Talk:Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

Godfather
I understand that Senator Joseph McCarthy was her Godfather.

Why is this not mentioned?

John Henry john@changeover.com


 * I never heard this. If true, it is certainly notable. Do you have a source?  --Noitall 04:17, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * Ann Coulter stated that he was asked in Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism but I don't know if he accepted. However, I heard it on an audio book so I don't know if she had a reference. -- RevRagnarok  T C 20:06, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

It is not true, so if anyone may please change that? Kathleens godparents are mentioned in "Hostage to Fortune", which included a letter from her grandmother to a friend. She states Kathleens godparents: Jean Ann Kennedy Smith, her aunt, and Danny Walsh, a former teacher of Ethel Kennedy from Manhattenville College. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.47.188.107 (talk) 14:35, 20 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I wonder if you mean Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy, rather than Joseph McCarthy - they are different people. And as mentioned, without a reliable source, biographical information should not be added to the article. -Classicfilms (talk) 20:11, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

It's actually pretty unlikely that it was Eugene McCarthy, who was never a friend of the Kennedy family, and likely that it was Joseph McCarthy since Robert Kennedy worked for McCarthy early in his political career and Joseph Kennedy was a friend of Joe McCarthy. above was me.SHJohnson (talk) 22:40, 7 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, it's still in the article and basically unsourced as the reference given is more or less unavailable. I think it's true, and I think that is probably the only reason why her godparents are mentioned...but maybe I'm being cynical and there is some other significance? -KeptSouth (talk) 17:16, 6 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I looked into this a little further and removed the mention of the godparents. I don't think they are of any significance to this bio, which is a summary of Kathleen's life. The only reason why they were mentioned here, I believe, is because McCarthy was a controversial and very negative figure in early 1950's politics. McCarthy was a family friend at the time of her birth, and was more of less kicked out of Washington in 1954 and returned to Wisconsin when she was three years old. He died when she was about six. Certainly, the relationship with her grandfather and to a lesser extent, her father, is notable in either or perhaps both of their bios, and I will check to see that it is there. -07:04, 7 December 2010 (UTC)


 * The reference to being the godfather of Kathleen is in McCarthy's bio Joseph mccarthy, "and was godfather to Robert F. Kennedy's first child, Kathleen Kennedy". Joseph Kennedy's bio has a section titled:Joseph_Kennedy which mentions that Kathleen's father quit working on McCarthy's committee in 1954 (when Kathleen was 3). Robert Kennedy's bio says he was hired by McCarthy at the behest of Joseph Kennedy, Kathleen's grandfather was fond of McCarthy but apparently Robert didn't have much to do with McCarthy after 1954. In any event, these facts add up to justifying the removal of the info as irrelevant and undue weight in Kathleen's bio- McCarthy left the area when she was 3, her father distanced himself from McCarthy at that time, McCarthy died when Kathleen was six, there were still two other godparents a man and a woman, and is no source found indicating that her godparents had a special place or role in her life as godparents, godparents are generally not mentioned in Wikibios at all, and McCarthy's relationship with the prior 2 generations of Kennedys is covered in other Wiki articles. I believe I have explained this thoroughly, I did think about this matter for some time and did research on it, and I am now of the strong belief it should not be in this bio. I think if someone wants to re-add it, they would have to present compelling reasons and new references.--KeptSouth (talk) 07:32, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Endorsement Relevance
I'm just wondering what the point or relevance is of the difference in endorsements between some members of her extended family. It's sitting there all alone with a quote from an editorial in which she chose to mention it. That also seems pointless. If there is some point to be made, it would be nice if the section explained it. As it stands, it left me with a "And then what happened?" expectation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.99.134.118 (talk) 05:31, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Pope controversy
Townsens has been repeatedly criticized for saying that Obama’s agenda is closer to American Catholic views than even the Pope, but I am not sure this really deserves to be mentioned in the entry. ADM (talk) 04:23, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

1972 McGovern endorsement
The day before the Mass. & Penn. primaries in April, 1972, Kathleen Kennedy campaigned with Senator George McGovern, who was seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Kennedy appeared with McGovern at several stops during the day's campaigning in Penn. This was front page news the following day, as it was widely taken to indicate that Ted Kennedy would not be a candidate for president in 1972 and that McGovern was his own man. I happen to know this because I took the photograph of Kennedy and McGovern at a campaign stop in Lancaster. That photograph ran page one in most US dailies the following day. As far as I am aware, this is her first significant political act.

J.H. Crawford

Oreo incident - does it belong here?
It seems that about 270 words or one fifth of this bio, is devoted to an incident that may not have happened, that the sources given clearly indicate was exaggerated over time, and that may not have significance to her life - i.e. did it affect the election?current version I think, that at the very least, this section should be shortened, if not removed because it is being given undue weight.

