Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed

The Prologue begins by pointing out that the book is not ideological or partisan. It is a narrative about 13 women who have been erased from the Kennedy legacy. This legacy continued even through the 2024 presidential election, when Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a polarizing figure, ran for president. His family’s legacy was the main impetus behind his presidential run, despite his myriad controversies. As a Kennedy man, he benefited from the same “perverse double standard” as the others (XIV). Edward “Ted” Kennedy was lionized throughout his career, even after he drove off a bridge and then left Mary Jo Kopechne to die in the car; the media dismissed Mary Jo as deserving that fate.

Callahan states that while she has taken some “creative license” in telling the women’s stories, they are based on in-depth reporting and interviews. She warns that many of these women were “complicated” and points out that their imperfections shouldn’t have condemned them to abuse, disdain, or death. The Kennedys purposely smeared these women “with great deliberation and zero remorse” to protect their power (XVI). The media excoriated even the most lauded Kennedy woman, Jacqueline “Jackie” Kennedy Onassis, after she married Aristotle Onassis.