Rosemary Kennedy dies

Rosemary Kennedy, the oldest sister of President John F. Kennedy and the inspiration for the Special Olympics, died on Saturday, aged 86.

Kennedy, the third child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy, was born mentally retarded and underwent a lobotomy when she was 23.

She died at a Wisconsin hospital with her brother Senator Edward Kennedy and her sisters by her side.

In her own diaries before the lobotomy, she chronicled a life of tea dances, dress fittings, trips to Europe and a visit to the Roosevelt White House.

Her father, Joseph Kennedy, worried his daughter's mild condition would lead her into situations that could damage the family's reputation. "Rosemary was a woman, and there was a dread fear of pregnancy, disease and disgrace," author Laurence Leamer wrote in an unauthorised Kennedy biography.

Doctors told Joseph Kennedy that a lobotomy would help his daughter and calm her mood swings that the family found difficult to handle.