January 26, 2011 | Theatre,

Keeping Up With The Kennedys

June 5, 1968: Robert Kennedy addresses his supporters in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after he wins the California primary. On his way out through the hotel kitchen he is shot and dies the next day.

July 18, 1969: After Ted Kennedy leaves a party on Chappaquiddick Island on Martha’s Vineyard with Mary Jo Kopechne, 28, he drives off a bridge into Poucha Pond. Kopechne is killed. Kennedy leaves the scene and doesn’t report it to authorities until the next day. A week later he pleads guilty to a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident and receives a suspended two-month sentence. In a televised speech on July 25 he asks voters if he should remain in office, which he does.

November 18, 1969: Joe Sr. dies. He is survived by five of his nine children and by his wife Rose.

1974: Jean Kennedy Smith founds Very Special Arts, an international organization that provides creative opportunities for those with disabilities.

November 7, 1979: Ted officially announces his decision to run for president at Faneuil Hall in Boston.

August 12, 1980: In an emotional speech to the Democratic national convention, Ted withdraws his bid for the presidency.

1984: President Ronald Reagan awards Eunice the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her creation of and work with the Special Olympics.

1982: After four years of separation, Ted and his wife Joan are divorced.

1984: Rose suffers a stroke and needs to use a wheelchair.

1987: Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, son of Robert Kennedy, is elected to Congress from the 8th District of Massachusetts. He will serve until 1999.

July 3, 1992: Ted Kennedy and lawyer Victoria Reggie are married in a civil ceremony at Kennedy’s home in McLean, VA.

May 19, 1994: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis dies of cancer. She is buried next to John F. Kennedy and their children in Arlington.        

January 22, 1995: Family matriarch Rose Kennedy dies from complications of pneumonia, just a few months short of her 105th birthday.

July 16, 1999: John F. Kennedy Jr. dies when his small plane crashes while flying from the Essex County Airport in Fairfield, NJ to Martha’s Vineyard. With him are his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister, Lauren Bessette. All three are later buried at sea.    

October 11, 2002: Ted Kennedy is one of only 23 senators to vote against the resolution granting President Bush the authority to invade Iraq.

August 11, 2009:  Eunice Kennedy dies from an undisclosed ailment.

August 25, 2009: Ted Kennedy dies at 77 of brain cancer.

January 2011: Americans celebrate the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s presidential inauguration.

January 13, 2011:Caroline Kennedy launches a new multimedia campaign, aimed at inspiring a new generation of Americans through the legacy of her father.

January 27, 2011: As part of their Irish Festival, ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage, in collaboration with the Performing Arts Department at Emerson College, presents the world premiere of The Color of Rose.