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The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy
2013 Pulitzer Prize FinalistNew York Times Ten Best Books of 2012“Riveting…The Patriarch is a book hard to put down.” – Christopher Buckley, The New York Times Book ReviewIn this magisterial new work The Patriarch, the celebrated historian David Nasaw tells the full story of Joseph P. Kennedy, the founder of the twentieth century's most famous political dynasty. Nasaw—the only biographer granted unrestricted access to the Joseph P. Kennedy papers in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library—tracks Kennedy's astonishing passage from East Boston outsider to supreme Washington insider. Kennedy's seemingly limitless ambition drove his career to the pinnacles of success as a banker, World War I shipyard manager, Hollywood studio head, broker, Wall Street operator, New Deal presidential adviser, and founding chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. His astounding fall from grace into ignominy did not come until the years leading up to and following America's entry into the Second World War, when the antiwar position he took as the first Irish American ambassador to London made him the subject of White House ire and popular distaste.The Patriarch is a story not only of one of the twentieth century's wealthiest and most powerful Americans, but also of the family he raised and the children who completed the journey he had begun. Of the many roles Kennedy held, that of father was most dear to him. The tragedies that befell his family marked his final years with unspeakable suffering.The Patriarch looks beyond the popularly held portrait of Kennedy to answer the many questions about his life, times, and legacy that have continued to haunt the historical record. Was Joseph P. Kennedy an appeaser and isolationist, an anti-Semite and a Nazi sympathizer, a stock swindler, a bootlegger, and a colleague of mobsters? What was the nature of his relationship with his wife, Rose? Why did he have his daughter Rosemary lobotomized? Why did he oppose the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, and American assistance to the French in Vietnam? What was his relationship to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI? Did he push his second son into politics and then buy his elections for him?In this pioneering biography, Nasaw draws on never-before-published materials from archives on three continents and interviews with Kennedy family members and friends to tell the life story of a man who participated in the major events of his the booms and busts, the Depression and the New Deal, two world wars and a cold war, and the birth of the New Frontier. In studying Kennedy's life, we relive with him the history of the American Century.
772 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 13, 2012
478 people are currently reading
5633 people want to read
About the author
David Nasaw
19 books179 followersDavid Nasaw is an American author, biographer and historian who specializes in the cultural, social and business history of early 20th Century America. Nasaw is on the faculty of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he is the Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Professor of History.
In addition to writing numerous scholarly and popular books, he has written for publications such as the Columbia Journalism Review, American Historical Review, American Heritage, Dissent, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The London Review of Books, and Condé Nast Traveler.
Nasaw has appeared in several documentaries, including The American Experience, 1996, and two episodes of the History Channel's April 2006 miniseries 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America: "The Homestead Strike" and "The Assassination of President McKinley". He is cited extensively in the US and British media as an expert on the history of popular entertainment and the news media, and as a critic of American philanthropy.
In addition to writing numerous scholarly and popular books, he has written for publications such as the Columbia Journalism Review, American Historical Review, American Heritage, Dissent, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The London Review of Books, and Condé Nast Traveler.
Nasaw has appeared in several documentaries, including The American Experience, 1996, and two episodes of the History Channel's April 2006 miniseries 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America: "The Homestead Strike" and "The Assassination of President McKinley". He is cited extensively in the US and British media as an expert on the history of popular entertainment and the news media, and as a critic of American philanthropy.
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April 8, 2013
The Patriarch has received glowing reviews in the New York Times and elsewhere. It's been praised for humanizing Joe Kennedy as a driven, up-from-nowhere Irish American and as a devoted father, brilliant investor, and peerless political kingmaker.
This 868-page book is thoroughly documented and has a huge bibliography and index. But for all of its scholarly trappings, the book is more the work of a hagiographer than a biographer. Why? Because Nasaw’s deeper intent, I think, is not to humanize Kennedy, but to sanitize him: to launder parts of the historical record that reflect poorly on Joe.
Several months ago I chanced upon a Chicago Public Television interview in which Nasaw glibly dismisses "the myth" of Joe Kennedy's bootlegging. (at 2:40 of the video at http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/1... )
His dismissal annoyed me, for I'd just finished Burton Hersh's Bobby and J Edgar (2007), a sobering 600-page book that is shot through with evidence of Joe Kennedy's pathological womanizing and his constant dealings, both social and professional, with Mob leaders from coast to coast who supplied him with - among other things - women.
Burton Hersh is a historian whom David Nasaw should not ignore. Harvard educated and himself a Kennedy family intimate, Hersh is regarded as the biographer of record of Ted Kennedy. I had turned to Bobby and J Edgar after reading Hersh's The Old Boys, an exquisitely detailed history of the origins of the CIA. Historians Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Doris Kearns Goodwin, both close to the Kennedy family, have praised it highly.
Like Nasaw, Hersh had full access to Joe Kennedy's papers and to the voluminous FBI files on the Kennedys maintained by J. Edger Hoover: materials to which Nasaw claims - erroneously - that he had sole access.
After 150 pages centered mostly on Joe Kennedy, Bobby and J. Edgar zeroes in on the intense hostility that developed between its two title figures. This hostility was rooted in Hoover's self-servingly soft approach to organized crime and in Bobby's ferociously single-minded campaign as Attorney General to destroy organized crime in America: a mission fueled and frustrated by his gradual and horrific discovery of the depth of his father's Mob ties. Joe used these ties to advance Jack’s and Bobby’s political fortunes even as Bobby was working feverishly to do away with the Mob.
Curious about Nasaw's sanitized account of Joe Kennedy on Chicago Public TV, I got a copy of The Patriarch. I wanted to see how it responds to the findings of Hersh and the other writers who have documented Joe Kennedy's Mob ties, including Gus Russo, Ron Kessler, Gore Vidal and James Douglass.
Nasaw mentions none of them in his text, his index or his bibliography.
How, then, does Nasaw deal with these ties? Speaking like a fastidious academic, he describes a research strategy that involved his meticulous review of all primary and secondary sources on Joe Kennedy, “taking nothing for granted, dissecting every tale and rumor and discarding anecdotal second-and thirdhand observations that I could not substantiate” (xxiv).
This entitles him to claim that "most of the stories about bootlegging originated in unsubstantiated, usually off the cuff remarks made by Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Joe Bonanno and other Mob figures not particularly known for their truth telling" (80).
Academics, like magicians, know sleight of hand. With this one sentence, Nasaw conceals the elaborate, nationwide network of organized crime ties that J. Edgar Hoover’s Joe Kennedy file, in Hersh’s account, confirms enabled Joe to realize his soaring ambitions for himself and his sons.
Will the American people have access to that file?
In Bobby and J Edgar, Hersh goes further. He advances evidence to show that the JFK and RFK assassinations were likely triggered by Mob outrage - Santo Trafficante, Carlos Marcello, Sam Giancana, the Los Angeles Mob - at Bobby’s drive to root out organized crime. In this theory, other government agencies, the FBI and CIA included, were likely involved as well.
The Patriarch, by contrast, mentions JFK’s assassination only in passing, as the source of Joe Kennedy's grief shortly before his death.
Nasaw writes that he was approached by the Kennedy family to write about Joe. Hersh, himself a Kennedy family intimate, says of Bobby and J. Edgar in the book's Foreword that "if honestly done, it was likely to scorch out sources and friends whom I have cherished since the middle sixties".
Where Hersh took a conscious risk, Nasaw plays it safe, and his Patriarch suffers for that reason.
This 868-page book is thoroughly documented and has a huge bibliography and index. But for all of its scholarly trappings, the book is more the work of a hagiographer than a biographer. Why? Because Nasaw’s deeper intent, I think, is not to humanize Kennedy, but to sanitize him: to launder parts of the historical record that reflect poorly on Joe.
Several months ago I chanced upon a Chicago Public Television interview in which Nasaw glibly dismisses "the myth" of Joe Kennedy's bootlegging. (at 2:40 of the video at http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/1... )
His dismissal annoyed me, for I'd just finished Burton Hersh's Bobby and J Edgar (2007), a sobering 600-page book that is shot through with evidence of Joe Kennedy's pathological womanizing and his constant dealings, both social and professional, with Mob leaders from coast to coast who supplied him with - among other things - women.
Burton Hersh is a historian whom David Nasaw should not ignore. Harvard educated and himself a Kennedy family intimate, Hersh is regarded as the biographer of record of Ted Kennedy. I had turned to Bobby and J Edgar after reading Hersh's The Old Boys, an exquisitely detailed history of the origins of the CIA. Historians Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Doris Kearns Goodwin, both close to the Kennedy family, have praised it highly.
Like Nasaw, Hersh had full access to Joe Kennedy's papers and to the voluminous FBI files on the Kennedys maintained by J. Edger Hoover: materials to which Nasaw claims - erroneously - that he had sole access.
After 150 pages centered mostly on Joe Kennedy, Bobby and J. Edgar zeroes in on the intense hostility that developed between its two title figures. This hostility was rooted in Hoover's self-servingly soft approach to organized crime and in Bobby's ferociously single-minded campaign as Attorney General to destroy organized crime in America: a mission fueled and frustrated by his gradual and horrific discovery of the depth of his father's Mob ties. Joe used these ties to advance Jack’s and Bobby’s political fortunes even as Bobby was working feverishly to do away with the Mob.
Curious about Nasaw's sanitized account of Joe Kennedy on Chicago Public TV, I got a copy of The Patriarch. I wanted to see how it responds to the findings of Hersh and the other writers who have documented Joe Kennedy's Mob ties, including Gus Russo, Ron Kessler, Gore Vidal and James Douglass.
Nasaw mentions none of them in his text, his index or his bibliography.
How, then, does Nasaw deal with these ties? Speaking like a fastidious academic, he describes a research strategy that involved his meticulous review of all primary and secondary sources on Joe Kennedy, “taking nothing for granted, dissecting every tale and rumor and discarding anecdotal second-and thirdhand observations that I could not substantiate” (xxiv).
This entitles him to claim that "most of the stories about bootlegging originated in unsubstantiated, usually off the cuff remarks made by Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Joe Bonanno and other Mob figures not particularly known for their truth telling" (80).
Academics, like magicians, know sleight of hand. With this one sentence, Nasaw conceals the elaborate, nationwide network of organized crime ties that J. Edgar Hoover’s Joe Kennedy file, in Hersh’s account, confirms enabled Joe to realize his soaring ambitions for himself and his sons.
Will the American people have access to that file?
In Bobby and J Edgar, Hersh goes further. He advances evidence to show that the JFK and RFK assassinations were likely triggered by Mob outrage - Santo Trafficante, Carlos Marcello, Sam Giancana, the Los Angeles Mob - at Bobby’s drive to root out organized crime. In this theory, other government agencies, the FBI and CIA included, were likely involved as well.
The Patriarch, by contrast, mentions JFK’s assassination only in passing, as the source of Joe Kennedy's grief shortly before his death.
Nasaw writes that he was approached by the Kennedy family to write about Joe. Hersh, himself a Kennedy family intimate, says of Bobby and J. Edgar in the book's Foreword that "if honestly done, it was likely to scorch out sources and friends whom I have cherished since the middle sixties".
Where Hersh took a conscious risk, Nasaw plays it safe, and his Patriarch suffers for that reason.
February 22, 2017
I enjoyed listening to this through to the end. It kept my attention and gives an in-depth portrait of Joseph P. Kennedy's personality, which is what I am looking for in a biography.
Knowing that David Nasaw was given access to material from the Kennedy family not previously made accessible to other biographers, one cannot help but wonder if that presented would prove to be one-sided. I would not classify this as a hagiography. Way too many mistakes, faults and negative attributes are openly revealed to classify it as such. Yet often the facts are presented from Joseph’s perspective. Conflicting views on his ties with organized crime and bootlegging are only briefly discussed and then discounted. I would have appreciated further analysis of opposing views to get to the underlying truth.
This is a long book with its 868 pages, the audiobook 31 hours in length, but I found it neither biased nor dry nor cluttered with unnecessary facts. The written book is footnoted and has an extensive bibliography and index.
The book starts with Joseph’s paternal grandfather’s immigration from Ireland in 1849. This and Joseph's youth is covered quickly. We are told that source material is scanty. We follow Joseph through his schooling, his marriage, birth of his nine children and his career steps - in the film industry, in banking, in securities and real estate trading, then his employment by the government as Chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission during the Depression, Chairman of the Maritime Commission as the Second World War approached and finally Ambassador to Britain during the Second World War. Always his Irish Roman Catholic heritage, his business acumen and talent for spotting profitable investments shaped his views, choices and actions. He was a hands-on, “I’ll fix it guy”, who spoke openly, bluntly, often with disregard for negative consequences. Of course it was both his wealth and social standing that allowed him such independence. As an ambassador, he really didn’t fit, his blunt outspoken manner being scarcely diplomatic! Watching how Roosevelt treated his ambassador will make you cringe, and why Roosevelt kept him there is terribly revealing.
The telling moves forward chronologically, flipping between focus on family issues, religion, politics, finance and business. Coming to understand what motivated the man, one comes to understand his choices, even those that first seem so wrong. Yeah, he was friends with Joe McCarthy. He too was of Irish descent and Roman Catholic.
