Friday, May 13, 2016

Red Hair and the Kennedy Family

I've recently been looking at the links between red hair and the Kennedy family. I came across a few descriptions of JFK on-line that depict him with red hair. There are variations in opinion though. Some say red, others say brown, some say brownish-red or reddish-brown. One described it as blood red in colour - I'm not quite sure if that one was altogether serious though.

After looking into it a little I'd have to hazard a guess that it was probably a chestnut- type colour. Of course, hair colour can often change depending on hair length or sun exposure, so maybe it varied between a darker brown and something more reddish.

There does appear to be a definite red-haired strand within the Kennedy family though - maybe not surprising given their Irish roots. JFK's grandfather P. J. Kennedy was a redhead. The book Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector by James Hilty describes him as a "large man with thick red hair, bushy eyebrows and piercing blue eyes".

Incidentally, the same book also mentions that Robert Kennedy as a child was a "freckle-faced kid, his hair some shade of brown". Bobby also had a dog called Freckles.


The latest red-haired Kennedy, and noticeably so, is Joseph P. Kennedy III. He's a lawyer and politician and has been a member of the U,S, House of Representatives since 2013. His hair is quite red.

4 comments:

  1. I saw jfk when he I was in kindergarten, 1961, in Cleveland and he was coming down Lorain Ave. Our teacher Mrs Kwast took us outside to see President Kennedy, waving to us from his Lincoln Continental Convertible and he most DEFINITELY HAD RED HAIR! In fact I didn't even realize it was him at first because we had black and white tv's back then and I thought his hair was black. But it was definitely bright red! A friend of mine also saw him (which I didn't know at the time) when he was a child too and confirmed what I distinctly remember seeing. He obviously used hair coloring because red hair back then was frowned upon. JFK MOST DEFINITELY HAD RED HAIR!

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    1. Great comment! Thank you very much for sharing the information! :)

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    2. An Irish redhead for sure!

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  2. That’s so cool! I’m a redheaded Kennedy too!

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