What Is the Kennedy Family Curse? Exploring the History Behind the Phrase

Over the years, the Kennedy family has been ravaged with untimely deaths, leading some to believe that the family is cursed. The curse originates from the death of Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the brother of President John F. Kennedy, in 1944 from a plane crash during World War II. Four years later, Kathleen Kennedy, a sister of JFK, also died in a plane crash while flying from Paris to the French Riviera. The most famous death in the family was that of JFK in 1963, when he was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. Just five years later, JFK's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated following his victory in the California presidential primary. Robert's son, David Kennedy, died of a drug overdose in 1984 before another son, Michael, was killed in a skiing accident in 1997. In 1999, JFK's son, John F. Kennedy Jr., was piloting a plane when it crashed, killing him and his wife, Carolyn Bessette.