The good is mixed with the bad. This is particularly applicable in Joseph’s relations to his wife and children. He was tied to his family, to his kids and to the “family’s good name”. His own career accomplished, he focused on what he could do for his kids. The extent to which he helped them is quite extraordinary. He was loving and caring…….but very often not home. The relationship between Joseph and his wife Rose is perhaps the hardest to understand. He was clearly a skirt-chaser. This is not swept under the mat. Actress Gloria Swanson and Clare Boothe Luce, wife of Henry Luce who launched and supervised the magazines Time, Life and Fortune, are two of the several named. Joseph’s wife, she was no better, year after year vacationing alone for extended periods of time. Jobs were split between husband and wife, little shared or discussed. This poor family. They may have had money, power and status, but the kids’ health problems abound, two assassinations in one family, the eldest son killed in the war, a daughter killed in a plane crash, not to mention the fate of the eldest daughter Rosemary! No, nothing to envy. Emotionally, the reader cannot help but empathize.
The book ends when Joseph dies, nine years after a stroke which left him unable to walk or speak. There is no epilog that follows the life of the Kennedy children after his death. There is no detailed discussion of the assassinations. Rosemary’s problems are not shied from, but additional information is to be found in Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter.
One cannot help but admire a man who from such humble origins became so immensely wealthy, politically powerful and influential. Presidents, popes, actors and journalists came to be his close friends. I admire his outspoken manner. Of course it was at least partially his wealth and financial standing which allowed him to so freely speak his mind.
The audiobook is narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner. He uses a distinct East Coast dialect for all Kennedy quotes, and there are many - from diaries, letters and speeches. The quotes, hearing exactly what Joseph said and how he expressed himself, reveal much about his character. In the beginning I found the intonation annoying, but it does make it easy to follow conversations because you know who is saying what. However, the same inflection was used for all the Kennedys. I liked the narration a lot. It was easy to follow.
All in all a very good book. I very much enjoyed listening to this, and so it gets four stars regardless of the error mentioned and even if deeper analysis of disputed information could have been explored.
***********************
I am still reading this, even after the blooper mentioned below in chapter three. I am very much enjoying it. Very interesting and not hard to follow.
**********************
How do you feel when you are reading a non-fiction book and right smack in the beginning a big blooper is made? In chapter three we are told the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria took place in Serbia! An error such as this shouldn't occur; if it is just a silly mistake, a typing error or something, it should have been corrected by the editor. What am I supposed to do now? How do I stop worrying about there being other mistakes? How can I learn if I don't trust what I am being told?
The beginning is very rapid. By the end of the third chapter the immigration of his Irish grandfather, the career of his father up to the beginning of WW1 and Joseph's early years at Boston Latin, followed by Harvard where he squeaked through, and now his presidency of the bank Colombia Trust are recorded. Even his marriage to Rose Fitzgerald in 1914 too. I wish the book had been clearer in explaining how he managed to get accepted into Harvard with such lousy grades. Was it on the basis of his ability in sports? If it was a result of personal connections it should have been clearly stated as such. This is a long book. Why are we zipping through years at such a clip?
Knowing that David Nasaw was given access to material from the Kennedy family not previously made accessible to other biographers, one cannot help but wonder if that presented would prove to be one-sided. I would not classify this as a hagiography. Way too many mistakes, faults and negative attributes are openly revealed to classify it as such. Yet often the facts are presented from Joseph’s perspective. Conflicting views on his ties with organized crime and bootlegging are only briefly discussed and then discounted. I would have appreciated further analysis of opposing views to get to the underlying truth.
This is a long book with its 868 pages, the audiobook 31 hours in length, but I found it neither biased nor dry nor cluttered with unnecessary facts. The written book is footnoted and has an extensive bibliography and index.
The book starts with Joseph’s paternal grandfather’s immigration from Ireland in 1849. This and Joseph's youth is covered quickly. We are told that source material is scanty. We follow Joseph through his schooling, his marriage, birth of his nine children and his career steps - in the film industry, in banking, in securities and real estate trading, then his employment by the government as Chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission during the Depression, Chairman of the Maritime Commission as the Second World War approached and finally Ambassador to Britain during the Second World War. Always his Irish Roman Catholic heritage, his business acumen and talent for spotting profitable investments shaped his views, choices and actions. He was a hands-on, “I’ll fix it guy”, who spoke openly, bluntly, often with disregard for negative consequences. Of course it was both his wealth and social standing that allowed him such independence. As an ambassador, he really didn’t fit, his blunt outspoken manner being scarcely diplomatic! Watching how Roosevelt treated his ambassador will make you cringe, and why Roosevelt kept him there is terribly revealing.
The telling moves forward chronologically, flipping between focus on family issues, religion, politics, finance and business. Coming to understand what motivated the man, one comes to understand his choices, even those that first seem so wrong. Yeah, he was friends with Joe McCarthy. He too was of Irish descent and Roman Catholic.
The good is mixed with the bad. This is particularly applicable in Joseph’s relations to his wife and children. He was tied to his family, to his kids and to the “family’s good name”. His own career accomplished, he focused on what he could do for his kids. The extent to which he helped them is quite extraordinary. He was loving and caring…….but very often not home. The relationship between Joseph and his wife Rose is perhaps the hardest to understand. He was clearly a skirt-chaser. This is not swept under the mat. Actress Gloria Swanson and Clare Boothe Luce, wife of Henry Luce who launched and supervised the magazines Time, Life and Fortune, are two of the several named. Joseph’s wife, she was no better, year after year vacationing alone for extended periods of time. Jobs were split between husband and wife, little shared or discussed. This poor family. They may have had money, power and status, but the kids’ health problems abound, two assassinations in one family, the eldest son killed in the war, a daughter killed in a plane crash, not to mention the fate of the eldest daughter Rosemary! No, nothing to envy. Emotionally, the reader cannot help but empathize.
The book ends when Joseph dies, nine years after a stroke which left him unable to walk or speak. There is no epilog that follows the life of the Kennedy children after his death. There is no detailed discussion of the assassinations. Rosemary’s problems are not shied from, but additional information is to be found in Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter.
One cannot help but admire a man who from such humble origins became so immensely wealthy, politically powerful and influential. Presidents, popes, actors and journalists came to be his close friends. I admire his outspoken manner. Of course it was at least partially his wealth and financial standing which allowed him to so freely speak his mind.
The audiobook is narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner. He uses a distinct East Coast dialect for all Kennedy quotes, and there are many - from diaries, letters and speeches. The quotes, hearing exactly what Joseph said and how he expressed himself, reveal much about his character. In the beginning I found the intonation annoying, but it does make it easy to follow conversations because you know who is saying what. However, the same inflection was used for all the Kennedys. I liked the narration a lot. It was easy to follow.
All in all a very good book. I very much enjoyed listening to this, and so it gets four stars regardless of the error mentioned and even if deeper analysis of disputed information could have been explored.
***********************
I am still reading this, even after the blooper mentioned below in chapter three. I am very much enjoying it. Very interesting and not hard to follow.
**********************
How do you feel when you are reading a non-fiction book and right smack in the beginning a big blooper is made? In chapter three we are told the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria took place in Serbia! An error such as this shouldn't occur; if it is just a silly mistake, a typing error or something, it should have been corrected by the editor. What am I supposed to do now? How do I stop worrying about there being other mistakes? How can I learn if I don't trust what I am being told?
The beginning is very rapid. By the end of the third chapter the immigration of his Irish grandfather, the career of his father up to the beginning of WW1 and Joseph's early years at Boston Latin, followed by Harvard where he squeaked through, and now his presidency of the bank Colombia Trust are recorded. Even his marriage to Rose Fitzgerald in 1914 too. I wish the book had been clearer in explaining how he managed to get accepted into Harvard with such lousy grades. Was it on the basis of his ability in sports? If it was a result of personal connections it should have been clearly stated as such. This is a long book. Why are we zipping through years at such a clip?
August 23, 2020
3.5 Stars
I've read a lot A LOT of books about the Kennedy family and looming over every member of the family was The Patriarch Joseph Patrick Kennedy. Each book would give you a basic overview of who he was and how he turned his family into a political dynasty that stretches from the late 1930's to current day. But I always wanted to learn more...and being a messy bitch I wanted the hot gossip.
Unfortunately I didn't get the hot gossip, the author David Nasaw had the family's permission. I was still a surprisingly honest portrayal of the man, given that the family signed off on this book. Joe Kennedy was an awful human being and this book doesn't sugarcoat it.
-Joe Kennedy was antisemitic
-He really liked the great things Hitler was doing in Germany
- He was racist
- He was a bigot
- He had a very low opinion of women
- Women were either submissive wives or cheap dirty whores to have "fun" with
I was genuinely shocked at how much his infidelity was discussed. He would invite his "female friends" to his house when his wife Rose was there. Rose of course never complained or said anything.
Now on to my one complaint.
This book really dragged in the middle. World War II and the Roosevelt Administration takes the majority of this book....358 pages to be exact. And it really dragged the book down. Obviously WW2 and FDR are important parts of his story...
BUT GOD WAS IT BORING!
Its clear that David Nasaw did tons of research and the Kennedy's gave him access to Joe's journals and correspondence and he made good use of them but spending half of a biography on that one period was information overload. More time was spent talking about the deaths of Hitler and FDR than were spent on the deaths of Joe's children Joe Jr and Kathleen. And poor Rosemary once again got the shaft. Rosemary was Joe's oldest daughter and she had some sort of learning disability what type is unclear but she was unable to keep up with her siblings. Her mother Rose worked with her and fought to keep her in school with her siblings. But Joe needed his children to be perfect and sought out a doctor who would "fix her" which resulted in Joe having her lobotomized behind his wife's back. This is a very important part of family history, its what lead his daughter Eunice to her lifelong fight for the rights of disabled people ( I use disabled because that's how my disabled mom referred to herself) and John Kennedy became the first president to publicly talk about Americans with disabilities. But this book barely spends any time on Rosemary.
I had a hard time deciding on a rating because despite learning more about him, I also felt like I didn't really get to know him. Overall I enjoyed it and I'm happy that the author didn't try to make Joe Kennedy more likable. He was a horrible person and this book just pointed out even more reasons to dislike this man.
I don't need to like the person I'm reading about. In fact sometimes I enjoy reading about people I hate more than people I love. I read non-fiction not to backup an opinion I already have but to understand things more.
Joe Kennedy was a complicated man but he was also an important part of history. Without his family America looks really different. Don't forget John Kennedy is still America's only Catholic President, but fingers crossed that changes soon!
I would recommend this to people who like reading about WW2 and people interested in American political history.
I've read a lot A LOT of books about the Kennedy family and looming over every member of the family was The Patriarch Joseph Patrick Kennedy. Each book would give you a basic overview of who he was and how he turned his family into a political dynasty that stretches from the late 1930's to current day. But I always wanted to learn more...and being a messy bitch I wanted the hot gossip.
Unfortunately I didn't get the hot gossip, the author David Nasaw had the family's permission. I was still a surprisingly honest portrayal of the man, given that the family signed off on this book. Joe Kennedy was an awful human being and this book doesn't sugarcoat it.
-Joe Kennedy was antisemitic
-He really liked the great things Hitler was doing in Germany
- He was racist
- He was a bigot
- He had a very low opinion of women
- Women were either submissive wives or cheap dirty whores to have "fun" with
I was genuinely shocked at how much his infidelity was discussed. He would invite his "female friends" to his house when his wife Rose was there. Rose of course never complained or said anything.
Now on to my one complaint.
This book really dragged in the middle. World War II and the Roosevelt Administration takes the majority of this book....358 pages to be exact. And it really dragged the book down. Obviously WW2 and FDR are important parts of his story...
BUT GOD WAS IT BORING!
Its clear that David Nasaw did tons of research and the Kennedy's gave him access to Joe's journals and correspondence and he made good use of them but spending half of a biography on that one period was information overload. More time was spent talking about the deaths of Hitler and FDR than were spent on the deaths of Joe's children Joe Jr and Kathleen. And poor Rosemary once again got the shaft. Rosemary was Joe's oldest daughter and she had some sort of learning disability what type is unclear but she was unable to keep up with her siblings. Her mother Rose worked with her and fought to keep her in school with her siblings. But Joe needed his children to be perfect and sought out a doctor who would "fix her" which resulted in Joe having her lobotomized behind his wife's back. This is a very important part of family history, its what lead his daughter Eunice to her lifelong fight for the rights of disabled people ( I use disabled because that's how my disabled mom referred to herself) and John Kennedy became the first president to publicly talk about Americans with disabilities. But this book barely spends any time on Rosemary.
I had a hard time deciding on a rating because despite learning more about him, I also felt like I didn't really get to know him. Overall I enjoyed it and I'm happy that the author didn't try to make Joe Kennedy more likable. He was a horrible person and this book just pointed out even more reasons to dislike this man.
I don't need to like the person I'm reading about. In fact sometimes I enjoy reading about people I hate more than people I love. I read non-fiction not to backup an opinion I already have but to understand things more.
