Patriarch of the fabled family of American politicians (1888-1969) who served as American ambassador to Great Britain from 1938 to 1940. TLS in French,, one page, 8 x 10.5, May 17, 1948. Letter to Robert Bissere, the Prefect of Ardeche, in part (translated): "I would like to express my deep thanks for your valuable assistance in completing the sad formalities during the tragic accident that killed my daughter [Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy]. I pay a special tribute to the zeal and devotion shown to all those who have been called by you to make the necessary arrangements in this painful circumstance." In fine condition.
Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy began doing volunteer work for the American Red Cross when World War II broke out in Europe. In 1943, she traveled to England to work at a Red Cross center there and began a romantic relationship with politician William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington. Despite religious objections by the Kennedy family, the two were married on May 6, 1944; her brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., was the only family member to attend the civil ceremony.
After her husband was killed by a German sniper on the Belgian front, Kennedy became romantically involved with the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam, a Protestant, who was in the process of divorcing his wife. Her parents disapproved of the relationship and threatened to disown and cut off their daughter financially. In 1948, when Kennedy learned that her father would be traveling to Paris, she and her potential husband boarded a plane to ask for consent. Not long after takeoff their plane flew into a storm and crashed in the Cevennes Mountains, killing all four occupants, including the 28-year-old Kennedy. Her father was the only family member at her funeral and no Kennedy would visit her grave until her older brother, President John F. Kennedy, visited in 1963 on his trip to Ireland.
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