Free Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family by David Batcher Amber Hunt, David Batcher

caregivers became more adept at interpreting his attempts at communication, but he never regained his speech or mobility. Rose’s response was complicated. On one hand, she seemed freed by her husband’s descent into infantilism—she was able to travel on behalf of Teddy’s campaign at her own discretion and was in charge of her own life to a greater extent. On the other, his difficulties upset and depressed her. Letters from that time, though they don’t address Joe directly, generally became more irritated, nitpicky, and exasperated.
    Frustrated at the tendency of cars to disappear at Hyannis Port, Rose sent a long description of who was allowed to use which car and when. “This is the way [the cars] are to be used,” she concluded. “I do not want to be bothered this way at my age, and I do not think it is fair. Please give this to Ethel to read, so every one will understand.” In another letter, Rose advised Ethel and Jackie to close the blinds in their homes to avoid the sun fading the furniture. She was both compelled to write such niggling letters, and, simultaneously, exhausted by her compulsion. “I am trying to rest my brain,” she wrote wearily.

    Later in the summer of 1962, Joe was brought back to Hyannis for what was to be a few weeks of vacation before returning to Horizon House. He never did. Thereafter he was shuttled back and forth between Hyannis and Palm Beach, always in the care of niece Ann Gargan and the staff of nurses. Rose came and went as she saw fit. “Mrs. Kennedy changed a great deal after her husband left Horizon House,” remembered nurse Rita Dallas. “Perhaps because a decision had been reached that not only relieved her, but also left her conscience intact.” Joe was home, and cared for. Rose was free to live her life.
    As an image-maker, she became more involved in Jack, Bobby, and Teddy’s political lives than she had been prior to Joe’s stroke. Herhectoring letters, throughout 1963, became less about Hyannis household rules and more about how the young men—and their wives—presented themselves to the media and the public at large. “I do not think it is necessary to emphasize the fact that you are both tone deaf or that cultural things do not play such a large part in your life,” she wrote to Bobby in April 1963. She also discouraged their publicizing the raucous life of their large family at Hickory Hill, or relying too much on the Kennedys’ touch-football games as an anecdotal crutch.
    She also stepped into the role of White House hostess on a couple of occasions. The last would be at the state dinner for Ethiopian king Haile Selassie in late August 1963. Earlier in the month, Jackie had given birth to Patrick Bouvier Kennedy five weeks prematurely. The boy had lived only three days, and both parents were devastated. Finally Jack decided that a trip abroad might lift Jackie out of her depression, and he sent her with her sister for a vacation in Greece. Jackie left the day of Selassie’s arrival, and Rose happily took over.

    Summer became autumn in Hyannis Port. On a beautiful November morning, Rose got up early, attended mass, had breakfast with her husband, and played nine holes of golf. In the early afternoon, she’d been napping when Ann Gargan’s blaring TV woke her up. She shuffled to Ann’s room to ask her to turn it down.
    Ann sat horrified in front of the flickering screen. The news bulletin was reporting that Jack had been shot while riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas.
    Rose’s hands trembled and she sank into a chair. “Don’t worry,” she told Ann. “We’ll be all right. You’ll see.”
    The phone rang.

10
    “We All Shall Be Happy Together”
    After Rose received the phone call from Bobby confirming her son’s death, she told the household staff that Joe, himself napping, was not to be told of the assassination. She put on a coat and walked along the chilly Hyannis beach alone, praying, asking “Why?”
    Teddy and Eunice