Not many people know about Rosemary Kennedy, the sister of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Her story is one of the most poignant chapters in both medical and family history — a tale of how an experimental lobotomy procedure left her permanently disabled and reshaped the world’s understanding of psychiatric surgery.
Born in 1918, Rosemary Kennedy was the third child of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Her birth was delayed for hours, reportedly because a nurse advised the mother to wait until the doctor arrived, during which time the baby’s oxygen supply was compromised. This lack of oxygen — or hypoxia — likely caused mild intellectual disability, something that would shape her entire life.
As a child, Rosemary struggled with learning and social interaction.
Despite her challenges, Rosemary was described as cheerful and affectionate during childhood. She attended several special schools and received personalized education to help her keep pace. In the late 1930s, when her father Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Rosemary accompanied the family to London.
She participated in social events and was even presented at the royal court, a sign of prestige and acceptance in high society. After the family returned to the United States in 1940, Rosemary experienced violent mood swings, emotional instability, and occasional fits of anger — symptoms that were poorly understood at the time.
Back in the U.S., Rosemary was enrolled at St. Gertrude’s School, a convent-run boarding facility in Washington, D.C. Despite initial efforts, she struggled with discipline and independence. In her late teens, she was placed in Sacred Heart Convent, a residential hostel for young women. There, she reportedly began to rebel against strict supervision — sneaking out at night and displaying erratic behavior.
By her early twenties, Rosemary’s parents began consulting doctors for solutions as they didn't want her disability to tarnish their image in the public and give a disadvantage to the upcoming political careers of her brothers. In the early 1940s, lobotomy was emerging as a promising treatment for behavioral and emotional disorders. It was performed by neurologist Dr. Walter Freeman and surgeon Dr. James W. Watts, pioneers in the field of psychosurgery.
In 1941, at age 23, Rosemary Kennedy underwent a frontal lobotomy, a procedure designed to calm aggressive or erratic behavior. The lobotomy procedure involved inserting surgical instruments into the brain’s frontal lobes to sever neural connections believed to control mood and behavior.
The operation had devastating consequences. Rosemary lost her ability to walk, speak coherently, or care for herself. She was left with severe cognitive and physical impairments that required lifelong institutional care. Her father reportedly authorized the surgery without fully understanding its risks, and her mother, Rose Kennedy, was informed only after the procedure.
Following the operation, Rosemary was sent to St. Coletta’s School for Exceptional Children in Jefferson, Wisconsin, where she lived in seclusion for the rest of her life. For decades, her whereabouts were kept private, and even her siblings were not told the full details of her condition.
It was only after her father suffered a stroke in the 1960s that her siblings, including President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert and Ted Kennedy, began to reconnect with her. The family gradually reintroduced Rosemary into family gatherings and established charitable foundations in her name to support individuals with disabilities. She passed away in 2005 at the age of 86.
A lobotomy — also known as a leucotomy — is a surgical procedure that involves severing nerve pathways in the frontal lobe of the brain. It was once thought to relieve symptoms of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and aggression.
The frontal lobotomy procedure was first developed by Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz in the 1930s, for which he was later awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1949).
By the 1940s and 1950s, Dr. Freeman’s “transorbital lobotomy,” also known as the “ice-pick” procedure, became widespread in the United States due to its simplicity and speed and as it seemed to calm patients who were otherwise unmanageable.
The lobotomy procedure works by disrupting the neural circuits that connect the frontal lobes to the thalamus and other brain regions. These circuits play key roles in emotional regulation and decision-making.
Early methods involved drilling holes in the skull and cutting the connections with a leucotome. Later, Dr. Walter Freeman developed the “transorbital lobotomy,” which involved inserting a thin instrument (similar to an ice pick) through the eye socket to reach the brain — a faster, cheaper, and more controversial approach.
While some patients showed short-term improvements in mood or calmness, the side effects of lobotomy were often severe. Today, lobotomy is viewed as a cautionary tale in medical history — a reminder of how desperation for cures can lead to ethical misjudgment.
The side effects of lobotomy, include paralysis, speech loss, and cognitive decline. Complications such as seizures or death were not uncommon. Many lost their personality or emotional depth.
As psychiatric medications such as chlorpromazine (Thorazine) were introduced in the 1950s, lobotomy in psychiatry rapidly declined. By the 1970s, the practice was widely condemned and eventually banned in most countries due to ethical and medical concerns.
Traditional lobotomies are no longer performed. However, the underlying principle — altering brain circuits to treat psychiatric disorders — has evolved into more refined and ethical procedures.
Modern techniques such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) and psychosurgery for severe OCD or depression use advanced imaging and precision targeting, avoiding the irreversible damage caused by early lobotomies.
The story of Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy serves as a stark reminder of the experimental nature of early psychiatric treatments. Once viewed as a scientific breakthrough, lobotomy is now remembered as a controversial chapter in the history of psychosurgery.
References
All That's Interesting. “The Tragic Story of Rosemary Kennedy, the Original ‘Hidden’ Kennedy.” All That's Interesting. Accessed October 22, 2025. https://allthatsinteresting.com/rosemary-kennedy.
WebMD. “What Is a Lobotomy?” WebMD, reviewed May 2024. https://www.webmd.com/brain/what-is-lobotomy.
“Lobotomy.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Last modified 2024. https://www.britannica.com/science/lobotomy.
Persaud, Raj. “The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness.” PMC (preprint library). PMC 558111. Accessed October 23, 2025. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC558111/
Pressman, Jack D. Last Resort: Psychosurgery and the Limits of Medicine. Cambridge Studies in the History of Medicine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. xv, 555 pp. ISBN 0-521-35371-8.
Accessed at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-for-the-history-of-science/article/abs/jack-d-pressman-last-resort-psychosurgery-and-the-limits-of-medicine-studies-in-the-history-of-medicine-cambridge-cambridge-university-press-1998-pp-xv555-isbn-0521353718-4000-4995/AF2A1980FD128BE36147AFBBFF883DF1.