Joe Kennedy was a complicated man but he was also an important part of history. Without his family America looks really different. Don't forget John Kennedy is still America's only Catholic President, but fingers crossed that changes soon!
I would recommend this to people who like reading about WW2 and people interested in American political history.
December 26, 2018
The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy was a well-researched biography by David Nasaw and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. Nasaw had been approached by Senator Edward Kennedy, on behalf of the Kennedy family, to write the story of the life of the family patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy. He was given complete and unfettered access to all of his personal papers that were kept at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, as well as extensive interviews with all of the Kennedy family, friends, employees and business associates. It truly holds one's interest as it explores the Kennedy family roots from Ireland to Boston and beyond in this multigenerational saga through some of the most pivotal times in history, including the crash of the stock market in 1929, the depression and World Wars I and II, as well as the cold war and the rise of McCarthyism. While this is a story of personal triumph and of an American political dynasty, it is also a tale of the personal and devastating losses of Joseph P. Kennedy. Nasaw does an admirable job in acknowledging all of the controversy in Kennedy's life, while attempting to get at the truth.
"Had Joseph P. Kennedy not been the patriarch of America's first family, his story would be worth telling. That he was only adds to its drama and historical significance. His primary goal, as a younger man, was to make so much money that his children would not have to make any and could devote their lives to public service. He accomplished that much before he was forty."
"The Kennedy children would complete the journey from Dunganstown, Ireland, to East Boston to the pinnacle of political power and social prominence that their father had begun."
"This is the story of an outsider who forced his way into the halls of power and became both a witness and participant to the major events of the past century: booms, busts, wars and cold war, and the birth of a new frontier."
"Had Joseph P. Kennedy not been the patriarch of America's first family, his story would be worth telling. That he was only adds to its drama and historical significance. His primary goal, as a younger man, was to make so much money that his children would not have to make any and could devote their lives to public service. He accomplished that much before he was forty."
"The Kennedy children would complete the journey from Dunganstown, Ireland, to East Boston to the pinnacle of political power and social prominence that their father had begun."
"This is the story of an outsider who forced his way into the halls of power and became both a witness and participant to the major events of the past century: booms, busts, wars and cold war, and the birth of a new frontier."
February 26, 2013
Review the book, not the subject. Review the book, not the subject. Just keep repeating that to yourself. David Nasaw has written a good book about a man who is hard to admire. The Kennedy family provided Nasaw with access to sources that previously were unavailable to biographers; if the expected him to write a hagiography, they must be disappointed.
Nasaw pretty much refrains from making judgments about Joseph Kennedy. When Nasaw edges toward the moral bar, and can't provide any but the darkest motivation, he takes a few steps back, takes a deep breath, and lets the reader decide. It's clear that Nasaw never developed any great affection for his subject, but had no stomach for condemnation. This is both a strength and a weakness of the book. To his credit, Nasaw's "these are the facts, you decide" approach gives his account great credibility: the reader never feels that the author is dragging one to a conclusion. But the problems are that this sometimes drains the color from a portrait that screams for the palette of a Fauvist, and that the reader sometimes can almost feel Nasaw's frustration.
Kennedy's rise from privilege to great riches is narrated with a minimum of arcane business terminology, making it understandable to those of us lacking MBAs. His involvement in his son's political career is described fully. But the doorgreatest detail in the book is found in the lengthy section on his “career” as a diplomat to the Court of St. James. Here Nasaw goes far afield to give the reader all the information needed to understand Kennedy’s dramatic failures and stunningly corrosive pessimism. (I kept saying, “What! He did what?!”) Nasaw’s explanation for why Roosevelt refused to recall him until after the 1940 election is unedifying, to say the least.
Of course, anyone who picks up this book wants answers to these questions: How could a father have treated Rosemary the way Joseph did? How did Joe reconcile his Catholicism and his philandering? Nasaw evades neither question and lays out what information there is that suggests answers, but neither question gets an answer that is richly satisfying. I don't blame the author, it's not his failure. Some doors to some parts of the soul remain locked, possibly forever.
Writing a biography about someone the author clearly doesn't like much had to be difficult. In the face of this, Nasaw does an admirable job. This may stand as the definitive account of the life of Joseph P. Kennedy.
Nasaw pretty much refrains from making judgments about Joseph Kennedy. When Nasaw edges toward the moral bar, and can't provide any but the darkest motivation, he takes a few steps back, takes a deep breath, and lets the reader decide. It's clear that Nasaw never developed any great affection for his subject, but had no stomach for condemnation. This is both a strength and a weakness of the book. To his credit, Nasaw's "these are the facts, you decide" approach gives his account great credibility: the reader never feels that the author is dragging one to a conclusion. But the problems are that this sometimes drains the color from a portrait that screams for the palette of a Fauvist, and that the reader sometimes can almost feel Nasaw's frustration.
Kennedy's rise from privilege to great riches is narrated with a minimum of arcane business terminology, making it understandable to those of us lacking MBAs. His involvement in his son's political career is described fully. But the doorgreatest detail in the book is found in the lengthy section on his “career” as a diplomat to the Court of St. James. Here Nasaw goes far afield to give the reader all the information needed to understand Kennedy’s dramatic failures and stunningly corrosive pessimism. (I kept saying, “What! He did what?!”) Nasaw’s explanation for why Roosevelt refused to recall him until after the 1940 election is unedifying, to say the least.
Of course, anyone who picks up this book wants answers to these questions: How could a father have treated Rosemary the way Joseph did? How did Joe reconcile his Catholicism and his philandering? Nasaw evades neither question and lays out what information there is that suggests answers, but neither question gets an answer that is richly satisfying. I don't blame the author, it's not his failure. Some doors to some parts of the soul remain locked, possibly forever.
Writing a biography about someone the author clearly doesn't like much had to be difficult. In the face of this, Nasaw does an admirable job. This may stand as the definitive account of the life of Joseph P. Kennedy.
April 20, 2013
This is a thorough biography of a truly remarkable man who, with his family, provides us with a grand view of the American century. Aside from the Roosevelt’s (Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor) I can think of no other family that has become so iconic and significant to U.S. history. It is a story of both high triumph and devastating tragedy.
Joseph P. Kennedy came from an upper middle class background, which he attempted concealing, perpetuating a myth that his roots were more humble. He made his millions from investments and stock exchange transactions. Patrick Kennedy was an extremely astute businessman – he could manage, multi-task and carry on several deals simultaneously – all of them piling up money. An example of his shrewdness was that he maintained his fortune when the Great Depression hit. The author also points out that Kennedy never made money from boot-legging liquor during prohibition.
Patrick Kennedy latched onto the Roosevelt band-wagon – he recognized a winner when he saw one. Roosevelt appointed him to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission that regulates the stock market. Kennedy thrived at this because he knew the tricks of the trade and actually passed regulations that would have prohibited his past transactions (by this time his fortune was made). Kennedy seems to have made a transition from acquiring money to acquiring power.
Roosevelt, in a rather disastrous move, appointed Kennedy as ambassador to England. Perhaps one reason for this was Kennedy’s growing Presidential aspirations – so better to locate him a few thousand miles away. Whereas Kennedy excelled in the business world he never comprehended what it took to be a good politician. He could never keep his big mouth shut. He was not only for appeasement with Germany and Italy, but repeatedly urged France and England to meekly surrender to Germany. After the war started this strikes one as not only defeatist, but traitorous. Roosevelt, much to Kennedy’s anger, started to circumvent his ambassador in communicating to England. For instance, among other methods, he started a secret correspondence with Churchill at the time that he was Naval Minister, under Chamberlain, at war’s onset.
Perhaps it was the length of the book (at close to 800 pages), but I started to find Kennedy a bit of a jerk – a prima donna, he had a Cassandra complex (the world was never getting better according to Kennedy), he was simply not a listener (a requirement for an ambassador I would think). He wanted to be called “Mr. Ambassador” for the rest of his life even though he left the post in disgrace. He gave to charities, but for the most part these had a Catholic angle. Aside from the plight of Irish Catholics, he never cared much for any of the destitute and downtrodden in his own country. He liked and supported Senator Joe McCarthy (partly because he too was a Catholic). This was strange because I don’t see how McCarthy’s virulent anti-communism could tie in with Kennedy’s extreme isolationism.
At times I found the author too fawning on his subject, but he does provide enough details to allow us our own evaluations. Even though the author states that Kennedy was a “good father” he was absent much of the time. I found the relationship between Kennedy and his wife, Rose, an enigma; he was covertly and not so covertly carrying on relationships with several women – like the actress Gloria Swanson and Clare Booth Luce (wife of Time/Life editor Henry Luce). Rose just seemed to take this all in stride – like she was wearing blinkers – constantly referring to her husband in the most glowing of terms.
This book is well-written with short and well-structured chapters. The Kennedy’s are a vibrant and lively bunch – but ultimately sad and harrowing.
Page xxiii (my book)
“The Kennedy children would complete the journey from Dunganstown, Ireland to East Boston to the pinnacle of American political power and social prominence that their father had begun. He would glory in their political and personal triumphs. But the sorrows he endured as father were as intense as the joys.”
Joseph P. Kennedy came from an upper middle class background, which he attempted concealing, perpetuating a myth that his roots were more humble. He made his millions from investments and stock exchange transactions. Patrick Kennedy was an extremely astute businessman – he could manage, multi-task and carry on several deals simultaneously – all of them piling up money. An example of his shrewdness was that he maintained his fortune when the Great Depression hit. The author also points out that Kennedy never made money from boot-legging liquor during prohibition.
Patrick Kennedy latched onto the Roosevelt band-wagon – he recognized a winner when he saw one. Roosevelt appointed him to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission that regulates the stock market. Kennedy thrived at this because he knew the tricks of the trade and actually passed regulations that would have prohibited his past transactions (by this time his fortune was made). Kennedy seems to have made a transition from acquiring money to acquiring power.
Roosevelt, in a rather disastrous move, appointed Kennedy as ambassador to England. Perhaps one reason for this was Kennedy’s growing Presidential aspirations – so better to locate him a few thousand miles away. Whereas Kennedy excelled in the business world he never comprehended what it took to be a good politician. He could never keep his big mouth shut. He was not only for appeasement with Germany and Italy, but repeatedly urged France and England to meekly surrender to Germany. After the war started this strikes one as not only defeatist, but traitorous. Roosevelt, much to Kennedy’s anger, started to circumvent his ambassador in communicating to England. For instance, among other methods, he started a secret correspondence with Churchill at the time that he was Naval Minister, under Chamberlain, at war’s onset.
Perhaps it was the length of the book (at close to 800 pages), but I started to find Kennedy a bit of a jerk – a prima donna, he had a Cassandra complex (the world was never getting better according to Kennedy), he was simply not a listener (a requirement for an ambassador I would think). He wanted to be called “Mr. Ambassador” for the rest of his life even though he left the post in disgrace. He gave to charities, but for the most part these had a Catholic angle. Aside from the plight of Irish Catholics, he never cared much for any of the destitute and downtrodden in his own country. He liked and supported Senator Joe McCarthy (partly because he too was a Catholic). This was strange because I don’t see how McCarthy’s virulent anti-communism could tie in with Kennedy’s extreme isolationism.
At times I found the author too fawning on his subject, but he does provide enough details to allow us our own evaluations. Even though the author states that Kennedy was a “good father” he was absent much of the time. I found the relationship between Kennedy and his wife, Rose, an enigma; he was covertly and not so covertly carrying on relationships with several women – like the actress Gloria Swanson and Clare Booth Luce (wife of Time/Life editor Henry Luce). Rose just seemed to take this all in stride – like she was wearing blinkers – constantly referring to her husband in the most glowing of terms.
This book is well-written with short and well-structured chapters. The Kennedy’s are a vibrant and lively bunch – but ultimately sad and harrowing.
Page xxiii (my book)
“The Kennedy children would complete the journey from Dunganstown, Ireland to East Boston to the pinnacle of American political power and social prominence that their father had begun. He would glory in their political and personal triumphs. But the sorrows he endured as father were as intense as the joys.”
November 11, 2021
Historian Nasaw spent 6 years interviewing people and
scouring archives + personal letters and then wrote this
book. This was too much information. But v interesting.
Joseph Kennedy (hereafter JPK) wed Rose Fitzgerald and
they had 9 offspring. The author estimated this couple
usually spent 300 days apart each year, because of his
various business deals & they both chose to vacation
separately. It felt like an arranged marriage. JPK made
his millions on the stock market, oil wells, as a movie
producer/ distributor & he imported liquor. He never
participated as a Prohibition 'bootlegger.'
JPK owned the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. He used
25% of MM profits to fund the Foundation (which
provided seed $ for mostly Catholic non-profits) named
in eldest son JPK Jr's memory. Joseph had such ambition
for Jr.
JPK had 3 jobs in the Franklin Roosevelt administration
: the 1st chairman of the SEC, he headed the Merritime
Commission. And lastly served at Ambassador to England
pre and during part of WW2. But he undermined FDR's
foreign policies. JPK was quite opinionated, for: Prime
Minister Chamberlain & ultimately against: FDR & PM
Churchill. JPK naively thought if countries soon to be
aligned as the Allies, placated Hitler, they could prevent
war. JPK had a few journalists willing to leak info for him.
