Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed the World

Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed the World by Eileen McNamara

Read March 2024 - Zoom Reading Circle

Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed the World

I wanted to like this book more than I did.  It very likely struggled under the weight of having read it AFTER I read the Eleanor Roosevelt book.  I just didn’t like Eunice Kennedy as much. :( And it really isn’t even her fault... how could you grow up in that environment, in that family dynamic, and not have massive issues?  I totally agree that she accomplished many wonderful and remarkable things.  And that truly, SHE could have (and perhaps should have) been President along with/instead of John F. Kennedy.  Her development of the Special Olympics is a legacy that is remarkable and shows her true heart for others far outside her own ‘circle’.  I also felt that she was spoiled, elitist, not very caring toward her own family, and definitely ‘in a bubble’ in many ways.  The aside about how she never carried cash because she just didn’t think she needed to concern herself with money - which left her aids having to pay her tab at lunch and etc - is a perfect example.  How absurd and arrogant.  The comparison to her worries during the war (how will we get the expensive foods we want and go on vacation in the summer) and her strange lack of compassion, even as she did work diligently on behalf of people, gnawed at me.  There was a quote where she sniped about a letter from a family member of a person held at Auschwitz where she sounded condescending and uncaring.  Yet I know she did do good work.  I should probably revisit this book later - when it isn’t in direct comparison with the Eleanor book.  Both women were truly remarkable and it isn’t really fair to pit them against each other, even if just in my mind.

I rated this book a 3.5 and the book club group rating was 3.6.


Here are some links that go along with this book...

Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed the World - video with the author found on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum website.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/events-and-awards/forums/04-03-eunice 

Eunice Kennedy Shriver discusses her life and legacy - video from 2007

Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s Message of Hope - Special Olympics - 1987

Eunice Kennedy Shriver: One Woman’s Vision - video (just 5 minutes long)