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The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded
In this new personal history--the first serious volume focusing exclusively on Joseph Patrick Kennedy in 30 years--Ronald Kessler recreates the life and times of this ambitious, powerful, masterfully manipulative man. Utilizing extensive research and interviews with Kennedy family members and their intimates, speaking on record for the first time, Kessler reveals stunning new details of JPK's enormous accomplishments and the terrible personal losses he suffered. 16-page photo insert.
432 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Ronald Kessler
39 books109 followersRonald Kessler is the New York Times bestselling author of 21 non-fiction books about the Trump White House, Secret Service, FBI, and CIA.
Kessler began his career as a journalist in 1964 on the Worcester Telegram, followed by three years as an investigative reporter and editorial writer with the Boston Herald. In 1968, he joined the Wall Street Journal as an investigative reporter in the New York bureau. He became an investigative reporter with the Washington Post in 1970 and continued in that position until 1985.
Kessler's new book is "The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game."
Kessler has won eighteen journalism awards, including two George Polk awards--for national reporting and for community service. Kessler has also won the American Political Science Association's Public Affairs Reporting Award, the Associated Press' Sevellon Brown Memorial Award, and Washingtonian magazine's Washingtonian of the Year award. Franklin Pierce University awarded him the Marlin Fitzwater Medallion for excellence as a prolific author, journalist, and communicator. He is listed in Who's Who in America.
"Ron Kessler...has enjoyed a reputation for solid reporting over the past four decades." Lloyd Grove, The Daily Beast. "Kessler's such a skilled storyteller, you almost forget this is dead-serious nonfiction..." Newsweek. "[Ronald Kessler] is the man who broke the story about the [Secret Service prostitution] episode in Cartagena...." New York Times. "His [Kessler's] book quotes both flattering and unflattering observations about presidents of both parties." FactCheck.org. "[Ronald Kessler] is one of the nation's top investigative journalists." Fox & Friends. "Ron Kessler appears to get everything first." Slate.
Ron Kessler lives with his wife Pamela Kessler in the Washington, D.C. area. Also an author and former Washington Post reporter, Pam Kessler wrote "Undercover Washington: Where Famous Spies Lived, Worked and Loved." His daughter Rachel Kessler, an independent public relations consultant, and son Greg Kessler, an artist, live in New York.
Kessler began his career as a journalist in 1964 on the Worcester Telegram, followed by three years as an investigative reporter and editorial writer with the Boston Herald. In 1968, he joined the Wall Street Journal as an investigative reporter in the New York bureau. He became an investigative reporter with the Washington Post in 1970 and continued in that position until 1985.
Kessler's new book is "The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game."
Kessler has won eighteen journalism awards, including two George Polk awards--for national reporting and for community service. Kessler has also won the American Political Science Association's Public Affairs Reporting Award, the Associated Press' Sevellon Brown Memorial Award, and Washingtonian magazine's Washingtonian of the Year award. Franklin Pierce University awarded him the Marlin Fitzwater Medallion for excellence as a prolific author, journalist, and communicator. He is listed in Who's Who in America.
"Ron Kessler...has enjoyed a reputation for solid reporting over the past four decades." Lloyd Grove, The Daily Beast. "Kessler's such a skilled storyteller, you almost forget this is dead-serious nonfiction..." Newsweek. "[Ronald Kessler] is the man who broke the story about the [Secret Service prostitution] episode in Cartagena...." New York Times. "His [Kessler's] book quotes both flattering and unflattering observations about presidents of both parties." FactCheck.org. "[Ronald Kessler] is one of the nation's top investigative journalists." Fox & Friends. "Ron Kessler appears to get everything first." Slate.
Ron Kessler lives with his wife Pamela Kessler in the Washington, D.C. area. Also an author and former Washington Post reporter, Pam Kessler wrote "Undercover Washington: Where Famous Spies Lived, Worked and Loved." His daughter Rachel Kessler, an independent public relations consultant, and son Greg Kessler, an artist, live in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
July 4, 2012
This was a book I couldn't put down,
it's amazing how clever he was in bribing and manipulating journalists into presenting "the news" as he wanted.
All his life he had "news men" feed lies to the American public.
I just read THE DARK INSIDE, which is about the big con in the early 20th century. Joe K was the better than any of them!
What a piece of work!
What irony, that after he succeeded in getting a son elected president,
11 months later he has a stroke that leaves him unable to speak.
He lives to see 2 sons killed and Teddy drown a girl at Chappaquiddick,
but is totally impotent to do anything.
