by Paula Byrne
The Hungarian sisters saw Jack Kennedy once again. In June 1963 when the President of the United States made his state visit to Ireland, he diverted for an unscheduled visit ‘of an extremely personal nature’. The workers on the Chatsworth estate were intrigued when a helicopter landed near Edensor, and the Commander-in-Chief got out to be met by Andrew, Duke of Devonshire. Few in the younger generation realized that His Grace was the brother-in-law of the President’s late sister. John F. Kennedy was clutching a small posy of flowers. He knelt and prayed at his sister’s grave.11 Back at the White House, just four months before he was killed, he wrote to Deborah Duchess of Devonshire telling her, ‘all of us felt that the arrangements that you have made for Kathleen were beautiful. The inscription “Joy she gave – joy she found” is so appropriate and moving.’ The Duchess cherished his letter.12
The next brother down, Robert F. Kennedy, who would be assassinated just five years after his brother, had worshipped Kick and was devastated by her death. He was the first male Kennedy to marry. His eldest child, a daughter, was born in 1951, and was christened Kathleen Hartington Kennedy. The family was overjoyed, but Bobby made one stipulation: she was never to be called Kick.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I first read about Kathleen ‘Kick’ Kennedy when I was writing my biography of Evelyn Waugh, Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead. I was stunned by his account of his grief at her sudden death and the remorse he felt thinking back on what he had said to her about her adulterous relationship with Peter Fitzwilliam. Waugh, a devout Catholic, felt that her death was on his hands. At the time, I had no idea who ‘Kick’ was and I was surprised to discover that she was the beloved sister of President John F. Kennedy and that she had married an English Protestant Lord, then died in the company of a married man, with the result that she was for many years airbrushed out of the Kennedy family history. Kick’s story was utterly fascinating and tragic. She felt to me like a heroine from the novels of Henry James: this was a new-world-meets-old-world story. How she and Billy might have been part of a new political era in the aftermath of the Second World War can only be imagined, especially when her brother JFK became President.
Growing up in Birkenhead, part of a large Catholic working-class family, I remember two of my mother’s prized possessions: a bust of the Pope and a bust of JFK, the very first Catholic American President. I felt that I understood what it was like for Kick to be a middle daughter among a band of boisterous Catholic siblings – especially as my mother’s ancestors were Irish Kennedys. This is by far the most personal of my biographies, and the one that I have most enjoyed writing. But it could not have been done, of course, without the help and support of many people.
The best brief account of Kick’s life is that in Laurence Leamer’s authoritative The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family. Amanda Smith’s Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy is a wonderful edition of Kennedy letters and an invaluable source. The only previous biography is Lynne McTaggart, Kathleen Kennedy: The Untold Story of Jack’s Favourite Sister (1983), which contains much helpful material based on interviews, but was written long before any archival material became available.
I have been the beneficiary of the recent opening for research of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Personal Papers, where many of Kick’s personal papers are lodged, in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in the family’s home town of Boston. The scale of the archive is daunting, so I would like to begin by thanking the Kennedy family and the Library staff. In particular, Reference Archivist Abigail Malangone has been tremendously helpful and supportive throughout. Connor Anderson, Laurie Austin and Jacqueline Gertner made the process of obtaining photographs the easiest I have ever experienced, and Jennifer Quan of the JFK Library Foundation is due especial thanks for arranging licensing. Above all, I am grateful to my research assistant Mitch Hanley, who was tasked with the onerous duty of photocopying over two thousand pages of archival material that enabled me to work from the comfort of my own home. Thanks to Professor David Armitage for putting me in touch with Mitch via Harvard University.
I would also like to thank his Grace the Duke of Devonshire and the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement for allowing me the privilege of working in the private family archive at Chatsworth. James Towe, the Archivist and Librarian, was kind and helpful. Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, Billy Hartington’s godson, was very generous in connecting me with Chatsworth, and I benefited greatly from our conversation about Kick and the letter and presents she sent to him after Billy’s death. Christopher O’Kane must be thanked in turn for introducing me to Andrew.
Many thanks to Hester Styles for checking quotations and helping with the children. Andrew Wylie remains the best of agents. This is the fifth biography I have published with HarperCollins, and once again I must thank the amazing team: Helen Ellis, Kate Tolley, Joseph Zigmond and above all my dream editor Arabella Pike. In New York, Terry Karten was once again an equally exemplary and supportive editor. My copy editor Peter James excelled himself in picking over the detail and correcting me, especially on matters aristocratic and military.
