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

to participate in her grief, and as a way of raising money for the planned John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
    In June, though, her progress out of the valley of grief was nearly halted when a small airplane carrying Teddy crashed in Massachusetts. The pilot and one of Teddy’s aides were killed. Teddy narrowly escaped death, and he would spend months in a hospital bed, just as Jack had in 1955. “I guess the only reason we’ve survived,” Bobby said at the hospital, “is that there are too many of us. There are more of us than there is trouble.” A rattled Joan marshaled her strength to campaign for her bedridden husband; Rose was all too happy to campaign for Teddy as well, taking her as it did, in the summer of 1964, out of a glum, reflective atmosphere at Hyannis Port. Bobby was running too, that year, for a Senate seat in New York, and Rose spoke frequently on his behalf. In the end, both Ted and Bobby handily won their contests.
    Rose also kept a sense of meaning and purpose during this time by speaking more often and with greater candor about Rosemary. Her acknowledgment of her eldest daughter had really begun before the assassination. In 1962, Rose began visiting Rosemary at St. Coletta’s. Joe’s stroke had immobilized him and had made it easier for Rose to make travel plans without his knowledge. Eunice began visiting, too, and the pair lobbied JFK to make research on mental retardation a major priority of his administration. On October 11, 1961, Jack announced a national initiative on mental retardation, establishing a commission on how to treat and prevent developmental disabilities. Eunice published an article, “Hope for Retarded Children,” in the Saturday Evening Post , in which she candidly discussed the heartbreak and frustration her mother had faced in trying to find help for Rosemary. The lobotomy was not revealed, but it represented a huge step forward in the family’s recovery of their connection to Rosemary.
    In a 1963 interview, Rose finally revealed why the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation had turned its focus to issues facing the mentally handicapped. “Well, you see the answer to that question is a very simple one,” Rose said. “We had a retarded child . . .”
    This work continued after JFK’s death and throughout the sixties. That included the summer camp that Eunice started in 1961 at her rented Maryland estate. It was a camp exclusively for those with mental retardation; they were children of little means, bussed from institutions in Washington. Resourceful Eunice recruited volunteer counselors from elite Washington prep schools. This summer camp grew throughout the sixties and eventually would expand into the Special Olympics.
    Rose became a vocal advocate for persons with intellectual disabilities, raising awareness and money through the media and her speaking engagements. St. Joseph’s College gave her an honorary degree in 1965 for bringing funds to research on retardation and serving as an inspiration to the parents of retarded children. The Canadian Association for Retarded Children chose Rose to receive its International Award of Merit for her inspiring example.
    In 1966 she and Bobby wielded shovels to break ground on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Center for Research in Mental Retardation and Human Development at the Yeshiva University Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. The Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation contributed $1.45 million toward its construction.
    The 1968 campaign season would be the most important for the Kennedy family since Jack’s presidential run in 1960. LBJ had decided not to seek reelection, and the conflict in Vietnam was deeply unpopular, leading to regular protests and demonstrations across the country. In March of 1968, urged by the public and driven by his own passionately antiwar stance, Bobby announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
    Rose rolled up her sleeves and hit the campaign trail. Eight