Ironically JPK made gobs of $ via "insider trading" on
stocks. But he made this practice illegal, once be became
in charge of the SEC.
JPK acted a stage manager of his offspring: what college
to attend, what career to have, what mate to have, &
choice of travel: where/ why. I admired the instances
where Jack showed dad he was his own man. JPK wanted
his offspring to look and be perfect achievers, and to
reflect well on the family. His oldest daughter Rosemary
was developmentally disabled. JPK switched her from
school to school, until he thought her behavior justified
subjecting her to a lobotomy. After that she lost her
ability to speak and most of her independent skills. It
felt sad that Rosemary's sibs seldom visited her in
Wisconsin until their father had his stroke. Ignoring
the unspoken family rule: the family had permanently
separated from Rosemary, the sibs visited her again.
Bro. Bobby ran Jack's Senate & subsequent Presidential
campaign. While dad manipulated the image issues
and the media. Jack & sister Eunice both had Addison's
disease. Dad and Jack: both womanizers. Dad's challenge-
how to make Jack exciting to the public w/o revealing his
skirt-chasing ways and tendency toward poor health?
JPK had many friends including Sen.Eugene McCarthy and
J. Edgar Hoover. Who knew? JPK made a fair # of enemies
along the way with his manipulative ways.
Revised 06/29.
scouring archives + personal letters and then wrote this
book. This was too much information. But v interesting.
Joseph Kennedy (hereafter JPK) wed Rose Fitzgerald and
they had 9 offspring. The author estimated this couple
usually spent 300 days apart each year, because of his
various business deals & they both chose to vacation
separately. It felt like an arranged marriage. JPK made
his millions on the stock market, oil wells, as a movie
producer/ distributor & he imported liquor. He never
participated as a Prohibition 'bootlegger.'
JPK owned the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. He used
25% of MM profits to fund the Foundation (which
provided seed $ for mostly Catholic non-profits) named
in eldest son JPK Jr's memory. Joseph had such ambition
for Jr.
JPK had 3 jobs in the Franklin Roosevelt administration
: the 1st chairman of the SEC, he headed the Merritime
Commission. And lastly served at Ambassador to England
pre and during part of WW2. But he undermined FDR's
foreign policies. JPK was quite opinionated, for: Prime
Minister Chamberlain & ultimately against: FDR & PM
Churchill. JPK naively thought if countries soon to be
aligned as the Allies, placated Hitler, they could prevent
war. JPK had a few journalists willing to leak info for him.
Ironically JPK made gobs of $ via "insider trading" on
stocks. But he made this practice illegal, once be became
in charge of the SEC.
JPK acted a stage manager of his offspring: what college
to attend, what career to have, what mate to have, &
choice of travel: where/ why. I admired the instances
where Jack showed dad he was his own man. JPK wanted
his offspring to look and be perfect achievers, and to
reflect well on the family. His oldest daughter Rosemary
was developmentally disabled. JPK switched her from
school to school, until he thought her behavior justified
subjecting her to a lobotomy. After that she lost her
ability to speak and most of her independent skills. It
felt sad that Rosemary's sibs seldom visited her in
Wisconsin until their father had his stroke. Ignoring
the unspoken family rule: the family had permanently
separated from Rosemary, the sibs visited her again.
Bro. Bobby ran Jack's Senate & subsequent Presidential
campaign. While dad manipulated the image issues
and the media. Jack & sister Eunice both had Addison's
disease. Dad and Jack: both womanizers. Dad's challenge-
how to make Jack exciting to the public w/o revealing his
skirt-chasing ways and tendency toward poor health?
JPK had many friends including Sen.Eugene McCarthy and
J. Edgar Hoover. Who knew? JPK made a fair # of enemies
along the way with his manipulative ways.
Revised 06/29.
July 4, 2019
https://thebestbiographies.com/2019/0...
David Nasaw’s “The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy” was published in 2012 and was a Pulitzer Prize nominee in 2013. Nasaw is an author and a professor of American history at City University of New York. Among his most widely-read books are biographies of William Randolph Hearst and Andrew Carnegie (which was a 2007 Pulitzer Prize nominee).
Nasaw began this authorized biography after Kennedy’s two youngest children (Jean and Edward) approached him to assess his interest in the project. Once he was assured unrestricted access to Kennedy’s papers and complete editorial control he spent six years researching his subject’s life – documenting his personal and professional lives and investigating a variety of alleged misdeeds.
It is unusual for a biography to captivate me with increasing intensity as it progresses – particularly a lengthy one covering someone with whom I am already quite familiar. (In this case, the dozen biographies of JFK I read two years ago furnished me with a “colorful” introduction to the famously ambitious and deeply flawed Joseph P. Kennedy.) Yet I found Nasaw’s early chapters surprisingly mild and unremarkable while later chapters proved increasingly compelling, insightful and captivating.
With 787 pages of text, “The Patriarch” is extraordinarily comprehensive and reasonably detailed (especially relating to conversations involving Kennedy). But while Nasaw’s writing style lacks the fluidity and literary elegance of some biographers, his narrative is uncommonly easy to read and is never exhausting or tedious. And on the strength of his research he is able to meticulously reconstruct much of Kennedy’s life (particularly during his adulthood).
The book’s “Introduction” is brief but potent – and almost as good as introductory pages can be. The chapters describing Kennedy’s early days as the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and his waning days as Ambassador to the UK are unusually interesting. But the revealing coverage of Joseph Kennedy’s relationship with FDR may be the book’s single greatest gift to its audience.
And yet…this biography often seems more a record of Kennedy’s daily movements and conversations than an analysis of how he shaped (and responded to) events. The reader will eventually feel as though he or she is reading a well-crafted intelligence dossier rather than re-living Joe Kennedy’s life through his own eyes. The narrative describes what he did far more than why.
Nasaw also fails to provide meaningful introductions to even the most important supporting characters. “Honey Fitz” (Kennedy’s famously effervescent father-in-law) is the first to receive short shrift but the list also includes Eddie Moore (Kennedy’s chief lieutenant and apparent best friend), Arthur Krock (a journalist whose assistance was so invaluable it begs for more explanation)…and even Kennedy’s wife. Nasaw curiously chooses to leave them bland and two-dimensional.
Finally readers will not be surprised to find the author adept at seeing the silver lining around every Kennedy-generated cloud. While Nasaw rarely fails to point out his subject’s numerous flaws and moral failings, he often soft-pedals them (somewhat in the spirit of “Kennedy just being Kennedy”) or excuses bad acts altogether on technical grounds.
Overall, David Nasaw’s “The Patriarch” is a well-researched and fluently written biography of an extraordinarily interesting man who was professionally productive, personally petulant and perennially promiscuous. Joseph P. Kennedy’s life is rich ground for a biographer and Nasaw covers his subject capably. But while this biography is satisfying in nearly every regard, it could have been exceptional.
Overall rating: 3¾ stars
David Nasaw’s “The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy” was published in 2012 and was a Pulitzer Prize nominee in 2013. Nasaw is an author and a professor of American history at City University of New York. Among his most widely-read books are biographies of William Randolph Hearst and Andrew Carnegie (which was a 2007 Pulitzer Prize nominee).
Nasaw began this authorized biography after Kennedy’s two youngest children (Jean and Edward) approached him to assess his interest in the project. Once he was assured unrestricted access to Kennedy’s papers and complete editorial control he spent six years researching his subject’s life – documenting his personal and professional lives and investigating a variety of alleged misdeeds.
It is unusual for a biography to captivate me with increasing intensity as it progresses – particularly a lengthy one covering someone with whom I am already quite familiar. (In this case, the dozen biographies of JFK I read two years ago furnished me with a “colorful” introduction to the famously ambitious and deeply flawed Joseph P. Kennedy.) Yet I found Nasaw’s early chapters surprisingly mild and unremarkable while later chapters proved increasingly compelling, insightful and captivating.
With 787 pages of text, “The Patriarch” is extraordinarily comprehensive and reasonably detailed (especially relating to conversations involving Kennedy). But while Nasaw’s writing style lacks the fluidity and literary elegance of some biographers, his narrative is uncommonly easy to read and is never exhausting or tedious. And on the strength of his research he is able to meticulously reconstruct much of Kennedy’s life (particularly during his adulthood).
The book’s “Introduction” is brief but potent – and almost as good as introductory pages can be. The chapters describing Kennedy’s early days as the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and his waning days as Ambassador to the UK are unusually interesting. But the revealing coverage of Joseph Kennedy’s relationship with FDR may be the book’s single greatest gift to its audience.
And yet…this biography often seems more a record of Kennedy’s daily movements and conversations than an analysis of how he shaped (and responded to) events. The reader will eventually feel as though he or she is reading a well-crafted intelligence dossier rather than re-living Joe Kennedy’s life through his own eyes. The narrative describes what he did far more than why.
Nasaw also fails to provide meaningful introductions to even the most important supporting characters. “Honey Fitz” (Kennedy’s famously effervescent father-in-law) is the first to receive short shrift but the list also includes Eddie Moore (Kennedy’s chief lieutenant and apparent best friend), Arthur Krock (a journalist whose assistance was so invaluable it begs for more explanation)…and even Kennedy’s wife. Nasaw curiously chooses to leave them bland and two-dimensional.
Finally readers will not be surprised to find the author adept at seeing the silver lining around every Kennedy-generated cloud. While Nasaw rarely fails to point out his subject’s numerous flaws and moral failings, he often soft-pedals them (somewhat in the spirit of “Kennedy just being Kennedy”) or excuses bad acts altogether on technical grounds.
Overall, David Nasaw’s “The Patriarch” is a well-researched and fluently written biography of an extraordinarily interesting man who was professionally productive, personally petulant and perennially promiscuous. Joseph P. Kennedy’s life is rich ground for a biographer and Nasaw covers his subject capably. But while this biography is satisfying in nearly every regard, it could have been exceptional.
Overall rating: 3¾ stars
April 6, 2017
Joe Kennedy was a piece of work.
The men in public life he admired the most were Neville Chamberlain, Herbert Hoover, and J. Edgar Hoover. He deeply distrusted FDR, Winston Churchill, George Marshall, and Harry Truman. He campaigned strenuously against military action to resist Hitler and, later, Stalin and his successors. “He was perfectly consistent,” writes David Nasaw in his compelling biography. “He saw communism in the forties as he had seen Nazism in the thirties — as a detestable system but not as a mortal threat to American security.”
Though widely condemned as a bootlegger, Kennedy never had any connection with illegal sales of alcohol, though he later became the nation’s largest salesman of legal Scotch whiskey. Nor did he have the “Mob ties” that he was so frequently accused of having. He was a notorious short-seller on Wall Street who amassed a fortune betting against the American economy as it spiraled into Depression, yet he became the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and was universally praised for getting the SEC into operation in record time and satisfying both the New Dealers and the bankers. Still serving as FDR’s Ambassador to the UK though awaiting replacement at home, he campaigned coast to coast for accommodation to Hitler, predicting certain defeat for the British — after they had already won the Battle of Britain and prevented the launch of a planned Nazi invasion. Prone to anti-Semitic remarks from time to time, and paranoid about Jewish influence in the media and politics, he was nonetheless a pugnacious and persistent advocate for resettling Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany — first, in Palestine, and later in the US, Great Britain, and elsewhere in the British Empire. And, yes, some of his best friends were Jews. Despite FDR’s intense distrust of the man, he kept Kennedy as US Ambassador in London for years because he feared the man would oppose his seeking a third term in 1940. He was a proud family man, idolized by his wife and nine children despite extended absences during which he carried out long-lasting affairs with married women, including movie star Gloria Swanson and Congresswoman and later Ambassador Clare Booth Luce.
This was the man who fathered John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, as well as two other leading candidates for the office. His life was the stuff of classical tragedy, not Shakespearean but Greek in its primal ferocity. He lost his oldest daughter to a botched lobotomy in 1941, his oldest son to a suicide mission in World War II, another daughter to a plane crash shortly afterwards, and two sons to assassination in the 1960s. Though he never held public office higher than that of SEC Chairman and Ambassador to England, he was one of the most influential people of his time, alternately revered and reviled. As much as any single person, Joe Kennedy shaped the studio system that dominated Hollywood for decades. In 1957, The New York Times named him as one of the fifteen richest men in the country, with a fortune then estimated by Forbes that was the equivalent of billions of dollars today.
The Patriarch is a very big book, crammed with rich details that emerged from the author’s painstaking research. For any student of twentieth century American history, this outstanding biography illuminates the eight-decade span of our country’s emergence from scrappy industrial powerhouse to superpower, encompassing the Progressive era, two world wars, the Great Depression, and the tensest years of Cold War. Inevitably, Nasaw covers a lot of familiar territory, but in his comprehensive treatment of the life of this one truly extraordinary man, he paints a vivid picture of the United States in the twentieth century.