Liz Hertford, executive producer of my BBC2 documentary about Jane Austen, shares my passion for the story of Billy and Kick, and I sincerely hope that the project we are planning together will come to fruition.
I had a wonderful time on Cape Cod, footstepping in Hyannis Port, where the staff at the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum were charming and helpful.
Writing is a solitary occupation. My life has been greatly enriched by the friendships, new and old, that have sustained me over the three years of writing this book. Thank you to Sally Bayley, Candida Crewe, Betina Goodall and Sophie Ratcliffe, and to Matthew Catterick, Simon Curtis, Stephen Methven and Andrew Schuman. Ivo and Ottilie Schuman are two of my newest, youngest friends, and they have been extremely amusing companions.
I would like, finally, to thank my family. Thanks as ever to Tom, Ellie and Harry. They are simply remarkable children, and are very supportive of my writing. They helped me choose the pictures for Kick. I feel extraordinarily fortunate to be their mother. Jonathan Bate is a Prince amongst Men. To him I offer my most heartfelt thanks.
SOURCES
MANUSCRIPTS
Kennedy Family Collection, in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston:
Box 057: Kathleen Kennedy, Scrapbooks and albums: ‘Day by Day’ Diary, 1935
Box 058: Kathleen Kennedy, Scrapbooks and albums: School Year Abroad, 1935–7
Box 060: Kathleen Kennedy, Scrapbooks and albums: Agenda, 1936
Box 074: ‘Kick’ (Kathleen Kennedy), Scrapbooks and albums: 1940
Box 076: Kathleen Kennedy, Scrapbooks and albums: 1941–3
Box 079: Kathleen Kennedy, Scrapbooks and albums: Scrapbook, 1943–4
Box 080: Kathleen Kennedy, Scrapbooks and albums: 1943–4
Box 081: Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish, Scrapbooks and albums: Wedding Photographs Album, 6 May 1944
Box 082: William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, and Kathleen Kennedy Hartington, Scrapbooks and albums: ‘Billy and Kick’ [diary and scrapbook], 1944–6
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Personal Papers, in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston:
Box 002: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, ‘Windsor Castle’, April 1938; ‘On the night of the Presentation’, 1938
Box 003: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, ‘Notes on my reaction at Kick marriage’, 1944
Box 006: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, ‘Raising children’, 10 January 1972; ‘Notes for Diary, Kathleen, Prince’s Gate, trip to the Soviet Union, England’, 25 January 1972; ‘Kennedy family life’, circa September 1975; ‘Advantages of Catholic Education’, undated notes; ‘Advantages of Several Children While Traveling’, undated notes
Box 013: Kathleen Kennedy: Diary notes; Family correspondence, 1927–43 (three folders); Newspaper clippings and correspondence on Kathleen Kennedy’s death, 1948
Bo
x 057: Kathleen Kennedy Hartington: Document list; Family correspondence etc. 1942–4; Family correspondence etc. 1945 (two folders); Family correspondence etc. 1946; Family correspondence etc. 1947–8
Box 058: Kathleen Kennedy Hartington, Family correspondence etc. 1947–8
Box 128: Kathleen Kennedy Hartington, Early writings, 1928–39; Diary, 1938–9; Scrapbook, 1938–9; Invitations, menus and letters in England, 1938–9; Correspondence with friends and family, 1941–6
Box 129: Hartington by-election, clipping, 1940s; ‘Bobby’s clippings on Kathleen’s wedding’, 1944; Clippings, ‘Husband’s death’, 1944; Photographs and clippings, 1944
Joseph P. Kennedy Personal Papers, Series 01.2.06 (‘Kathleen Kennedy Hartington, 1933–1948’), in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston:
Box 026: Condolence mail lists; Correspondence: Extended family; Correspondence: Non-family, 1936–47; Correspondence regarding Kathleen Kennedy, 1933–45; Kathleen Kennedy’s Death: Joseph P. Kennedy note, 1948; Kathleen Kennedy, ‘Did You Happen to See . . .’, newspaper articles for the Washington Times-Herald, 1942–3; Kathleen Kennedy: Education, 1938–40; Kathleen Kennedy Estate: Estate ledger and Taxes/estate materials (three folders); ‘Impressions of the Coronation of Pope Pius XII’, 1939; Miscellaneous; News clippings; Photographs; Kathleen Kennedy: Red Cross material, 1944–6; Kathleen Kennedy Scrapbooks, May 1948 (Lady Hartington)