All he can do the last 8 years of his life is live in rage.
All in all a pathetic family that most likely has never felt anything other than superficial excitement.
The author didn't spend much time relating Joe's affiliation with organized crime and how it helped elect JFK.
"Paddy whacked : the untold story of the Irish American gangster"
had more details there.
He also didn't mention how it was the mob that killed JFK,
something covered in Paddy whacked and other books.
it's amazing how clever he was in bribing and manipulating journalists into presenting "the news" as he wanted.
All his life he had "news men" feed lies to the American public.
I just read THE DARK INSIDE, which is about the big con in the early 20th century. Joe K was the better than any of them!
What a piece of work!
What irony, that after he succeeded in getting a son elected president,
11 months later he has a stroke that leaves him unable to speak.
He lives to see 2 sons killed and Teddy drown a girl at Chappaquiddick,
but is totally impotent to do anything.
All he can do the last 8 years of his life is live in rage.
All in all a pathetic family that most likely has never felt anything other than superficial excitement.
The author didn't spend much time relating Joe's affiliation with organized crime and how it helped elect JFK.
"Paddy whacked : the untold story of the Irish American gangster"
had more details there.
He also didn't mention how it was the mob that killed JFK,
something covered in Paddy whacked and other books.
September 23, 2012
Over the past few years I have read a number of books about WWII and they mentioned Joe Kennedy as ambassador to England during the start of the war. Ole Joe did not get high praise in any of the books. So I decided to read a book about his life and this is the one I chose for better or worse.
I don't think there is any doubt about it; Joe Kennedy was a scoundrel, a philanderer, a manipulator and overall was not a very nice person. Joe was always looking out for himself first, his family second and everyone else, well they just didn't matter. Having said all of the negatives he did seem to be a very charismatic person who could talk his way into almost any woman's panties or business deal.
Also, the myth about the Kennedy family and Camelot certainly doesn't hold up. All of the Kennedy boys pretty much followed in the footsteps of their father when it comes to womanizing. How any of them stayed married is a mystery. Rose Kennedy, Joe's wife, was a real piece of work. She loved to shop and go to mass every day and not much else. She was a distant mother and a wife who wouldn't face the realties of her lying cheating husband. As one person said about Rose; she ignored what she didn't want to see or hear. Overall the Kennedy family was about as dysfunctional as they come. Not much to admire here.
I thought the book was a bit disorganized and jumped all over the time line. I think some of his sources are questionable and I don't think Kessler was looking for much nice to say about Joe Kennedy. He calls Joe a miser and yet The Kennedy Foundation that Joe set up did give a lot of money to some worthy causes. An interesting read that could have been much better.
I don't think there is any doubt about it; Joe Kennedy was a scoundrel, a philanderer, a manipulator and overall was not a very nice person. Joe was always looking out for himself first, his family second and everyone else, well they just didn't matter. Having said all of the negatives he did seem to be a very charismatic person who could talk his way into almost any woman's panties or business deal.
Also, the myth about the Kennedy family and Camelot certainly doesn't hold up. All of the Kennedy boys pretty much followed in the footsteps of their father when it comes to womanizing. How any of them stayed married is a mystery. Rose Kennedy, Joe's wife, was a real piece of work. She loved to shop and go to mass every day and not much else. She was a distant mother and a wife who wouldn't face the realties of her lying cheating husband. As one person said about Rose; she ignored what she didn't want to see or hear. Overall the Kennedy family was about as dysfunctional as they come. Not much to admire here.
I thought the book was a bit disorganized and jumped all over the time line. I think some of his sources are questionable and I don't think Kessler was looking for much nice to say about Joe Kennedy. He calls Joe a miser and yet The Kennedy Foundation that Joe set up did give a lot of money to some worthy causes. An interesting read that could have been much better.
March 23, 2009
This book was a good. It exposes Joseph Kennedy for the disgusting womanizing crook he was but that isn't the surprise. What was surprising in this book was how PRO-NAZI Joe Kennedy was and the iron-fisted control he had on his children even when they were adults.
The book is well written, the research is excellent, direct quotes and first hand accounts from the people who were there and knew Joe Kennedy, including but not limited to Gloria Swanson, Roosevelt and Hoover. You'll understand the Kennedys a lot better once you understand the abusive, ego-driven, criminal and controlling nature of their patriarch. And you'll feel sorry for them. This is not a family to envy but to pity.