The men in public life he admired the most were Neville Chamberlain, Herbert Hoover, and J. Edgar Hoover. He deeply distrusted FDR, Winston Churchill, George Marshall, and Harry Truman. He campaigned strenuously against military action to resist Hitler and, later, Stalin and his successors. “He was perfectly consistent,” writes David Nasaw in his compelling biography. “He saw communism in the forties as he had seen Nazism in the thirties — as a detestable system but not as a mortal threat to American security.”
Though widely condemned as a bootlegger, Kennedy never had any connection with illegal sales of alcohol, though he later became the nation’s largest salesman of legal Scotch whiskey. Nor did he have the “Mob ties” that he was so frequently accused of having. He was a notorious short-seller on Wall Street who amassed a fortune betting against the American economy as it spiraled into Depression, yet he became the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and was universally praised for getting the SEC into operation in record time and satisfying both the New Dealers and the bankers. Still serving as FDR’s Ambassador to the UK though awaiting replacement at home, he campaigned coast to coast for accommodation to Hitler, predicting certain defeat for the British — after they had already won the Battle of Britain and prevented the launch of a planned Nazi invasion. Prone to anti-Semitic remarks from time to time, and paranoid about Jewish influence in the media and politics, he was nonetheless a pugnacious and persistent advocate for resettling Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany — first, in Palestine, and later in the US, Great Britain, and elsewhere in the British Empire. And, yes, some of his best friends were Jews. Despite FDR’s intense distrust of the man, he kept Kennedy as US Ambassador in London for years because he feared the man would oppose his seeking a third term in 1940. He was a proud family man, idolized by his wife and nine children despite extended absences during which he carried out long-lasting affairs with married women, including movie star Gloria Swanson and Congresswoman and later Ambassador Clare Booth Luce.
This was the man who fathered John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, as well as two other leading candidates for the office. His life was the stuff of classical tragedy, not Shakespearean but Greek in its primal ferocity. He lost his oldest daughter to a botched lobotomy in 1941, his oldest son to a suicide mission in World War II, another daughter to a plane crash shortly afterwards, and two sons to assassination in the 1960s. Though he never held public office higher than that of SEC Chairman and Ambassador to England, he was one of the most influential people of his time, alternately revered and reviled. As much as any single person, Joe Kennedy shaped the studio system that dominated Hollywood for decades. In 1957, The New York Times named him as one of the fifteen richest men in the country, with a fortune then estimated by Forbes that was the equivalent of billions of dollars today.
The Patriarch is a very big book, crammed with rich details that emerged from the author’s painstaking research. For any student of twentieth century American history, this outstanding biography illuminates the eight-decade span of our country’s emergence from scrappy industrial powerhouse to superpower, encompassing the Progressive era, two world wars, the Great Depression, and the tensest years of Cold War. Inevitably, Nasaw covers a lot of familiar territory, but in his comprehensive treatment of the life of this one truly extraordinary man, he paints a vivid picture of the United States in the twentieth century.
August 23, 2019
This was an extremely detailed look at Joseph P. Kennedy about whom I realize I knew fairly little. I had assumed, wrongly, that he was probably involved with mobsters and bootleggers in addition to making a lot of money in the stock market (and knowing when to get out). It turns out that later, as SEC chairman under Roosevelt, he wrote the rules that made it illegal to do what he did.
He also dabbled in Hollywood, turning a low-rent production studio based in the UK into a moneymaker by producing B movies. On the other hand, he was also responsible for the Queen Kelly debacle which almost ruined Gloria Swanson's career. After that, he decided Hollywood was too unpredictable even if he learned a lot about marketing stars, which came in handy when his son ran for president.
The most interesting part was his stint as Ambassador to the Court of St. James in the 1930s. Friends and acquaintances told him he was much too opinionated to be a diplomat, but he didn't listen. Consequently, he was tarred as an appeaser, an isolationist, and just plain "defeatist" because he was against the U.S. going to war to help England who he believed could not possibly beat Germany. Later, this was used to brand him as pro-Hitler which was not the case.
If you enjoyed the author's other massive biography of William Randolph Hearst, you will enjoy this one.
He also dabbled in Hollywood, turning a low-rent production studio based in the UK into a moneymaker by producing B movies. On the other hand, he was also responsible for the Queen Kelly debacle which almost ruined Gloria Swanson's career. After that, he decided Hollywood was too unpredictable even if he learned a lot about marketing stars, which came in handy when his son ran for president.
The most interesting part was his stint as Ambassador to the Court of St. James in the 1930s. Friends and acquaintances told him he was much too opinionated to be a diplomat, but he didn't listen. Consequently, he was tarred as an appeaser, an isolationist, and just plain "defeatist" because he was against the U.S. going to war to help England who he believed could not possibly beat Germany. Later, this was used to brand him as pro-Hitler which was not the case.
If you enjoyed the author's other massive biography of William Randolph Hearst, you will enjoy this one.
March 22, 2013
Exhaustively footnoted and thoroughly researched, this is an excellent biography -- albeit way, WAY longer than I had wished. Nasaw got wonderful cooperation from the Kennedy family in compiling this book, which in turn gave him entree to friends/associates with whom he had extraordinary access. However, it certainly did not at all color his detached and independent portrayal of his subject. This biography busts many long-time myths about Kennedy (i.e. while he certainly invested in legal liquor production, he was NOT a bootlegger). It also does not present Joseph Kennedy in any particular light that's good, bad, or indifferent. Rather, Mr. Nasaw chronicles his life through his public speeches, interviews, private letters, etc.
I ended up not liking Joseph Kennedy very much when I finally finished. However, I did find his life, and certainly his family, to be utterly fascinating.
After reading two very long non-fiction biographies, I am ready for a good fiction story now!
I ended up not liking Joseph Kennedy very much when I finally finished. However, I did find his life, and certainly his family, to be utterly fascinating.
After reading two very long non-fiction biographies, I am ready for a good fiction story now!
July 23, 2013
Excellent. Nasaw doesn't deal in flowery language or hyperbole, he simply lays out the chronology of a fascinating life, smart enough to know that his subject is compelling enough to not need any stylistic bells or whistles. He dismisses some of the myths surrounding Kennedy (the rumors of bootlegging, for one) while confirming that he was also an unrepentant anti-Semite, philanderer, and borderline conspiracy theorist. Most intriguingly, he expounds on the dichotomies of Kennedy's family life -- how a devoted father could authorize a lobotomy on his eldest daughter, how a man vested in his Catholic faith could have numerous affairs, and so on. A great political biography, but an even greater portrait of a tough, maddening, often vile man who nonetheless singlehandedly created this country's greatest political dynasty.
January 30, 2013
A giant doorstop Father's-Day-present biography like this one is hard to do well all the way through, because nobody's life is inherently compelling the whole way through. Nasaw finds the intricacies of JPK's early business deals a little too fascinating, for example, whereas it seems to me that they're only interesting to the degree that they display Kennedy's character. I was more interested in Kennedy's decision to leave the Protestant-dominated world of Boston finance for Hollywood, where he immediately advertised his "Americanism" (vis-a-vis the immigrant Jewish owners of other studios) and sold himself as basically the only Christian in show business.
The book peaks when Nasaw is discussing Kennedy's infamous term as Ambassador to Britain from 1938 to 1941. Kennedy's relentless defeatism and sympathy for Fascism makes him an entertaining protagonist for the well known story of Munich, the rise of Churchill and the Battle of Britain.
Kennedy was appointed by Roosevelt to stand apart from the British establishment, but he could not resist being included in a club as exclusive as the British nobility. He also saw the world from the provincial lens of an American businessman, and became convinced that Nazi aggression was caused primarily by the lack of economic growth in America. (Lack of economic growth, meanwhile, was apparently caused by the failings of democracy, which is why Kennedy told Roosevelt on several occasions that a form of fascism would soon be necessary to prevent the American economy from ruin.)
The result is that Kennedy embraced the appeasement strategy more thoroughly than Chamberlain and Halifax, and often broke diplomatic protocols in doing so. (When Halifax thought that an American guarantee of Czech independence would help negotiations with Hitler, Kennedy gave every indication that there was such a thing when he had basically made it up.) Even after Chamberlain had concluded that war was necessary, Kennedy was scheming for America to undertake 'economic appeasement' to cure the shortages of raw materials that he believed were causing Hitler's aggression.
Kennedy's defeatism became so rampant that the British government quietly gathered a file on him in order that they might request his recall. His unceasing pessimism gives the account of the Battle of Britain a darkly comic undertone. Although Germany did not invade as threatened, this did not shake his conviction that the war was a folly: the lack of a Nazi invasion only ensured that Britain would suffer a longer and more painful disintegration. No 'Britain's finest hour' for him, certainly.
Kennedy could not see why anybody would seek out war with Germany, unless they were Jewish, or deceived by a vast Jewish conspiracy. (Interestingly, this led Kennedy to undertake considerable efforts on behalf of Jewish emigration from Germany, the better to buy off opponents of appeasement.) As war came over Kennedy's objections, he descended further and further into anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and as late as 1960 would be fuming that his own Catholic Church wasn't as ruthlessly efficient a lobby as 'the Jews.'
Outside of Kennedy's brief stint as Washington insider (which lasted for less than ten years, from his endorsement of FDR in 1932 to his political exile shortly before WWII began), there isn't a lot in JPK's life that's quite so interesting. Kennedy made a tacit quid pro quo with Senator McCarthy in the 1950s, cultivating his friendship and ensuring that McCarthy left Jack Kennedy alone for his first Senate campaign. He slept with any number of women, and was occasionally a first-rate cad (to Gloria Swanson in particular); and he was a controlling, emotionally reticent father. But he was never at the center of events like that again, even as Jack Kennedy's father, and as a result Nasaw's narrative can drag in the final chapters. I'm definitely glad that I read this, but it could have been pruned towards the end and I would have liked it better.
The book peaks when Nasaw is discussing Kennedy's infamous term as Ambassador to Britain from 1938 to 1941. Kennedy's relentless defeatism and sympathy for Fascism makes him an entertaining protagonist for the well known story of Munich, the rise of Churchill and the Battle of Britain.
Kennedy was appointed by Roosevelt to stand apart from the British establishment, but he could not resist being included in a club as exclusive as the British nobility. He also saw the world from the provincial lens of an American businessman, and became convinced that Nazi aggression was caused primarily by the lack of economic growth in America. (Lack of economic growth, meanwhile, was apparently caused by the failings of democracy, which is why Kennedy told Roosevelt on several occasions that a form of fascism would soon be necessary to prevent the American economy from ruin.)
The result is that Kennedy embraced the appeasement strategy more thoroughly than Chamberlain and Halifax, and often broke diplomatic protocols in doing so. (When Halifax thought that an American guarantee of Czech independence would help negotiations with Hitler, Kennedy gave every indication that there was such a thing when he had basically made it up.) Even after Chamberlain had concluded that war was necessary, Kennedy was scheming for America to undertake 'economic appeasement' to cure the shortages of raw materials that he believed were causing Hitler's aggression.
Kennedy's defeatism became so rampant that the British government quietly gathered a file on him in order that they might request his recall. His unceasing pessimism gives the account of the Battle of Britain a darkly comic undertone. Although Germany did not invade as threatened, this did not shake his conviction that the war was a folly: the lack of a Nazi invasion only ensured that Britain would suffer a longer and more painful disintegration. No 'Britain's finest hour' for him, certainly.
Kennedy could not see why anybody would seek out war with Germany, unless they were Jewish, or deceived by a vast Jewish conspiracy. (Interestingly, this led Kennedy to undertake considerable efforts on behalf of Jewish emigration from Germany, the better to buy off opponents of appeasement.) As war came over Kennedy's objections, he descended further and further into anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and as late as 1960 would be fuming that his own Catholic Church wasn't as ruthlessly efficient a lobby as 'the Jews.'
Outside of Kennedy's brief stint as Washington insider (which lasted for less than ten years, from his endorsement of FDR in 1932 to his political exile shortly before WWII began), there isn't a lot in JPK's life that's quite so interesting. Kennedy made a tacit quid pro quo with Senator McCarthy in the 1950s, cultivating his friendship and ensuring that McCarthy left Jack Kennedy alone for his first Senate campaign. He slept with any number of women, and was occasionally a first-rate cad (to Gloria Swanson in particular); and he was a controlling, emotionally reticent father. But he was never at the center of events like that again, even as Jack Kennedy's father, and as a result Nasaw's narrative can drag in the final chapters. I'm definitely glad that I read this, but it could have been pruned towards the end and I would have liked it better.
April 4, 2013
For a while, I found it a little hard to stick with this exhaustive account of Joe Kennedy's life because, as other reviewers have commented, a good sense of the flesh and blood man is not revealed by a mere list of steps in his life.
I think this quality of the narrative has to do with Nasaw's apparent decision (as the "authorized" biographer) to do no more than report the facts as revealed by letters, interviews, memoirs, oral histories, news reports and other records. So there is something quite dry here: Nasaw very rarely draws any conclusions or makes any characterizations himself that shed light on Kennedy or bring him to life on the page. The facts must speak for themselves. And so, despite all the family materials to which the author had access, it seems to be the purely public Joe Kennedy — the one well known to pre-war and WWII-era Americans through the news — who is recreated here with great detail and precision.
