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April 03, 2020 Another story of pain for the Kennedy family. John Fitzgerald Kennedy's great-grandson disappeared along with his 8-year-old son during a canoe excursion. It happened yesterday afternoon in Chesapeake Bay, in the state of Maryland, from where searches are underway by the park and forest ranger.Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and the boy, Gideon, left the beach by canoe and never returned. The small boat was found on a seabed yesterday evening, a few kilometers away from where the woman and her son were last seen.
Executive director at Georgetown University, Maeve is the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, daughter of daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; and great-grandson of the President of the United States, assassinated in Dallas in '63. Her husband, David McKean, a human rights attorney in Washington, confirmed the disappearance and asked for respect for privacy. Bob's great-granddaughter, Saoirse, committed suicide at the age of 22 last August.
The "Kennedy curse", as it was defined by the Americans, began in 1944 with the death of a brother of future politicians, Joseph, killed during the Normandy landings. Nineteen years later, in '63, John was assassinated in Dallas. In 1968 it fell to a third brother, Bob, killed after just winning the Democratic primary in California.
Bob's son Michael died in '97 in a skiing accident, two years later John Kennedy jr died in a plane crash in '99, followed by Kara, daughter of Senator Ted Kennedy, who died of a sudden heart attack and Mary, Robert's ex-wife, who committed suicide. In all, eleven Kennedy marked by the tragedy, which did not spare young people, like Saoirse, last year. A curse that could extend with the story of Maeve and little Gideon.