Unseen letters from JFK’s sister revealed how lobotomy debilitated her

The story of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, needs no introduction.

However, the tragic tale of his younger sister, Rosemary Kennedy, has become something of a historical footnote.

The eldest daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy and his wife, Rose, suffered from an undiagnosed mental disability and was lobotomised at the age of 23.

The botched operation left her with the mental capacity of a toddler. She lived out the remainder of her years in an institute, dying at the age of 86 in 2005.

In a week that would have been her 100th birthday, PeoplePeople

In 1938, aged 20, Kennedy was sent to Ireland and England for three weeks. She was placed in the care of Dorothy Smyth, a young Irish woman hired by the family to take care of their daughter.

When JFK’s sister finished her tenure in Ireland, she would write to Smyth about her adventures in Europe.

When Smyth died in the ‘60s, her family took ownership of the candid letters.

"The letters were part of our family history,” Smyth’s nephew, Michael Fisher, told People. He described the letters as holding a "childlike innocence."

Kate Larson, biographer and author of The Hidden Kennedy, reinforced Fisher’s view.

"For Rosemary, many of these hired companions were substitute girlfriends," Fisher told People.

''[The letters] were written before Rosemary’s lobotomy and they reveal the loss more acutely. To see the childish scrawl and her gratitude [to Dorothy] just makes the loss more real."

In the ’90s, the Fisher family returned the letters to Jean Kennedy Smith, Rosemary’s sister and the eighth of the nine Kennedy children.

"My mother decided they should be returned to the Kennedy family,” said Fisher. “We got a formal and brief acknowledgement that the family had received them."

The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22 1963 changed the course of history forever.

Shot by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas at the age of 46, the former president’s death has remained a source of public fascination, mystery and conspiracy in the ensuing 55 years.