An example: there are references here and there to his always having a good looking woman at hand (which Rose seemed to ignore or accept, who knows which), and an intriguing reference to his hotty masseuse and secretary and other female support personnel late in his life before his stroke, as he spent time in the south of France, his apartment at the Waldorf Towers and his place in Palm Beach. What's UP with that? If sex and macho randiness are a big part of this dutiful husband's and doting, loving and yet controlling father's personality, we only get hints; we get no real sense of it as an elemental aspect of his character that had its impacts -- even, indirectly, on the presidency when Jack took office.
I know, I know, this is not a gossip book and makes no claim to be. But this part of the Kennedy legend shouldn't have been nearly ignored.
Nor does Nassaw go beyond a quick dismissal of the rumors and such legends as Joe's alleged connections to the mob. I'm not sure it's fair to blame him for that if the trove of records and recollections he sifted offered nothing to go on. And I'm sure those records were carefully controlled by Joe himself as he filed them to reveal only what he wanted revealed. He knew his letters, even to his kids, would be fodder for biographers and historians.
Despite these gaps, I became more and more intrigued as this tale unfolded. Joe began to emerge as the larger than life personality he was, despite the clinical treatment. I think I enjoyed the story the most as it came to involve his children as they matured and launched their own careers — all pretty much according to Joe's master plan. His kids are not distant figures for me; they were a big part of the American scene all my life and I found it fascinating to learn more about them.
The momentum built for me and after a while I found it very hard to put this book down, even though I knew the tragedies that would make its biggest moments. As a ridiculously fussy reader, I really enjoyed falling under the book's spell. Fantastic research and reporting job, sharply written if not masterfully, and a valuable resource for anyone who wants to understand the roots of the Kennedy legend.
I think this quality of the narrative has to do with Nasaw's apparent decision (as the "authorized" biographer) to do no more than report the facts as revealed by letters, interviews, memoirs, oral histories, news reports and other records. So there is something quite dry here: Nasaw very rarely draws any conclusions or makes any characterizations himself that shed light on Kennedy or bring him to life on the page. The facts must speak for themselves. And so, despite all the family materials to which the author had access, it seems to be the purely public Joe Kennedy — the one well known to pre-war and WWII-era Americans through the news — who is recreated here with great detail and precision.
An example: there are references here and there to his always having a good looking woman at hand (which Rose seemed to ignore or accept, who knows which), and an intriguing reference to his hotty masseuse and secretary and other female support personnel late in his life before his stroke, as he spent time in the south of France, his apartment at the Waldorf Towers and his place in Palm Beach. What's UP with that? If sex and macho randiness are a big part of this dutiful husband's and doting, loving and yet controlling father's personality, we only get hints; we get no real sense of it as an elemental aspect of his character that had its impacts -- even, indirectly, on the presidency when Jack took office.
I know, I know, this is not a gossip book and makes no claim to be. But this part of the Kennedy legend shouldn't have been nearly ignored.
Nor does Nassaw go beyond a quick dismissal of the rumors and such legends as Joe's alleged connections to the mob. I'm not sure it's fair to blame him for that if the trove of records and recollections he sifted offered nothing to go on. And I'm sure those records were carefully controlled by Joe himself as he filed them to reveal only what he wanted revealed. He knew his letters, even to his kids, would be fodder for biographers and historians.
Despite these gaps, I became more and more intrigued as this tale unfolded. Joe began to emerge as the larger than life personality he was, despite the clinical treatment. I think I enjoyed the story the most as it came to involve his children as they matured and launched their own careers — all pretty much according to Joe's master plan. His kids are not distant figures for me; they were a big part of the American scene all my life and I found it fascinating to learn more about them.
The momentum built for me and after a while I found it very hard to put this book down, even though I knew the tragedies that would make its biggest moments. As a ridiculously fussy reader, I really enjoyed falling under the book's spell. Fantastic research and reporting job, sharply written if not masterfully, and a valuable resource for anyone who wants to understand the roots of the Kennedy legend.
November 25, 2013
A fine biography. It depicts the Kennedy family's patriarch, Joseph Kennedy, in a realistic manner--warts and all. The author is David Nasaw, who also authored a massive biography of Andrew Carnegie (801 pages of biographical text). His pedigree as a biographer, then, is strong. This volume has 787 pages of text about the subject of the biography (more if you add acknowledgements, footnotes, and index).
Kennedy led a reasonably comfortable life in youth, getting a good college education. His ancestors came from Ireland under other than auspicious circumstances. His parents did well and he grew up under more comfortable conditions. He got a college education at Harvard, for instance. He did very well in his business activities and left his family in very good financial condition. However, he also outlived four of his nine children--a bitter pill for him. Throughout his career, as the book explains well, he developed and used media contacts to advantage (such as the Hearst chain).
The book well tells his story--from his career at Harvard to his early business challenges. He made a mark in finance in Boston. Then, he began a new career in Hollywood (including liaisons with actresses such as Gloria Swanson and others; he was always "active" with women outside of his marriage to Rose Kennedy). Later, he had a role in the FDR administration, as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission) and, finally, as Ambassador to Great Britain. In the former role he, as they say, "stood up" the SEC and made a contribution.
As Ambassador? He was negative about a possible war on the continent and tended to brood over the negative possibilities. He began to lose credibility with FDR as he became a "Cassandra."
He was involved with some more public service later, but he used up a lot of his credibility in London. Much of the book describes his family—his wife Rose and his nine children. Much tragedy. His number one son, Joe Junior, dies in active duty during World War 2. Two sons were assassinated—Jack and Bobby. One daughter, Kathleen, died early.
There is a detailed discussion of how he worked to get his son, Jack, elected as President.
All in all, an impressive biography by an accomplished practitioner of this art.
Kennedy led a reasonably comfortable life in youth, getting a good college education. His ancestors came from Ireland under other than auspicious circumstances. His parents did well and he grew up under more comfortable conditions. He got a college education at Harvard, for instance. He did very well in his business activities and left his family in very good financial condition. However, he also outlived four of his nine children--a bitter pill for him. Throughout his career, as the book explains well, he developed and used media contacts to advantage (such as the Hearst chain).
The book well tells his story--from his career at Harvard to his early business challenges. He made a mark in finance in Boston. Then, he began a new career in Hollywood (including liaisons with actresses such as Gloria Swanson and others; he was always "active" with women outside of his marriage to Rose Kennedy). Later, he had a role in the FDR administration, as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission) and, finally, as Ambassador to Great Britain. In the former role he, as they say, "stood up" the SEC and made a contribution.
As Ambassador? He was negative about a possible war on the continent and tended to brood over the negative possibilities. He began to lose credibility with FDR as he became a "Cassandra."
He was involved with some more public service later, but he used up a lot of his credibility in London. Much of the book describes his family—his wife Rose and his nine children. Much tragedy. His number one son, Joe Junior, dies in active duty during World War 2. Two sons were assassinated—Jack and Bobby. One daughter, Kathleen, died early.
There is a detailed discussion of how he worked to get his son, Jack, elected as President.
All in all, an impressive biography by an accomplished practitioner of this art.
October 18, 2014
While not a big fan of the Kennedy legacy or The Camelot myth, I was very interested in reading this book because so much of the history of the Kennedy family begins and ends with Joe Kennedy Sr.
It was a long book but it was an easy read as it flowed nicely from one part of his life to another. Since he lived 81 years, and the book was almost 800 pages long, it managed to cover his life fully without being boring. No needless details such as deep looks into his personal affairs with women...it was enough that they were mentioned then disposed of rather than waste time detailing his sex life or his real feelings for any of his mistresses. However, the book never touches on how his marriage managed to remain "strong" if that word can even be used to describe the marriage of him and his wife.
I particularly liked that no time was wasted on that old story of the father's sins being visited on the sons in regards to John and Robert's murders. It might very well have been true but when it comes to politics, I think its fair to say that everyone has a family history that they cannot be held liable for (even if they did benefit from it).
With all that being said, the book doesn't reveal anything that hasn't been written before, as a matter of fact the book almost glosses over certain subjects such his supposed connections to organized crime or certain shady business deals. At times, the book is even apologetic that Kennedy might have wandered into the darkened corners of making his fortune by justifying his need to become the country's first Catholic to hold any power or wield any influence in business and politics. But as Balzac has been quoted "behind every fortune there is a crime".
It was a long book but it was an easy read as it flowed nicely from one part of his life to another. Since he lived 81 years, and the book was almost 800 pages long, it managed to cover his life fully without being boring. No needless details such as deep looks into his personal affairs with women...it was enough that they were mentioned then disposed of rather than waste time detailing his sex life or his real feelings for any of his mistresses. However, the book never touches on how his marriage managed to remain "strong" if that word can even be used to describe the marriage of him and his wife.
I particularly liked that no time was wasted on that old story of the father's sins being visited on the sons in regards to John and Robert's murders. It might very well have been true but when it comes to politics, I think its fair to say that everyone has a family history that they cannot be held liable for (even if they did benefit from it).
With all that being said, the book doesn't reveal anything that hasn't been written before, as a matter of fact the book almost glosses over certain subjects such his supposed connections to organized crime or certain shady business deals. At times, the book is even apologetic that Kennedy might have wandered into the darkened corners of making his fortune by justifying his need to become the country's first Catholic to hold any power or wield any influence in business and politics. But as Balzac has been quoted "behind every fortune there is a crime".
February 10, 2017
A few years before the late great Ted Kennedy passed, Senator Kennedy approached David Nasaw and asked him to write a biography of his father Joseph P. Kennedy. Nasaw said he would on the condition that he be allowed full access to the Kennedy(s) libraries for research in addition to no editing from the family. Senator Kennedy agreed and what we have on our hands is quite the masterpiece.
To say there are to many books about the Kennedy's is a slight understatement but their family is "American Royalty" and have held our nation and the world's imagination for well over 50 years now. Nasaw's book allows the myth's to be silenced and the truth to come forward as he peels back the onion on one of America's most interesting person of the 20th century.
More impressive is the style in which Nasaw tackles this biography. Some authors create a broad stroke while writing about their character which leaves the reader jumping from one year or one decade to another. Nasaw stays in the chronological moment, rarely jumping to future events allowing the reader to stay with Joseph Kennedy as he rises from obscurity to the patriarch of a family attempting to lead their adopted country. By doing so the reader brings no myths with them and finally allows Joseph P. Kennedy's story to be told. His story of blinding success and the blinding price that often comes with it.
To say there are to many books about the Kennedy's is a slight understatement but their family is "American Royalty" and have held our nation and the world's imagination for well over 50 years now. Nasaw's book allows the myth's to be silenced and the truth to come forward as he peels back the onion on one of America's most interesting person of the 20th century.
More impressive is the style in which Nasaw tackles this biography. Some authors create a broad stroke while writing about their character which leaves the reader jumping from one year or one decade to another. Nasaw stays in the chronological moment, rarely jumping to future events allowing the reader to stay with Joseph Kennedy as he rises from obscurity to the patriarch of a family attempting to lead their adopted country. By doing so the reader brings no myths with them and finally allows Joseph P. Kennedy's story to be told. His story of blinding success and the blinding price that often comes with it.
July 12, 2013
Often pigeonholed as a foul-mouthed, anti-Semitic crook, David Nasaw's thorough biography of Joseph P. Kennedy reveals him to be an amazingly intelligent and shrewd businessman who built an immense fortune largely by being a smart investor with tremendous insight on business. Vexed by politics and always opinionated, Kennedy came from East Boston to the apex of power in New York, Washington and Hollywood and helped elect Franklin Roosevelt president only to be rejected, accepted and rejected time and again by the 32nd president who viewed Kennedy with well-earned distrust. The machinations of the Roosevelt-Kennedy relationship are too complext to discuss in a review but they are well covered in this book. Kennedy was no bootlegger or gangster but is acknowledged as a philanderer; Nasaw had unprecedented access to Kennedy's papers and archives and researched this book in several countries. Kennedy believed that his children should not pursue careers in making money--he had already done that--but should go into public service. His millions made that a lot easier. An impressive book with a sad ending; the tale of the Kennedys is always filled with dizzying highs, (Kennedy being sent to London as ambassador and JFK's political career, ending in the White House) and stunning lows, (JFK's assassination and Kennedy's debilitating stroke in 1961). A very good book.
January 4, 2013
This is the second Nasaw bio I have read, the first being Andrew Carnegie, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Joe Kennedy is not a likable person but Nasaw is fair to him, noting both his incredible financial acumen and intuition as well as his complete lack of political skills. If I come away with one thing from this immensely detailed and well crafted biography, it is "open mouth, insert foot." It was only Joe's money that kept anyone except his family around him. Nasaw describes him aptly as the consummate outsider. His relationship with Roosevelt is fascinating, showing how the President kept Joe exactly where he wanted him without giving much up. As you read this book, you will have a better understanding of how Kennedy molded his children and how despite his attempts at control, they learned how to be independent of him, making careers in public service, exactly the course he wanted them to pursue. A must read!!