Box 027: Scrapbooks, May 1948 (Lady Hartington); Scrapbooks: Kathleen Kennedy Personal scrapbook
John F. Kennedy Personal Papers, in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston:
Kathleen Kennedy, Correspondence, 1942–7, and undated. Digitized at http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPP-004-035.aspx
The Devonshire Collection (private family archive), Chatsworth, Derbyshire:
Letters sent to and from Kathleen Kennedy and two publications belonging to her
Letters referring to Kathleen ‘Kick’ Cavendish
BOOKS
Bailey, Catherine, Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty (2007)
Beauchamp, Cari, Joseph P. Kennedy’s Hollywood Years (2009)
Bzdeck, Vincent, The Kennedy Legacy (2009)
Collier, Peter, and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (1984)
Devonshire, Deborah, Duchess of, Chatsworth: The House (2002)
, Wait for Me! Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister (2010)
Hamilton, Nigel, JFK: Life and Death of an American President, vol. 1: Reckless Youth (1993)
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, ed., As We Remember Joe (1945)
Kennedy, Rose Fitzgerald, Times to Remember (1974)
, Rose Kennedy’s Family Album, ed. Caroline Kennedy (2013)
Kessler, Ronald, The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded (1996)
Klein, Edward, The Kennedy Curse (2003)
Leamer, Laurence The Kennedy Women (1994)
Leaming, Barbara, Jack Kennedy: The Making of a President (2006)
McTaggart, Lynne, Kathleen Kennedy: The Untold Story of Jack’s Favourite Sister (1983)
Nasaw, David, The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy (2013)
Perry, Barbara A., Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch (2013)
Reeves, Thomas C., A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy (1991)
Riva, Maria, Marlene Dietrich by her Daughter (1992)
Roosevelt, James, My Parents: A Differing View (1976)
Sandler, Martin W., ed., The Letters of John F. Kennedy (2013)
Smith, Amanda, ed., Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy (2001)
Swift, Will, The Kennedys amidst the Gathering Storm (2008)
NOTES
ABBREVIATIONS
BK – Bobby Kennedy
EK – Eunice Kennedy
JFK – John F. Kennedy
JK – Joe P. Kennedy Jr
JPK – Joe P. Kennedy Sr
KFC – Kennedy Family Collection
KK – Kathleen ‘Kick’ Kennedy/Hartington
RK – Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
PROLOGUE: KICKING THE SURF
1.Papers of Rose Kennedy (hereafter RK), 25 Jan. 1972: ‘Notes on Kathleen’. See Sources for full details of papers in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
2.Vincent Bzdeck, The Kennedy Legacy (2009), p. 16.
CHAPTER 1: ROSE AND JOE
1.Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Times to Remember (1974), p. 141.
2.Nigel Hamilton, JFK: Life and Death of an American President, vol. 1: Reckless Youth (1993), p. 5.
3.David Nasaw, The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy (2013), p. 18.
4.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 7.
5.Laurence Leamer, The Kennedy Women (1994), p. 29.
6.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 13.
7.Leamer, Kennedy Women, p. 47.
8.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 45.
9.ibid.
10.ibid., p. 53.
11.Rose Kennedy, quoted in Nasaw, Patriarch, p. 20.
12.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 53.
13.Barbara A. Perry, Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch (2013), p. 54.
14.ibid.
15.Nasaw, Patriarch, p. 38.
16.Leamer, Kennedy Women, p. 125.
17.Boston Journal, 26 July 1915, p. 4.
18.Leamer, Kennedy Women, p. 136.
19.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 44.
20.Leamer, Kennedy Women, p. 142.
21.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 70.
22.ibid.
CHAPTER 2: A BEAUTIFUL AND ENCHANTING CHILD
1.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 78.
2.Nasaw, Patriarch, p. 62.
3.Amanda Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy (2001), p. 9.
4.ibid., p. 37.
5.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 86.
6.Smith, Hostage to Fortune, p. 37.