The book is well written, the research is excellent, direct quotes and first hand accounts from the people who were there and knew Joe Kennedy, including but not limited to Gloria Swanson, Roosevelt and Hoover. You'll understand the Kennedys a lot better once you understand the abusive, ego-driven, criminal and controlling nature of their patriarch. And you'll feel sorry for them. This is not a family to envy but to pity.
June 20, 2008
A very unflattering portrayal of the Kennedy's. Dad was a power-hungry meglomaniac living his life vicariously through his sons. Very interesting. I didn't think I could think any worse of this family that has plagued America for far too long, but I did after reading this book.
March 3, 2016
Kessler's fast-paced, scathing biography of the pater familias of the Kennedy Dynasty at times feels like a full-fledged take-down in book form. Kessler often reminds the reader of the mythological facade of the Kennedy line, but proceeds to tear down that image with the bleak and brutal truth of Joseph Kennedy's life. Kessler would have us believe that Joseph Kennedy somehow managed to maintain a clean and admirable public image during most of his life, but reading this text makes this task difficult. In fact, reading Kessler's book can leave the reader wondering how anyone who knew the man could possibly have considered admirable or even likeable. There were points in the book where I struggled to kept pushing forward simply because Kessler's portrait of Kennedy is so bleak and unpleasant.
Still, truth is truth. Kessler provides direct quotations from enough of Kennedy's peers and family members that it is plain to see that this book is not simply an attempt to smear the Kennedy legacy. From his dishonest business practices, to his endless womanizing, to his draconian control over his family, Kessler uses a heavy hand to paint a portrait of a man with little or no regard for the wishes or well-being of anyone but himself. While much of the first half of the book is concerned with Kennedy's ruthless rise to wealth, power, and prominence, the second half of the book takes something of a tragic turn as Kessler illustrates the downfall of Joe's political aspirations and the destruction of his family.
While he can hardly be blamed for the assassination of two of his sons, the deaths of two of his other children, and the cruel treatment of his daughter Rosemary, bear the hallmarks of a man obsessed with his own image and with no one around him bold enough to stand up to him. The details of the troubles of his children and grandchildren, the drinking, drugs, and recklessness, are all attributed either to Joe's expectations and control over those closest to him. Kessler convincingly argues that the reckless abandon displayed by the car crashes, plan crashes, philandering, and substance abuse can all be traced back to the father and patriarch whose obsession with power contributed to his own self-destruction in the public and political sphere of American life.
Still, truth is truth. Kessler provides direct quotations from enough of Kennedy's peers and family members that it is plain to see that this book is not simply an attempt to smear the Kennedy legacy. From his dishonest business practices, to his endless womanizing, to his draconian control over his family, Kessler uses a heavy hand to paint a portrait of a man with little or no regard for the wishes or well-being of anyone but himself. While much of the first half of the book is concerned with Kennedy's ruthless rise to wealth, power, and prominence, the second half of the book takes something of a tragic turn as Kessler illustrates the downfall of Joe's political aspirations and the destruction of his family.
While he can hardly be blamed for the assassination of two of his sons, the deaths of two of his other children, and the cruel treatment of his daughter Rosemary, bear the hallmarks of a man obsessed with his own image and with no one around him bold enough to stand up to him. The details of the troubles of his children and grandchildren, the drinking, drugs, and recklessness, are all attributed either to Joe's expectations and control over those closest to him. Kessler convincingly argues that the reckless abandon displayed by the car crashes, plan crashes, philandering, and substance abuse can all be traced back to the father and patriarch whose obsession with power contributed to his own self-destruction in the public and political sphere of American life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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July 22, 2010excellent and insightful
March 14, 2011
If you're a Kennedy fanatic, this is a must read. This book shows how Joe Kennedy built his dynasty.
February 25, 2015
Interesting look into the Kennedy family to separate the political spin machine from the reality of the family's less than storied past and rise to fame.
May 28, 2017
Very informative and disturbing look at the Kennedy family.
September 7, 2021
Very readable but unbalanced. Gossip presented as fact. The author became a Trumpist so……..
October 20, 2019
Read this about 20 years ago and recall enjoying it.
November 6, 2018
How did such a corrupt and dysfunctional family become one of America's most beloved sacred cows?
The Kennedy curse, if you believe it exists, lies with its patriarch. The story of Joe Kennedy is one of seemingly limitless corruption. A pro-Hitler Nazi sympathizer who manipulated his family in the same way he did the stock market, his list of evil deeds knew no bounds. He ruined lives and destroyed companies according to what suited his personal gain. "Joe Kennedy never did anything without thinking of Joe Kennedy," newspaper editor Early said.
