<p>I’m dying to read it. I read the excerpt on Amazon, and was hooked.</p>
<p>One thing I learned is that Rose Kennedy was not much of a mother. Jack spent 4 years boarding at Choate. Even though he was constantly sick, and there was even a question of leukemia, she never visited him there. And he went to a Catholic boarding school even before Choate (HS). I know that Ted Kennedy went to boarding school at quite a young age, too.</p>
<p>That’s one reason why the whole “working mother” vs. “stay at home mother” is not the correct argument to have. A mom can be “at home” and have little to do with her kids.</p>
<p>Matthews was shameless in peddling his book on his last Sunday show. A new low for a Matthews show – if that was possible. As a biography with a distinct angle, the book might be valuable and interesting to some. </p>
<p>The attempt to bring contemporary comparisons to today’s political figures is entirely laughable. Well, you would have to sit through the Sunday show to understand that last comment.</p>
<p>As far as Matthews goes, here is a telling quotation:</p>
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<p>Is this person for real? There are a few monuments in DC this clown might want to visit. Or a few military hospitals.</p>
<p>I read and would recommend Matthew’s book - Kennedy -Nixon.</p>
<p>Xiggi - I saw him on the Today show this morning. I thought I would gag. He actually said Kennedy was remarkable because as a teenager, he read the NYT ‘every day…all on his own.’ He had the nerve to say that Jack was completely autonomous in his choices in his early life - none of it was Joe Sr.'s doing! Good lord!
I have no doubt that the thing he admires most about Jack is his womanizing.</p>
<p>xiggi- my thoughts exactly.
I am more than a little done with he JFK and Jackie craze.
Rose admitted years ago that by the time Teddy came along, she was awfully tired of the kids thing and didn’t mother him well.</p>
<p>lookingforward, Jack was one of the older ones.</p>
<p>I agree, missypie. Rose Kennedy was a “stay-at-home” mom, with as much household help as she needed, and still she had to ship her kids off to BS at tender ages?</p>
<p>I don’t watch much TV and haven’t seen Matthews promoting the book. I like the excerpt I read on Amazon.</p>
<p>Xiggi, you must be thinking of Kerry - good for you!</p>
<p>I can’t imagine my own kids being so impassioned about a political position at such an age.</p>
<p>If Rose was an indifferent or cold mother, maybe that helps explain how the father, Joe Kennedy, was able to subject Jack’s sister, Rosemary, to a prefrontal lobotomy. This was such a heinous act, and it has received so little attention amidst all the Kennedy coverage.</p>
<p>Kennedy did the lobotomy without Rose’s knowledge and in fact Eunice became a champion for disability causes because of Rosemary. Not from the book - just general knowledge. Eunice died in the last few years and a lot was written about this.</p>
<p>What insight does Matthews have that real historians do not have?</p>
<p>Skyhook, I’ve known about the lobotomy for years, and thought that it was common knowledge that Joe had this done without Rose’s knowledge.</p>
<p>The idea of Rose’s lobotomy haunts me. I read (I think in a bio of Rose) that it was because she was starting to have sexual feelings. If only they had believed in birth control! That was a family that totally had the resources to let Rose marry and live in a house on the grounds with whatever houseshold help the couple needed.</p>
<p>The lobotomy was obviously a big mistake and it was reckless. However, at the time, the lobotomy was thought of as a medical cure. In fact, the procedure won the Nobel Prize in medicine–one of the most infamous science nobel prizes.</p>
<p>Chris Mathews hates women, as could be seen in the horrendous way he treated Hillary Clinton during the 08 primaries.</p>
<p>If his book criticizes Rose Kennedy’s parenting, given the complete lack of decision making power that woman had over her children’s lives, egad! If she’d have fought Joe Kennedy tooth and Nail and been able to prevent her children from being lobotomized and sent to the “best” boarding schools by her husband? she would have been labelled something else.</p>
<p>Probably not a “helicopter parent,” probably some other insane insult.</p>
<p>Mathews was a speechwriter for Bobby Kennedy. He’s from Boston and he’s Irish. He has a point of view.</p>
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<p>Yeah, but the lobotomy was seen as a miracle breakthrough back in the early 1940s when Rosemary Kennedy was lobotomized. In fact the guy who invented the prefrontal lobotomy was was awarded the Nobel Prize for it in 1949, still to this day the only Nobel to ever be awarded for psychiatric research. The guy was seen as a hero back then.</p>
<p>We see it now as “heinous” when viewed though 70 years of hindsight. If you view it through the knowledge available at the time it probably seemed like a pretty good idea. I’m not a big fan of Joe Kennedy, but c’mon, let’s at least be fair to the man.</p>
<p>they actually still use the lobotomy, now. Just not the same way or the same kind. yikes!</p>
<p>Actually, he’s from Philly but went to school in MA - Holy Cross. I don’t remember his working for RFK but he worked for Tip ONeill.
I was disgusted the way he and Keith Olberman spoke about Hillary Clinton the night of one of the primaries - I think New Hampshire. Fifteen minutes after the returns came in and it was clear Hillary was winning, Chris was nowhere to be found. I think they just took him off the air.</p>
<p>I hear what you’re saying coureur, but I still think it is heinous. If Rosemary had truly had some form of intractable mental illness, and her father was honestly looking for a cure, yeah, I might have some sympathy. However, from the things I’ve read, she was a normal girl who simply was not compliant with his wishes, and Joseph Kennedy wasn’t going to allow that to continue. </p>
<p>If this new info about Rose being an indifferent mother is wrong, then I apologize for considering the possibility. However, I still believe a grave injustice was committed on the daughter Rosemary.</p>
<p>“Rose Kennedy was a “stay-at-home” mom, with as much household help as she needed, and still she had to ship her kids off to BS at tender ages?”</p>
<p>Do you think that Rose Kennedy was thinking “Gee, I want to get rid of Jack?” Don’t you think that Joe Kennedy was also involved in the decision? Among some groups of rich people, its just what they do with their kids–whether you think it is the right thing or not.</p>