January 6, 2013
THE PATRIARCH is more than a biography of Joseph P. Kennedy. It is a fascinating review of history in the pre-World War Two era as well as the war years and beyond. Anyone who is interested in background on the Kennedy clan will be assured of an in depth analysis of the beginnings of their wealth and power. Joseph Kennedy himself is a figure to be admired, emulated, derided, envied and despised. Sometimes the politics of the reader will influence which of these descriptions is the most accurate, but objectively, all apply.
The research is detailed and richly footnoted. Newspaper articles, State Department dispatches, various transcripts, and the personal correspondence of the individuals involved is the basis for a complete understanding of many sides of the diplomatic and political events of the times. Private thoughts come to light and offer an excellent insight into the psyche of Joseph P. Kennedy
The research is detailed and richly footnoted. Newspaper articles, State Department dispatches, various transcripts, and the personal correspondence of the individuals involved is the basis for a complete understanding of many sides of the diplomatic and political events of the times. Private thoughts come to light and offer an excellent insight into the psyche of Joseph P. Kennedy
October 18, 2019
"The Patriarch" by David Nasaw is a well-researched biography of Joseph P. Kennedy and his clan. At times engrossing, it can also get bogged down in political gamesmanship that is tedious at best. As a whole it is an informative study of how to groom oneself and one's family for success when you have to earn it. Like any public figure, at times you admire and respect him, other times you despise him. It is a shame that his stroke so debilitated him that we have no record of his thoughts when two of his sons were assassinated and the other went through the Chappaquiddick scandal (this event isn't even mentioned). Though I certainly came away knowing a lot more about JP Kennedy than I did before, I also feel that there was much left out or unknowable.
October 10, 2013
An interesting if dislikable man. I thought it funny that he was the one who set up the SEC rules that made it impossible for people to do what he had done. A reviewer complains about a "cover up" of the fact that Kennedy made his money in bootleg liquor. I can't understand this--Nasaw shows a lot worse things that Kennedy did. Why would he cover up bootlegging?
October 5, 2025
I found this biography ok but I lost interest - I am happy to admit that the Joseph Kennedy of reality was not the monster of James Ellroy - but that doesn't mean you have to write a dull life - and I found this book agonisingly dull.
May 10, 2018
Idea Vault #9 BOOK Review: The Patriarch
David Nasaw is a great biographer, I LOVED the book. I initially decided to read The Patriarch to see what sort of magic one needs to raise a family with a US President, a Senator, an Attorney General and an Ambassador. I thought it might serve as a parenting guide (just kidding). Thought the book was fascinating both as a lens on challenges in American policy at the time and as an amazing story of the rise of America’s most prominent political family. I’m convinced: the Kennedys are where they are today because of JPK and his incredible resilience and skill. Needless to say, many of the general theories on the man are true: he’s clearly an anti-Semite, had shady business dealings (he basically “bought” an NYT journalist), cheated on his wife. That said, things I found interesting:
- I think JPK’s exceptional rise is much more defined by his ability to build and sustain relationships with a wide variety of people than anything else he does well (dedication and commitment, analytical ability etc.). At b-schools we spend a lot of time talking about “networking”, which I think is terrible phrasing, instantly framing the complex act of forming a new relationship as a mercenary, transactional interaction. I think the right way to do it is to have a prevailing belief that friendships are important and helpful and that what goes around comes around, while approaching each new person as a potential relationship where you must attempt to add value in their life. I think Nasaw phrases it wonderfully: “Friendship was, for him, a priceless commodity… He had a gift for friendship, though he knew it did not always come easily, that one had to work at it, stay in touch, celebrate the good times, offer condolences in the bad.” I spent most of my teenage years in a community that narrowly believed that skill only comprised qualitative analytical ability, a framing that results in all other qualities being seen as stop-gap, less-worthy ways of achieving success. People like JPK help disprove this idea: a lot of people can do math, it isn’t sufficient.
- JPK’s troubles as an Ambassador prove the Peter’s Principle yet again. A professor at b-school talked to us a lot about situational leadership - JPK’s specific set of skills and beliefs set him up well as the SEC Chairman, Maritime Commission Chairman, but not for diplomacy.
- JPK was an unbelievable father - the amount of time, energy and thought he put into ensuring his kids are set up for success was incredible. I found his caring of Rosemary thoughtful as well (admittedly this is the first time I’ve come across her existence, so might be wrong) and his focus on ensuring all his kids feel as recognized and cared for.
- This is the first biography of a technocrat aide I’ve read. And it stands in stark contrast to my usual set of politicians and academicians. I think the two primary differences b/w a technocrat aide and a political are (a) a technocrat doesn’t need to be in contact with the masses that elect him/her - the sort of collecting a wide set of experiences to be able to relate to all kinds of citizens is something a politician needs to do, but a technocrat does not need to. (b) Instead, a technocrat’s goal is to focus much more on a specific skill and ability and protect one’s reputation and credibility in that skill so you can always be “useful”. I think those are fundamentally different paths with different requirements of experiences. Perhaps useful to think about…
- FDR is an incredible people-manager - at that level, understanding different people’s temperaments and modulating your response accordingly is something you need to deal with critical associates who also have fragile egos. I read my old-review of ‘No Ordinary Time’ and realized that this is the second time I’m coming across this idea: “The book reinforced my view that a good politician needs to be a savvy negotiator in private and a convincing salesman in public.” That’s what FDR was.
- The end of the book was heartbreaking. And think frames his life story interestingly - a man so motivated by success for him and his family ultimately spends his last years bedridden and sees 3 of his sons killed. I ended the book feeling bad for the man, no-one should see that much sorrow in their life.
David Nasaw is a great biographer, I LOVED the book. I initially decided to read The Patriarch to see what sort of magic one needs to raise a family with a US President, a Senator, an Attorney General and an Ambassador. I thought it might serve as a parenting guide (just kidding). Thought the book was fascinating both as a lens on challenges in American policy at the time and as an amazing story of the rise of America’s most prominent political family. I’m convinced: the Kennedys are where they are today because of JPK and his incredible resilience and skill. Needless to say, many of the general theories on the man are true: he’s clearly an anti-Semite, had shady business dealings (he basically “bought” an NYT journalist), cheated on his wife. That said, things I found interesting:
- I think JPK’s exceptional rise is much more defined by his ability to build and sustain relationships with a wide variety of people than anything else he does well (dedication and commitment, analytical ability etc.). At b-schools we spend a lot of time talking about “networking”, which I think is terrible phrasing, instantly framing the complex act of forming a new relationship as a mercenary, transactional interaction. I think the right way to do it is to have a prevailing belief that friendships are important and helpful and that what goes around comes around, while approaching each new person as a potential relationship where you must attempt to add value in their life. I think Nasaw phrases it wonderfully: “Friendship was, for him, a priceless commodity… He had a gift for friendship, though he knew it did not always come easily, that one had to work at it, stay in touch, celebrate the good times, offer condolences in the bad.” I spent most of my teenage years in a community that narrowly believed that skill only comprised qualitative analytical ability, a framing that results in all other qualities being seen as stop-gap, less-worthy ways of achieving success. People like JPK help disprove this idea: a lot of people can do math, it isn’t sufficient.
- JPK’s troubles as an Ambassador prove the Peter’s Principle yet again. A professor at b-school talked to us a lot about situational leadership - JPK’s specific set of skills and beliefs set him up well as the SEC Chairman, Maritime Commission Chairman, but not for diplomacy.
- JPK was an unbelievable father - the amount of time, energy and thought he put into ensuring his kids are set up for success was incredible. I found his caring of Rosemary thoughtful as well (admittedly this is the first time I’ve come across her existence, so might be wrong) and his focus on ensuring all his kids feel as recognized and cared for.
- This is the first biography of a technocrat aide I’ve read. And it stands in stark contrast to my usual set of politicians and academicians. I think the two primary differences b/w a technocrat aide and a political are (a) a technocrat doesn’t need to be in contact with the masses that elect him/her - the sort of collecting a wide set of experiences to be able to relate to all kinds of citizens is something a politician needs to do, but a technocrat does not need to. (b) Instead, a technocrat’s goal is to focus much more on a specific skill and ability and protect one’s reputation and credibility in that skill so you can always be “useful”. I think those are fundamentally different paths with different requirements of experiences. Perhaps useful to think about…
- FDR is an incredible people-manager - at that level, understanding different people’s temperaments and modulating your response accordingly is something you need to deal with critical associates who also have fragile egos. I read my old-review of ‘No Ordinary Time’ and realized that this is the second time I’m coming across this idea: “The book reinforced my view that a good politician needs to be a savvy negotiator in private and a convincing salesman in public.” That’s what FDR was.
- The end of the book was heartbreaking. And think frames his life story interestingly - a man so motivated by success for him and his family ultimately spends his last years bedridden and sees 3 of his sons killed. I ended the book feeling bad for the man, no-one should see that much sorrow in their life.
December 5, 2022
This was an excellent read.
And maybe you’re thinking, if it was so excellent, why didn’t you give it five stars?
The simple answer is that, while I think its merits greatly outweigh its faults, I do have some notable areas to flag.
The Patriarch is one of the more honest portrayals I’ve seen of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
In biographies of Kennedy family members or the unit as a whole, he is typically portrayed as a domineering, ambitious man, who wanted his sons to reach the top of American political life, was a constant womanizer, and probably involved in some shady dealings.
Here, Nasaw shows a much fuller man. I felt the parts about Kennedy’s early years were especially fruitful, because those are the areas that seem to get most overlooked. Other than a throwaway line or two, he is usually a fully formed adult with at least several children by the time he’s introduced in other works.
The author really digs into who Kennedy was as a man. He does not shy away from many of his worst qualities, including his intolerant views, which were by no means minor anecdotes in his life.
One thing I appreciated was how some of his actions were contextualized - not to excuse them, but to paint a larger picture.
For example, Kennedy was a womanizer. That is a fact. Yet he also, in his own way, viewed himself as faithful to his wife. While he was sleeping with other women, he deeply valued his family, especially Rose. That doesn’t make it any better, but it does give us a better understanding of his mentality and the way he viewed the world.
Yet relatedly, I think The Patriarch struggled a bit in how it dealt with these issues. While it repeatedly hammered home that Kennedy was cheating on Rose, even if he may not have seen it that way, the famous view of him as a bootlegger was tossed aside in just a couple of lines.
The answer Nasaw gives is that it was a political smear started later in life and simply couldn’t have been true. Now, that may be correct. But having it swept away so quickly as some sort of impossibility felt a little strange. I would have preferred a more thorough look into the research that enabled Nasaw to dismiss this claim. The same goes for other supposedly disproven (or upheld) points, which seemed to have research behind them that wasn’t fully conveyed on the page.
Which takes us to the thing that Nasaw did decide we had time for: World War II.
Phew.
World War II lasted six years. It was an unprecedented conflict that shaped the course of human history, and it had a major impact on the Kennedy family.
Yet I do not think it needed to take up half - if not more - of the book.
Kennedy had quite a lot of opinions about U.S. involvement in the war, and he served as ambassador to the UK for over two years. But despite all of his strong statements and actions and hopping back and forth between continents, Kennedy did not really necessitate what I believe was nearly 400 pages of text on this era.
My best guess is Nasaw is personally interested in this period. That’s fair, because it’s a fascinating time and an important thing to study. However, that doesn’t mean The Patriarch benefitted from such a drawn out rehashing of what amounts to a six year period (a tumultuous six years, but still not even an entire decade out of this man’s 81 years of life).
All in all, this is a wonderfully researched work that breathes new life into a historical figure who is both incredibly well-known yet somehow also often shown as one-dimensional. I highly recommend it, even if I may suggest you look at certain parts discerningly and breeze through others.
And maybe you’re thinking, if it was so excellent, why didn’t you give it five stars?
The simple answer is that, while I think its merits greatly outweigh its faults, I do have some notable areas to flag.
The Patriarch is one of the more honest portrayals I’ve seen of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
In biographies of Kennedy family members or the unit as a whole, he is typically portrayed as a domineering, ambitious man, who wanted his sons to reach the top of American political life, was a constant womanizer, and probably involved in some shady dealings.
Here, Nasaw shows a much fuller man. I felt the parts about Kennedy’s early years were especially fruitful, because those are the areas that seem to get most overlooked. Other than a throwaway line or two, he is usually a fully formed adult with at least several children by the time he’s introduced in other works.
The author really digs into who Kennedy was as a man. He does not shy away from many of his worst qualities, including his intolerant views, which were by no means minor anecdotes in his life.
One thing I appreciated was how some of his actions were contextualized - not to excuse them, but to paint a larger picture.
For example, Kennedy was a womanizer. That is a fact. Yet he also, in his own way, viewed himself as faithful to his wife. While he was sleeping with other women, he deeply valued his family, especially Rose. That doesn’t make it any better, but it does give us a better understanding of his mentality and the way he viewed the world.
Yet relatedly, I think The Patriarch struggled a bit in how it dealt with these issues. While it repeatedly hammered home that Kennedy was cheating on Rose, even if he may not have seen it that way, the famous view of him as a bootlegger was tossed aside in just a couple of lines.
