick, then 28, arranged to fly with Fitzwilliam to see her father in France in 1948.
uncertain
Kick → win → 1948
Their plane, a chartered De Havilland Dove, stopped to refuel in Paris but, after a long lunch, the couple discovered that bad weather had set in.
Their pilot warned it was too dangerous to fly but Kick – used to getting her own way and, on this occasion, also a little drunk – insisted they go on.
asserted
they → stop → occasion
The following day, the wreckage of their plane was found in France's Rhone-Alpes region.
asserted
wreckage → find → region
Everyone on board was dead and Kick's body had to be taken down a mountainside to the nearest village on an ox cart.
asserted
body → have → cart
In 1955, George and Ann Skakel – the parents of Ethel, wife of Robert F Kennedy – were both killed in a plane crash in Oklahoma.
asserted
Skakel → kill → Oklahoma
The following year, John F Kennedy's daughter, Arabella, died at birth.
asserted
daughter → die → birth
Her baby brother, Patrick, died from breathing difficulties two days after his premature birth in 1963.
asserted
brother → die → 1963
Jack, who had been injured during the war during a torpedo boat raid in the Pacific, was shot in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald as he was riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas, an assassination that shocked the world and is still furiously debated by armchair detectives and conspiracy theorists.
asserted
that → injure → detectives
Michael Kennedy, Kyle's father, died in 1997 after skiing into a tree in Aspen
JFK himself was the next family casualty just three months after his son Patrick died from breathing difficulties two days after his premature birth in 1963
asserted
son → die → 1963
The tragic deaths in the Kennedy family surely goes way beyond the laws of probability
Outside the hospital where JFK was taken, brother Ted announced that his parents had now lost their first four children.
asserted
parents → go → children
…and 42 more, not listed.
The Aporia