Joe's philandering kept him so preoccupied he failed to attend his own father's funeral. He offered to pay a young woman, Eunice Pringle, $10,000 to accuse a business rival of his of of sexual assault (and when Pringle was ready to come clean two years later, she died suddenly under mysterious means). The Nazis used Joe's demoralizing and anti-British remarks as part of their war propaganda. Payoffs to the Catholic church and Boston police officers kept Joe out of bounds of accountability. Jewelry, cash gifts, use of Joe's Palm Beach home, and Haig&Haig Scotch kept editors and the Washington Press Corps in Joe's pocket. Charitable donations to the Catholic Church in political battleground states ensured more votes.
"I don't think any of the Kennedys were capable of deep emotional attachment," Janet Des Rosiers, Joe's mistress of nine years said. Of Joe she said, "He was self-deluding… He could convince himself of anything to make it true ... and then he believed it.
Of all the evil Joe did, the ugliest thing of all was what he did to his daughter, Rosemary. (I could not get through that chapter without crying. She was a "loser," so Joe got her out of the way. Then to discover the Special Olympics in essence came out of the family's need to make a uniform narrative about what was done to their sister by their father...).
When it came to the Kennedy children, especially the boys, the apple surely didn't fall far from the tree.
"Recklessness was a family trait, and it affected others." Joe, Jr. died in a plane crash after being advised not to fly. Daughter Kathleen died in a plane crash (also due to recklessness). JFK was shot. Bobby Kennedy, shot. Ted chartered a plane that crashed in fog and killed the pilot. Later, a drunk Ted killed a young woman at Chappequidick. Joe II's reckless driving left one young woman paralyzed for life. JFK, Jr. died in a plane crash when flying in less than optimal circumstances.
"They were always told they were better than everyone else, " cousin Mary Lou McCarthy said. "Just like Hollywood starlet who says, 'I can get into this car and go 150 miles an hour if I want and the officer won't give me a ticket I give them an autograph, they think they can get away with anything. It's pitiful. The girl was paralyzed for life in a jeep driven by Joe II. Chappaquiddick took a life."
"An almost incestuous atmosphere pervaded the Kennedy household," according to Langdon Marvin, aide to Jack Kennedy, who said he helped acquire women for them. "What I mean is at the Kennedy men passed their women around like community property, preyed off each other's dates, traded them like baseball cards. ""
"Jack, Bobby, and Ted were all philanderers… The sons grabbed everything that was introduced to them, " Igor Cassini said. "All was permissible as long as appearances were maintained."
JFK, along with Addison's disease, had persistent complications from a case of gonorrhea he contracted at Harvard. He deflected questions about his gaunt appearance with humor, attributing his weight loss to "Jackie's cooking."
Jackie gave birth to their first baby, stillborn, at Newport Rhode Island. Jack, meanwhile, was on a yacht in the Mediterannean with several young women.
JFK declared the White House must be "the center of moral leadership". A month after, he begins affair with Judith Exner, introduced to him by Frank Sinatra. White House telephone logs record 70 calls between the two of them. She was also seeing mafia boss Sam Giancana, who gave money to JFK's campaign.
An American media every bit as corrupt and dysfunctional as the Kennedys continues to prop up the family image. The following updates from the book are insights into the depth of the scandal, the love-hate relationship with the Roosevelts, etc:
98.38% "The man does not know truth from fiction any more," Mary Lou McCarthy said of Ted. "How can you when you spent the last twenty five years doing what he's been doing?""
94.91% "Jeghegian was shocked by the way the members of the family walked around the house nude. "They often were nude walking around. Jack was the same way. There was nothing sacred about being private...a door would be open and someone would be getting out of a bathing suit into some clothes. It was Eunice or Pat or the president. ""
94.21% "Family invents fairytales to the media and the media reports them, on the condition of Joe's "improving health. ""
91.44% "Rose used to throw newspapers out the window when she was chauffeured. When warned, she giggled and said, "oh they know who I am.""
90.05% "Joe insists Jack make Bobby attorney general, even though Bobby had never gone to law school nor had a case in his life"
89.58% "Joe relies heavily on payouts to the Catholic Church, especially that in Boston and New York, for his son's election."
88.66% "Jack did what Joe wanted him to do, "George Smathers said "that included becoming president."