The answer Nasaw gives is that it was a political smear started later in life and simply couldn’t have been true. Now, that may be correct. But having it swept away so quickly as some sort of impossibility felt a little strange. I would have preferred a more thorough look into the research that enabled Nasaw to dismiss this claim. The same goes for other supposedly disproven (or upheld) points, which seemed to have research behind them that wasn’t fully conveyed on the page.
Which takes us to the thing that Nasaw did decide we had time for: World War II.
Phew.
World War II lasted six years. It was an unprecedented conflict that shaped the course of human history, and it had a major impact on the Kennedy family.
Yet I do not think it needed to take up half - if not more - of the book.
Kennedy had quite a lot of opinions about U.S. involvement in the war, and he served as ambassador to the UK for over two years. But despite all of his strong statements and actions and hopping back and forth between continents, Kennedy did not really necessitate what I believe was nearly 400 pages of text on this era.
My best guess is Nasaw is personally interested in this period. That’s fair, because it’s a fascinating time and an important thing to study. However, that doesn’t mean The Patriarch benefitted from such a drawn out rehashing of what amounts to a six year period (a tumultuous six years, but still not even an entire decade out of this man’s 81 years of life).
All in all, this is a wonderfully researched work that breathes new life into a historical figure who is both incredibly well-known yet somehow also often shown as one-dimensional. I highly recommend it, even if I may suggest you look at certain parts discerningly and breeze through others.
January 7, 2014
I was born a decade after the assassination of JFK, but have heard about the Kennedy's a lot. When I saw this book on The Daily Show, it immediately caught my attention.
This book was a long, but interesting read. I found myself interested in parts of the biography that sounded boring and less interested in more interesting chapters.
The book begins with Joseph P. Kennedy's father's life. It was interesting to hear about the family's immigration from Ireland and start in Boston politics. Then it depicts the early life of Joseph Kennedy.
Kennedy was a genius in investing and making the most of every opportunity. There was a lot of emphasis on his business savvy-ness, Catholicism, personality and womanizing. I always find it interesting reading about the conflicting belief's of people versus their behavior. Although being a strict Catholic, JPK was rumored to have many affairs (like his son after him).
Most people have heard about the Kennedy's and Camelot. They were rich and led a jet set lifestyle. The family appears to have been close with good bonds, but had dysfunction as we all do. JPK and his wife, Rose, rarely vacationed together and didn't frequently live together. JPK was strongly involved in his children's lives (especially the boys), selecting their schools and caring for their health problems.
I did not know anything about JPK's political career. He worked with Roosevelt to help his elections and getting the Irish Catholic vote. He served on many committees and was rewarded by becoming an Ambassador to England in the late 1930s. JPK had strong opinions on a variety of topics and never shied from letting others know them. Pre-WWII, he vehemently backed Chamberlain and felt that Hitler could be negotiated with so there would be no war. He did not think it was advantageous for the US to get involved in the war. During this period, he was extremely negative and anxious about the future. JPK was also concerned with the "Jew factor." He felt rumors of abuse were greatly exaggerated and that Jewish individuals had too much control in politics in the US. I was really surprised at many of JPK's opinions and attitudes at the time, but I recognize that hindsight is 20/20.
JPK suffered a number of tragedies in relation to his children. His eldest daughter, Rosemary, was born with mental deficits. She was happy, but often behind developmentally. She started to do well at her new school when the family moved to England. She stayed behind with her father, when the left of the family left at the beginning of WWII. JPK agreed to have a frontal lobotomy performed on Rosemary to help with her mental deficits. Unfortunately, this led to Rosemary losing her ability of speech among other abilities.
JPK's eldest son died as a fighter pilot during WWII. He had been grooming this son for politics and was greatly affected by his death. Prior to this, he had not considered Jack for the numerous health problems he suffered as a child and adult. Not long after, his second daughter, Kick, died in a plane accident.
At this point in life, JPK became more concerned with working on his children's successes than his own. He lived in Boston, Palm Beach and France. He spent a lot of time on the phone or writing letters to help his children. He took a step back from the spotlight, when Jack entered politics. He wanted Jack to be seen as his own man. He still phoned and lit into anyone who he felt was steering Jack wrong, but he didn't want to be used by the press as a negative count against his son.
I did not realize how big an issue Jack's religion, Catholicism, was for his presidential election. It was interesting reading about this period. At the end of the election, JPK felt abandoned by the Catholic church he had always supported. The book briefly discusses JPK's affection for his many grandchildren and continued good relationship with his own children and their spouses. It does not give many details on JFK's presidency. In the third year of JFK's term, JPK suffered a stroke. He lost the ability to speak and it twisted many of his muscles on his left side. He was still respected by family and friends and talked to as before. They all reported that he could still communicate with his body and sounds. After his stroke, JPK and Rose spent more time together than in the other stages of their marriage.
JPK was napping at the time of his son's assassination. The family and staff did not tell him the news until the next day. He was devastated and watched the proceedings on tv. Due to his condition, he was unable to attend the funeral. Family and friends reported he lost most of his vigor after JFK's death. When Bobby was shot, Rose and JPK did not find out until late that evening and Rose broke the news to her husband.
JPK died not long after Bobby. He had lived to see Jack, Bobby, and Teddy succeed in politics. Eunice took an interest in running the family foundation and it focused on the care of children with mental retardation. He also saw his children married and have children. Sadly, he also outlived 4 of his 9 children.
Interesting biography on an interesting man.
Quotes
"I do not think it is the spread of Communism that is dangerous.... People are not embracing Communism as Communism, but they are discontented, insecure and unsettled and they embrace anything that looks like it might be better than what they have to endure.... It is very easy for anybody who has a job and is getting along all right to cry for democracy...but if you cannot feed your children and you do not know where the next meal is coming from, nobody knows what kind of freak you will follow." J.P.K
In the booming 1920s, Joseph P. Kennedy had made his money investing in stocks; in the 1930s, he made more by selling them short; in the 1940s and early 1950s, he invested in real estate and oil, and the money kept rolling in. Like every good businessman, he looked at the tax implications before investing in anything. He never paid a penny more than he had to or a penny less than he was required to.
Kennedy also commented on the incident, which he declared had brought the family "a lot of very bad publicity, not as bad as if somebody got drunk in a night club, but it shows a disregard for money on the part of people who are supposed to have it which irritates the masses beyond belief and it creates a very bad impression." He suggested that Eunice, Pat, and Jean "put all the important jewelry you all have in a safety deposit box and let it stay there...and just wear ordinary stuff around to the parties you attend. It may be sad but it's essential." He wanted them as well to "stop traveling by air planes, and by trains, particularly air planes, unless the trip is essential. This commuting back and forth besides being expensive becomes a matter of danger. I think you all should just get used to settling down in one spot and not rush away weekends to a different place from where you are located. Let's forget that for a while."
This book was a long, but interesting read. I found myself interested in parts of the biography that sounded boring and less interested in more interesting chapters.
The book begins with Joseph P. Kennedy's father's life. It was interesting to hear about the family's immigration from Ireland and start in Boston politics. Then it depicts the early life of Joseph Kennedy.
Kennedy was a genius in investing and making the most of every opportunity. There was a lot of emphasis on his business savvy-ness, Catholicism, personality and womanizing. I always find it interesting reading about the conflicting belief's of people versus their behavior. Although being a strict Catholic, JPK was rumored to have many affairs (like his son after him).
Most people have heard about the Kennedy's and Camelot. They were rich and led a jet set lifestyle. The family appears to have been close with good bonds, but had dysfunction as we all do. JPK and his wife, Rose, rarely vacationed together and didn't frequently live together. JPK was strongly involved in his children's lives (especially the boys), selecting their schools and caring for their health problems.
I did not know anything about JPK's political career. He worked with Roosevelt to help his elections and getting the Irish Catholic vote. He served on many committees and was rewarded by becoming an Ambassador to England in the late 1930s. JPK had strong opinions on a variety of topics and never shied from letting others know them. Pre-WWII, he vehemently backed Chamberlain and felt that Hitler could be negotiated with so there would be no war. He did not think it was advantageous for the US to get involved in the war. During this period, he was extremely negative and anxious about the future. JPK was also concerned with the "Jew factor." He felt rumors of abuse were greatly exaggerated and that Jewish individuals had too much control in politics in the US. I was really surprised at many of JPK's opinions and attitudes at the time, but I recognize that hindsight is 20/20.
JPK suffered a number of tragedies in relation to his children. His eldest daughter, Rosemary, was born with mental deficits. She was happy, but often behind developmentally. She started to do well at her new school when the family moved to England. She stayed behind with her father, when the left of the family left at the beginning of WWII. JPK agreed to have a frontal lobotomy performed on Rosemary to help with her mental deficits. Unfortunately, this led to Rosemary losing her ability of speech among other abilities.
JPK's eldest son died as a fighter pilot during WWII. He had been grooming this son for politics and was greatly affected by his death. Prior to this, he had not considered Jack for the numerous health problems he suffered as a child and adult. Not long after, his second daughter, Kick, died in a plane accident.
At this point in life, JPK became more concerned with working on his children's successes than his own. He lived in Boston, Palm Beach and France. He spent a lot of time on the phone or writing letters to help his children. He took a step back from the spotlight, when Jack entered politics. He wanted Jack to be seen as his own man. He still phoned and lit into anyone who he felt was steering Jack wrong, but he didn't want to be used by the press as a negative count against his son.
I did not realize how big an issue Jack's religion, Catholicism, was for his presidential election. It was interesting reading about this period. At the end of the election, JPK felt abandoned by the Catholic church he had always supported. The book briefly discusses JPK's affection for his many grandchildren and continued good relationship with his own children and their spouses. It does not give many details on JFK's presidency. In the third year of JFK's term, JPK suffered a stroke. He lost the ability to speak and it twisted many of his muscles on his left side. He was still respected by family and friends and talked to as before. They all reported that he could still communicate with his body and sounds. After his stroke, JPK and Rose spent more time together than in the other stages of their marriage.
JPK was napping at the time of his son's assassination. The family and staff did not tell him the news until the next day. He was devastated and watched the proceedings on tv. Due to his condition, he was unable to attend the funeral. Family and friends reported he lost most of his vigor after JFK's death. When Bobby was shot, Rose and JPK did not find out until late that evening and Rose broke the news to her husband.
JPK died not long after Bobby. He had lived to see Jack, Bobby, and Teddy succeed in politics. Eunice took an interest in running the family foundation and it focused on the care of children with mental retardation. He also saw his children married and have children. Sadly, he also outlived 4 of his 9 children.
Interesting biography on an interesting man.
Quotes
"I do not think it is the spread of Communism that is dangerous.... People are not embracing Communism as Communism, but they are discontented, insecure and unsettled and they embrace anything that looks like it might be better than what they have to endure.... It is very easy for anybody who has a job and is getting along all right to cry for democracy...but if you cannot feed your children and you do not know where the next meal is coming from, nobody knows what kind of freak you will follow." J.P.K
In the booming 1920s, Joseph P. Kennedy had made his money investing in stocks; in the 1930s, he made more by selling them short; in the 1940s and early 1950s, he invested in real estate and oil, and the money kept rolling in. Like every good businessman, he looked at the tax implications before investing in anything. He never paid a penny more than he had to or a penny less than he was required to.
Kennedy also commented on the incident, which he declared had brought the family "a lot of very bad publicity, not as bad as if somebody got drunk in a night club, but it shows a disregard for money on the part of people who are supposed to have it which irritates the masses beyond belief and it creates a very bad impression." He suggested that Eunice, Pat, and Jean "put all the important jewelry you all have in a safety deposit box and let it stay there...and just wear ordinary stuff around to the parties you attend. It may be sad but it's essential." He wanted them as well to "stop traveling by air planes, and by trains, particularly air planes, unless the trip is essential. This commuting back and forth besides being expensive becomes a matter of danger. I think you all should just get used to settling down in one spot and not rush away weekends to a different place from where you are located. Let's forget that for a while."
September 9, 2024
A very comprehensive look at Joseph P. Kennedy from start to finish. I enjoyed the way the author touched briefly in the opening pages of many monumental moments/events of Kennedy's life that we would read about in the pages to follow . The pages/years when Kennedy was the US ambassador to Great Britain were a bit long but gave you a real sense of the time. Quite the life and well worth the time in reading.
January 4, 2026
Had a few really fascinating insights ont how Kennedy got into politics and interacted with his family members—however, the politics and business sectors were also covered in considerable detail but were much more tedious to get through…the flow of the book also seemed random at times—it would have been better if the book was split into multiple sections covering those differing sectors of his life.
June 26, 2022
The first 2/3rds of this make for fascinating reading. Joseph Kennedy’s story is indelibly tied to the narrative of the first half of 20th century America, from the banks to Hollywood to Washington to London and back. The final 3rd could’ve been significantly condensed; JFK becomes the most interesting character in his fathers story. Still, a very readable biography, even if it drags in spots.
April 21, 2019
Well-researched biography of the American father who made a fortune and then raised a U.S. President, Attorney General, Senator, etc. but buried 4 of his children and stopped seeing and never acknowledged a living daughter.
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