But first I have to figure out what has been reported. A review of the articles on the incident done by CityPaper.com indicates that the incident occurred at an historically black Maryland college. Some accounts state the people who threw the Oreoes at Steele were also black, others do not specify race, but state that the Oreo throwers were Thompson supporters or Democratic supporters. Some accounts say Steele was hit by Oreos while at the debate, others say he was pelted on his way out. Some accounts say he was on stage, others say he was sitting in the audience (the debate was between gubernatorial candidates, Steele was only running for Lt. Gov). People who were at the debate in 2002 were interviewed in 2005 and said they did not see any Oreos. An AP reporter, Tom Stuckey who was present said "Oreos were distributed at a debate", other reporters were either not present and would not confirm their sources, or were merely repeating what was in other reports that were not independently confirmed or that were not sourced transparently. ' After The Baltimore Sun questioned whether the Oreo throwing had occurred, it seems Steele backed off somewhat, and Gov. Ehrlich told the AP he didn't personally see cookies being thrown. The Baltimore Sun concluded in 2005 that "It is not possible to get a definitive answer one way or another." CityPages said that "only people directly connected to the Republican Party have ever been quoted attesting to the accuracy of any version of the Oreo story."

I don't see a huge connection here between this possibly spurious and confusing story and Townsend as none of the accounts seem to say Townsend or her campaign staff brought or threw or sanctioned the throwing of the cookies, which of course, may not have even been there. It is notable that the governor and his aide and Michael Steele all backed off when questioned in 2005 by the Baltimore Sun reporter who was trying to verify the story.. For now, I have only made a few changes to the Wiki text regarding this incident, but I have updated the cites, and will read more of the articles before making any big changes or before summarizing the incident.-- KeptSouth (talk) 11:56, 7 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I have added some context, and trimmed down the lengthy account to the parts that are more relevant to Townsend and her campaign in 2002. The longer account is in Steele's bio, Michael Steele, which is appropriate as the accusations centered on whether he was assaulted by cookie throwers.KeptSouth (talk) 14:04, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

I came to the talk page to ask if the Oreo cookie bit should be trimmed, but since others have mentioned it before, and it is still 200 words long and takes up 7 of the article's 22 citations, it should be removed. The story has nothing to do with Mrs. Townsend, and - as shown above - it may not have happened at all. Thus, removal is warranted.Catherinejarvis (talk) 22:09, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Related?
Is she related to Lauren Townsend? AOCJedi (talk) 02:50, 24 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Unless you have more than a last name to suggest a relation, I'd say "no". —ADavidB 08:03, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

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Children
Also her oldest daughter Meaghann made her grandmother: she has twins David Kennedy & Arabella Kennedy, born in 2016 with her husband David Birdzell.

Source: her Ffacebook account, "Kennedy Family Tree" Facebook page

Also Maeve had her third child, Toby, in 2017. The same source as above.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.30.0.7 (talk) 10:00, 20 October 2017 (UTC)

reference missing?
References 3 and 4 just say Oppenheimer, but don't specify which of Oppenheimer's books was used. Perhaps there had been another reference that was removed? Morris (talk) 16:39, 17 December 2019 (UTC)


 * That content was added in March 2014 via this edit, with just the same referrals to "Oppenheimer". My guess is it was copied from another article, or the editor intended to expand the source elsewhere here but didn't. —ADavidB 05:12, 18 December 2019 (UTC)


 * I'm guessing that of Jerry Oppenheimer's books, this reference is for The Other Mrs. Kennedy (1995), but someone with access to that book would need to confirm this, before it's expanded that way in this article. —ADavidB 05:32, 18 December 2019 (UTC)


 * I was able to verify via Google that The Other Mrs. Kennedy is the correct source, so expanded it in the article. Thanks for making the issue known. —ADavidB 05:54, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

Death
She was confirmed dead today. Wikipedia won’t let me add that though.”reliable source “ well the New York Times reported it. Ofcourse that’s about as reliable as CNN. But i assume they weren’t lying. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.253.218.104 (talk) 22:58, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Just like other sources, The New York Times reports that Townsend's daughter and grandson are missing. Please don't confuse the subject of this article with her daughter. —ADavidB 23:11, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

The daughter has the Maeve Kennedy McKean page here on Wikipedia. At this writing, her body has been recovered and her son, is still missing. Other than updating the missing-person situation here, try taking discussion of this to talk page regarding Maeve. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Carlm0404 (talk • contribs) 05:09, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

David Townsend
Footnote 16 is a dead link but I'm unable to correct it. The actual link is St. John's Faculty, Annapolis --Kovar (talk) 23:21, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * It has been corrected. —ADavidB 13:26, 8 April 2020 (UTC)