Rosemary

 Kate Clifford Larson wrote Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter. The author tells the story of the eldest daughter of Joe and Rose Kennedy. Rosemary, named after her mother, was born at home in Brookline, Massachusetts. At the time of her birth the doctors were overwhelmed caring for patients of the flu pandemic. Rose Kennedy had a nurse in her home to help with the labor. The nurse knew how to deliver babies but wanted to wait until the doctor arrived. The nurse physically held the baby in the birth canal for two hours so the doctor could be there and collect his fee. As a result, Rosemary was born with intellectual difficulties and epilepsy. The Kennedy family was political and competitive. When Rosemary was young, she was slower to develop physically and mentally. She knew enough to know she wasn't able to do the things her siblings could do. As she got older, she fell further and further behind. Her mental ability stayed at a fourth grade level. Her father would tell her he was disappointed in her failure to keep up hoping it would motivate her to try harder. She was trying hard but unable to keep up. Gradually she grew more and more frustrated. She began to act out. That is when her father decided she needed brain surgery, a lobotomy.  The operation left Rosemary unable to talk, incontinent, and with the mental ability of a two year old. She spent the rest of her life in institutions isolated from her family. He didn't have to worry about her embarrassing the family and possibly harming the political futures of his sons. After her father died, her siblings were allowed to visit her. The book was good. Poor Rosemary, injured several times by the medical community, unable to please her parents, and unable to keep up with her siblings.