JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1802
PRESIDENT'S FATHER SUFFERS MASSIVE STROKE IN PALM BEACHPalm Beach, Florida (JFK+50) Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., father of President John F. Kennedy, suffered a massive stroke here in Palm Beach fifty-four years ago today, December 19, 1961. The 73 year old former ambassador to the Court of St. James was rushed to St. Mary's Hospital where the stroke was diagnosed.
David Nasaw writes in "The Patriarch,"
"Joseph P. Kennedy had suffered an 'intracranial thrombosis,' a blood clot in the artery in the brain, which had triggered a massive stroke. The clot was inoperable."
The stroke left Joe Sr. paralyzed on the right side of his body and limited his speech to the single long, drawn out word "Nooooooooo."
Nasaw tells us that JPK was discharged from the hospital on January 8, 1962..."with no improvement in his paralysis" or ability to speak. Despite being unable to talk, however, Joe Sr. "appeared to understand everything that was said to him (and) everything he heard or saw."
The Patriarch passed away at the age of 81 on November 18, 1969. He had outlived four of his nine children and lived days short of six years longer than JFK.
David Nasaw concludes his work on Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. with these words...
"(Joe, Sr) died peacefully in the place he loved more than any other, at Hyannis Port."
SOURCES
"Ambassador In Spite of Himself." by Thomas Mallen, December 31, 2000
"New York times On the Web"
"Joseph P. Kennedy: A Portrait of the Founder," by Richard J. Whalan, Fortune Classics, 1963.
"The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy," by David Nasaw, The Penguin Press, New York, 2012.
Joe Sr.'s Birthday
Hyannis Port
September 7, 1063
Photo by Cecil W. Stoughton
JFK Library Photo
