[𝓛𝓲𝓷𝓴: https://www.tumblr.com/1-800-apricot/813652241520132096/i-really-wonder-how-different-rose-mightve-been?source=share]
[🗯: 𝓞𝓱 𝔂𝓮𝓪𝓱, 𝓘 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓪𝓶𝓮! 𝓤𝓼𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂, 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓲𝔃𝓮 𝓫𝓸𝓽𝓱 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓙𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓹𝓱 𝓢𝓻., 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓵𝔂 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓫𝓵𝓮 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓮𝔁𝓬𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰; 𝓪 𝓱𝓾𝓶𝓪𝓷 𝓫𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓼𝓷’𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓪 𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓷. 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮’𝓼 𝓰𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓾𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓲𝓽.
𝓢𝓸 𝓯𝓪𝓻, 𝓘’𝓿𝓮 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓮𝓭 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓸 𝓙𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓹𝓱 𝓢𝓻.’𝓼 𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓭𝓱𝓸𝓸𝓭, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓼𝓪𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓹𝓼𝔂𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓾𝓷𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓾𝓶𝓪, 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓬𝓱 𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓬𝓲𝓯𝓲𝓮𝓭 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝓰𝓸 (𝓽𝓸 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓬𝓽 𝓱𝓲𝓶𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯, 𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓾𝓪𝓵 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓶𝓮𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓼𝓶𝓼: 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓯𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓮, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪 𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓮𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓽𝔂 𝓲𝓷 𝓱𝓲𝓶𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓰) 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓬𝓻𝓾𝓮𝓵𝓽𝔂.
𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓭𝓸𝓮𝓼𝓷’𝓽 𝓪𝓫𝓼𝓸𝓵𝓿𝓮 𝓱𝓲𝓶 𝓸𝓯 𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓪𝓬𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓫𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂, 𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓪𝓽 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓹𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓽, 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓹 𝓫𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓭𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼.
𝓔𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓸𝓭𝓪𝔂, 𝓹𝓼𝔂𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓲𝓷 𝓼𝓸𝓬𝓲𝓮𝓽𝔂 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓵, 𝓘’𝓭 𝓼𝓪𝔂. 𝓐𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓲𝓼 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓹𝔂 𝓬𝓾𝓵𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮, 𝓶𝓸𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓷 𝓹𝓼𝔂𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝔂 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓻𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓵𝔂 𝓮𝓪𝓼𝔂 𝓪𝓬𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓲𝓽 𝓼𝓾𝓻𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓾𝓼. 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓹𝔂 𝓲𝓼 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓿𝓮, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓪𝓽 𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓖𝓸𝓸𝓰𝓵𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼, 𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓸𝓷 𝓡𝓮𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓽, 𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓴 𝓽𝓸 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓰𝓰𝓵𝓮𝓼 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓼 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓪𝓷 𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓷 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓵 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓽𝓱 𝓲𝓼𝓼𝓾𝓮𝓼. 𝓑𝓾𝓽 𝓲𝓶𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓷?
𝓘𝓷 𝓶𝔂 𝓸𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓲𝓸𝓷, 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝓼𝓸 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓽𝓸𝔁𝓲𝓬 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓮𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓮 𝓪𝓼 𝓪 𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓾𝓵𝓽, 𝓪𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓱𝓾𝓶𝓪𝓷 𝓫𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓷. 𝓙𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓹𝓱 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓷. 𝓑𝓾𝓽 𝓪𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓰𝓮, 𝓙𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓹𝓱’𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓸𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓮𝔁𝓪𝓬𝓮𝓻𝓫𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓵𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝔂 𝓹𝓸𝓸𝓻 𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓵 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓽𝓱, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓰𝓸 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓷𝓸 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵, 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓽𝓱𝔂 𝓼𝓾𝓹𝓹𝓸𝓻𝓽 𝓼𝔂𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓶 𝓪𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝓵. 𝓢𝓸 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓹𝓲𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓭 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓰𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝓪𝓼 𝓭𝓮𝓽𝓪𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓼 𝓹𝓸𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓫𝓵𝓮 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓼 𝓪 𝔀𝓪𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓬𝓸𝓹𝓮.]
