Rose Kennedy

Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on July 22, 1890, at 4 Garden Court in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. She was the eldest of six children of John F. Fitzgerald, a Boston politician who served in the Massachusetts State Senate from 1892 to 1894, in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1895 to 1901 and in 1919, and as Mayor of Boston during two terms from 1906 to 1908 and 1910 to 1914, and Mary Josephine Hannon.

In her early years, Kennedy's family moved multiple times within Massachusetts. She lived in West Concord, Massachusetts, at age seven, and later in an Italianate/Mansard-style home in the Ashmont Hill section of Dorchester, Massachusetts. She pursued education at the Blumenthal Academy of the Sacred Heart in Vaals, Netherlands, and graduated from Dorchester High School in 1906. Kennedy also attended the New England Conservatory in Boston, studying piano. She later enrolled at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan, which did not grant degrees at the time, due to her father's disapproval of Wellesley College. Kennedy expressed regret about not attending Wellesley but valued the religious training she received at her convent school.

In 1908, Kennedy and her father traveled through Europe, including a private audience with Pope Pius X at the Vatican. She met Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., her future husband, while their families vacationed at Old Orchard Beach in Maine. Kennedy's courtship with Joseph Kennedy lasted over seven years amidst familial disapproval.

Rose Kennedy married Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. on October 7, 1914, in Boston in a ceremony at Archbishop William Henry O'Connell's residence. Their initial residence was in Brookline, Massachusetts, and later at a 15-room cottage at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, which became the family's primary retreat. The couple had nine children: Joseph Jr. (1915–1944), John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), Rose Marie ("Rosemary") (1918–2005), Kathleen ("Kick") (1920–1948), Eunice (1921–2009), Patricia (1924–2006), Robert ("Bobby") (1925–1968), Jean (1928–2020), and Edward ("Ted") (1932–2009).

Joseph Kennedy provided for the family but was known for extramarital affairs, including one with actress Gloria Swanson. Rose faced significant stress during her pregnancies and her husband's infidelity, often relying on medication such as tranquilizers and other prescriptions to manage nervousness and stomach issues. She remained a devout Catholic throughout her life, rarely missing Sunday Mass, and maintained a strict and prudish exterior.

Kennedy identified with her role as a homemaker and believed child-rearing was a noble profession. Her personal traits, as described by some service staff, included being self-centered, stingy, prudish, and sometimes spiteful.

Throughout her life, Rose Kennedy actively campaigned for her sons, John, Robert, and Edward, from 1946 to 1976. After John's election as U.S. President in 1960, she gained a degree of public recognition and was included in the International Best Dressed List. She suffered a stroke in 1984, after which she used a wheelchair for the last 11 years of her life. Kennedy resided at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port until her death.

Rose Kennedy received the title of countess from Pope Pius XII in 1951 in recognition of her motherhood and charitable work. In 1992, a street intersection in Boston was named "Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Square." The Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston was named in her honor in 2004. Other memorials include the Rose Kennedy Bridge in Ireland, which opened in 2020, and a documentary titled "Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember."

Rose Kennedy died from complications of pneumonia on January 22, 1995, at the age of 104, at her residence in Hyannis Port. She was survived by her children and numerous descendants. Her writings include her 1974 autobiography, "Times to Remember," published posthumously in 1995 with a subsequent edition.