The Kennedy Family: a Study of Its Advocacy for the Mentally Retarded

The Kennedy Family and the Story of Mental Retardation
by Edward Shorter

Edward Shorter, a professor of medical history at the University of Toronto, argues that the philanthropic activities of the Kennedy family–and of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, in particular–have had a profound influence on the scientific understanding of mental retardation and public opinion about it.

The Kennedys, he writes, were able to translate concern for one of their own, the late President Kennedy’s sister Rosemary, who was mentally retarded, into a “concrete policy agenda and programs that would matter to the lives of millions of individuals.”

Mr. Shorter begins his account of the Kennedys’ role in the mental-retardation movement with a background chapter entitled “Useless People,” in which he describes the “barbarism” that has characterized the general treatment of retarded people throughout history. As recently as the 1960’s, he explains, people with mental retardation were viewed by society as innate degenerates, criminals, or idiots, and were usually locked away in institutions.

Mr. Shorter contends, however, that the Kennedys have made a difference by educating people about mental retardation and advancing research on the condition. Using records from the Kennedy family and the Kennedy Foundation archives, Mr. Shorter examines how first Joe Kennedy and then his daughter Eunice and her husband, Sargent Shriver, led the crusade to better the lives of millions of mentally retarded people.

Through such efforts as petitioning Congress for research support and creating the Special Olympics, Mr. Shorter asserts, the Kennedys established mental retardation in the public consciousness and set in motion a medical agenda that might one day eliminate the disorder. He holds them and their efforts up as a model for anyone who wants to change society for the better.

Publisher: Temple University Press, Attn: Order Department (083-42), 1601 North Broad Street, 305 USB, Philadelphia, Pa. 19122-6099; (800) 447-1656; fax (800) 207-4442; http://www.temple.edu/tempress; 249 pages; $74.50 cloth, $22.95 paper; I.S.B.N. 1-56639-782-0 cloth, 1-56639-783-9 paper.