Anon, tysm for this!! They’ve rlly been living rent free in my head and I’ve been wanting to discuss. I totally agree with the fact that no human is born a villain. There's always an explanation (emphasis on explanation and not excuse!!!) somewhere. People tend to jump to villainizing them since the Kennedy fandom is primarily focused on the 4th generation of American Kennedys (Jack, Bobby, etc.). I'm fine with this because ultimately Joe Sr. and Rose grew up to be horrible people and they were that way for decades longer than they weren't. On the other hand, I do like looking at why they were this way and understanding the nuance of it.
I haven’t read up much on Joe Sr.’s childhood so I can’t make much comment, however I have read on his father and Joe Sr. was certainly mentioned. In The First Kennedys P.J. Kennedy is portrayed as a really stand up man. Damn near squeaky clean for a politician, always helping those in need by giving money, etc. I believe there was even a couple sentences about P.J. playing ball with Joe and whatnot. This sounds super wholesome obviously, but once you get to comments Joe made in his adulthood it doesn’t look like things were as wholesome as one might think. Joe thought his father was too free with the loans and money. There’s actually an interesting quote:
I think Joe definitely held some sort of resentment towards his father. It doesn’t detail why in this book and I’m not shocked, but I don’t think a child talks this way about their parent without reason. I feel like this is further backed up by the fact that Joe allegedly couldn’t make it back in time for P.J.’s funeral and stayed in Hollywood. So I think it’s entirely possible that in an attempt to not be like his father, he became just as bad (if he was bad, I don’t know) but on the opposite end of the spectrum.
I'm personally more sympathetic towards Rose. I feel that she was most certainly a product of her time and if she'd been born today then she wouldn't have been nearly as bad. I do want to put a disclaimer that what I do know of Rose's early life is from the book Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson and there's already been some minor errors. But the main facts do remain valid. Rose graduated high school in 1906 and had been accepted into Wellesley College, a secular college with Protestant foundations. Here's a passage that explains the situation:
After this Rose would go on to attend the Covent of the Sacred Heart in Boston. This is the moment that ultimately made Rose into who she became I believe. This was also around the time she started going out with Joe so it’s likely that her relationship with him was entangled in this as a way to rebel against her father. I won't go super in detail about her Sacred Heart days but I'll make a post if anyone want's to hear more!
Through the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Rose would become a Child of Mary. This would've required incredible self-discipline and commitment, and it shows the first signs of Rose turning to religion. It would be another few years before she and Joe got married. Though this would offer an incredibly uncomfortable realization for Rose in the years to come. She seemed to enjoy the scene of politics and intellectual gatherings, from accompanying her father to rallies and parties to being Joe's fiancée. However she was now cooped up in a house with three young children and another on the way with no outlet for her intellect. Joe was often away at work and Rose was only 29-30 at this time. She was still young, likely having an identity crisis at the time, and likely reeling from hormone changes from her constant pregnancies. Her catholic teachings had emphasized upon being a good wife and mother, managing a household and its staff. Perhaps she even idealized and romanticized it. But it was now playing out far different from how she might've dreamed it.
Now I want you to think of the time frame of this. 1919 going into 1920. Women just gained the right to vote and were gaining independence by the day. How bitter must that have felt? Stripped of the chance to gain a proper education, never able to be so involved politically, never existing without a man at the center of your life. Women could go out now. There was hope and possibility now. They were no longer accessories in the political realm. All this independence just a breath away but always out of grasp from her. Why? Because she was ultimately a mother and wife. This must've been crushing and according to the book she even ran off to her parents house, forcing Joe to take care of the children. However a few weeks prior to Kick being born, she returned to Brookline due to her father's persuasion.
This is when the transformation took place I believe. She fully delved into Catholicism. This doesn't shock me. She was a wife and mother which didn't allow the freedom that she so desperately wanted. There was no room for her in this modern world so she sought solace in the only world she knew would hold space for her. And here she learned to center the household around Joe and devote herself to religion.
I think Rose loved her children but I don't think she enjoyed being a mother. I mainly say that because of her constant vacations away from the children and this passage:
So overall, I'm not shocked that Rose turned out the way she did. It's unfortunate but it's a tale that's been repeated a thousand times over.
I could say so much more about this but these are the things I definitely think about most in regards to this topic.
