Joan Kennedy, who became part of one of America’s most prominent political dynasties through marriage and endured a lifelong struggle with alcoholism amid personal and public trials, died Wednesday at her home in Boston. She was 89.
Her death was confirmed by Steve Kerrigan, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
The former wife of Senator Edward M Kennedy, known as Ted, Joan Kennedy was quietly reserved compared to her competitive and often boisterous relatives. Unprepared for life in the intense spotlight of the Kennedy family, and burdened by her own family history of alcoholism, she lived through a tumultuous life shaped by politics, a difficult marriage, and an ongoing battle with alcohol.
Yet she also achieved significant personal triumphs. An accomplished pianist, she performed a recital with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1970, receiving standing ovations and high praise. She narrated stories such as Tchaikovsky’s Peter and the Wolf with the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler. In 1992, she published The Joy of Classical Music: A Guide for You and Your Family, edited by her sister-in-law Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. In later years, she dedicated herself to raising funds for Boston charities and nonprofit causes.
Kennedy had little personal interest in politics. Her introduction to it came when her husband won a special Senate election in 1962, at age 30, while she was 27. By then, his brothers John and Robert held the offices of president and attorney general.
The assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy brought new pressures on Edward Kennedy to carry their legacy, despite safety concerns. His growing infidelities and heavy drinking coincided with Joan Kennedy turning more to alcohol.
She supported her husband through crises, most notably in 1969 when he drove off a narrow bridge in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts, killing Mary Jo Kopechne, 28, a former secretary to Robert Kennedy. Pregnant at the time and on strict bed rest after two miscarriages, she accompanied him to Kopechne’s funeral and court, where he pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. Shortly afterward, she suffered another miscarriage. “For a few months everyone had to put on this show, and then I just didn’t care anymore,” she told Laurence Leamer, author of The Kennedy Women (1994). “That’s when I truly became an alcoholic.”
Though separated before Kennedy’s unsuccessful presidential bid in 1980, they remained united during his campaign. The marriage ended after he withdrew. Her alcoholism became public through repeated arrests for drunken driving starting in 1974. By her third arrest in 1991, she was ordered into rehabilitation, one of several such interventions. Her drinking eventually caused serious kidney damage, with her children becoming her legal guardians.