7.6 October 1923, quoted in ibid., p. 40.
8.ibid., p. 36.
9.ibid., p. 48.
10.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 90.
11.ibid., p. 91.
12.ibid., pp. 99–100.
13.Leamer, Kennedy Women, p. 145
14.Smith, Hostage to Fortune, p. 36.
15.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 77.
16.ibid., p. 76.
17.RK Papers, Kathleen Kennedy (hereafter KK) to RK, 19 May 1927.
18.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 111.
19.ibid., p. 75.
20.Perry, Rose Kennedy, p. 72.
21.Thomas C. Reeves, A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy (1991), p. 32.
22.John Fitzgerald Kennedy, ed., As We Remember Joe (1945), pp. 3–4.
23.Bzdeck, Kennedy Legacy, p. 30.
24.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 74.
25.ibid., p. 129
26.Quoted in Peter Collier and David Horowitz, ‘The Kennedy Kick’, Vanity Fair, July 1983, p. 49.
27.ibid., p. 130.
28.ibid., p. 131.
29.Private letter of Joe Kennedy, quoted in Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (1984), p. 71.
30.ibid., p. 133.
31.ibid.
32.ibid., p. 134.
33.RK Papers.
34.Smith, Hostage to Fortune, p. 74.
35.RK Papers, KK to Joseph P. Kennedy (hereafter JPK), 31 Jan. 1930.
36.Smith, Hostage to Fortune, p. 51.
CHAPTER 3: FORBIDDEN FRUIT
1.Smith, Hostage to Fortune, p. xvi.
2.Nasaw, Patriarch, p. 75.
3.Cari Beauchamp, Joseph P. Kennedy’s Hollywood Years (2009), p. xv.
4.Nasaw, Patriarch, p. 98.
5.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 110.
6.Leamer, Kennedy Women, p. 180.
7.ibid., p. 178.
8.RK Papers, Family corre
spondence, 1927–43.
9.RK Papers, Family correspondence, KK to JPK, Jan. 1927.
10.Beauchamp, Hollywood Years, p. 122.
11.Nasaw, Patriarch, p. 109.
12.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 109.
CHAPTER 4: HYANNIS PORT
1.Nasaw, Patriarch, p. 133.
2.Perry, Rose Kennedy, p. 76.
3.Leamer, Kennedy Women, p. 185.
4.RK Papers, KK to JPK, 31 Jan. 1930.
5.Reader’s Digest, April 1939, p. 84.
6.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 94.
7.ibid.
8.ibid., p. 468.
9.ibid., p. 122.
10.ibid., p. 389.
11.ibid., p. 111.
CHAPTER 5: BRONXVILLE
1.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 143.
2.RK Papers.
3.ibid., 17 April 1931.
4.Lynne McTaggart, Kathleen Kennedy: The Untold Story of Jack’s Favourite Sister (1983), p. 15.
5.RK Papers, KK to RK, June 1931.
6.RK Papers, KK to RK and JPK, 26 April 1930.
7.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 178.
8.RK Papers, KK to RK, 13 Feb. 1932.
9.KK to JPK, 8 March 1932, quoted in Smith, Hostage to Fortune, p. 97.
10.Kennedy, Times to Remember, pp. 142–3.
11.RK Papers.
12.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 156.
13.ibid., p. 167.
CHAPTER 6: CONVENT GIRL
1.RK Papers, KK to RK, 17 Dec. 1933.
2.ibid., 6 Dec. 1934.
3.Kennedy, Times to Remember, p. 166.
4.Lem was Jack’s closest aide during his presidential campaign. He had his own room in the White House, though he always refused an official position. After Bobby had been assassinated, Lem became a father figure to his children, Nasaw, Patriarch, p. 224.
5.Leamer, Kennedy Women, p. 197.
6.KK to JPK, 8 Jan. 1934, quoted in Smith, Hostage to Fortune, p. 123.
7.RK Papers, KK to RK, 13 Jan. 1934.
8.Martin W. Sandler, ed., The Letters of John F. Kennedy (2013), p. 2.
9.RK Papers, KK to RK, 13 Jan. 1934.
10.ibid.
11.McTaggart, Kathleen Kennedy, p. 18.
12.Papers of John F. Kennedy (hereafter JFK), Kennedy Library.
13.Leamer, Kennedy Women, p. 199.