Rose Kennedy: In Her Own Words
Sept. 28, 2006 — -- Some of the Kennedy family's most intimate moments will be made public for the first time ever when Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy's personal papers are made available to the public today.
The mother of nine children, three senators, and a president, began moving her papers to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in the 1970's, but at the time, were not available to researchers or the general public. The library now has the daunting task of cataloguing the 185 thousand items.
Rose Kennedy documented her life of privilege and politics in journals, letters, and, even, scraps of paper. There are bits of paper documenting almost every facet of her life from letters to her father, John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, from her days at a European convent, to "The Wedding Log" she wrote about her nuptials and honeymoon with Joseph Kennedy.
Rose's correspondence was not limited, however, to family members and friends. In 1962, she took it upon herself to write to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, asking him to autograph nine photographs of his historic meeting with her son, President John F. Kennedy, for her children. Soon after, JFK drafted this note to his mother from the White House:
"Would you be sure to let me know in the future any contacts you have with heads of state, etc.," he wrote. "Requests of this nature are subject to interpretations, and, therefore, I would like to have you clear them before they are sent."
"I am so glad you warned me about contacting heads of state," the president's mother replied, "as I was just about to write to Castro."
Her writings replace some of the soap opera facade that surrounds the Kennedy family of the 60's. In its place are moments of motherly anxiety, and the obvious advice that follows in its wake, as she prayed for "Jack" the day before his debate with Richard Nixon. "People think that Jack speaks too fast. I agree and have already told him, because the audience has become accustomed to his Boston accent."
Rose did not limit such concerns to JFK. In a May, 1969, letter to her son, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Rose expresses concern over his pronunciation of the word "nuclear."
"You pronounce it as though it were spelled 'nuclar,' but I believe it should be pronounced 'nu-cle-ar.'"
Hidden within Rose's letters and diaries are also her feelings of heartache as she tried to cope with the assassination of not one, but two sons.
After Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1968, she wrote, "How could Bobby, so devoted to his children, so absorbed in their fun and frolics and their sports and studies, be happy in Heaven and away from [his wife] Ethel who was always at home or on his trips?"
She went on to write that "it seemed impossible to believe that the same kind of disaster could fall on our family twice in five years." In all, four of her children died young.
Though the entire collection can be viewed by appointment only, a small exhibit entitled Rose Kennedy: In Her Own Words will feature a selection of photographs, documents and journals at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.