88.43% "Jackie pressured Jack's friend Red Fay to cut 2000 words from his book the 'pleasure of his company.' She went to court to demand major deletions from William Manchester's 'death of a president.' In the years after her husband's death, she gave only one interview. In that respect, she mirrored the rest the Kennedys, whom Joe taught to control their image as carefully as communist party leaders."
"Reporter Fred's Sparks over heard Jack and Jackie arguing at La Caravelle. Asking for the check, Jackie said, "I'm going to walk out on you. Every Kennedy thinks only of the family! Has anybody ever thought about my happiness?""
88.43% "Jackie was ready to divorce Jack, and Joe offered her $1 million to stay until Jack entered the White House, "said Igor Cassini. "Then she got a taste for being First Lady. But she knew all of his infidelities. He paid $1 million for her to stay with Jack until he was elected… He didn't tell me, but my brother and I learned about it.""
Jackie knew about her husband's philandering and developed a visceral dislike of politics."
86.81% "Joe furiously begins funneling money into West Virginia primary to swing a largely protestant state. Tip O'Neill witnesses the payoffs to sheriffs and other officials."
86.34% "Eleanor Roosevelt is berated by Jack for a statement she made on ABC, saying that "Senator Kennedy's father has been spending money all over the country and probably has a paid representative in every state by now." The two battle back-and-forth for a while before she outwits him by asking is she should write another column on him. He concedes let t rest."
86.11% "In his 60s, Joe openly philanders with girls as young as high school students. Multiple at a time. Rose, continues to live in a land of make-believe, pretending she does not know what is going on. Prescription tranquilizers meanwhile begin to take over her life."
85.42% "Joe contrives to give the image he had nothing to do with his sons' political career. Joe Timilty, however, asserted that Jo was, quite simply, the "mastermind of all jacks campaigns. Without his father, he never would've entered politics.""
85.19% "The yarns of touch football made good copy, but Richard Harwood, then a Washington Post reporter, gave a more telling description of how the game was played. Bobby "jammed his palm into my face in a deliberate foul." After scoring a touchdown anyway, Harwood turn to Bobby and said, "you're a dirty player, and a lousy one, too."
72.45% "Kathleen Kennedy dies in May 1948 in a plane crash. Joe put out word that she had been traveling with her boyfriend to France to obtain his approval for marriage to make her death look better than its actuality. Rose does not attend the funeral."
71.53% "Joe Kennedy represented the height of vulgarity, "Doris Lily said. "He was horny, that's all he was. "
70.83% "Krock described Bobby Kennedy as "cruel and driving and ungrateful.""
70.37% "Rose never "saw things or acknowledged thing she didn't want to "pitcairn said. "Like she was a non-person. Daddy was it. meanwhile, the children were always quizzing you at Meals. 'Which one of us is most popular? Which one of us do you really think is the brightest?'l"
70.14% "Rose was equally bizarre. Pick Karen recall that Rose will come to the lunch table in Hyannisport with scraps of paper pinned her address. On the scraps her questions to ask the children: "who has taken your father's steamer trunk? ""
70.14% "Joe outraged his daughter Kathleen's friend, charlotte McDonald, by forcing her to join them in the bathroom to impress will Hayes, the United States film sensor. She found Jo's behavior sick and said she would've "left" if her father play the same trick on her friends."
68.52% "Luce considered Joe profane and articulate, but a shrewd capitalist who jumped in and out of business without taking operating responsibility. Joe knew what money was for, how to enjoy it, and did it all for the sake of acquiring power"
67.82% "Joe paid Joseph Russo, a janitor, to enter the race to ensure that jack won the primary campaign. This split the votes cast for Joe Russo, a legitimate politician who was already on the ballot, thus confusing voters."
66.9% "The same man who was obsessed with appeasing Hitler now told his son Jack that his wartime record would be the centerpiece of his campaign."
66.67% "Rose's father and subsequently her mother left her out of their will"
66.44% "In Palm Beach during Christmas of 1944, Joe gave Jack his orders: he was to take Joe Junior's place in our politics."
66.44% "Truman threatens to throw Joe out of the Ritz Carlton window in Boston after Joe says to him (regarding Roosevelt), "Harry, what are you doing campaigning for that crippled son of a bitch who killed my son?"
65.97% "Arthur Krock was convinced that the reason Joe Junior and volunteered for such a dangerous mission was to compensate for his father's reputation as a coward. Roosevelt had told many people that Kennedy was yellow.
65.05% "The Kennedys will sacrifice anyone for their own power, "Igor Cassini said. He found Joe's relationship with Rose particular curious. For photographers, they posed holding hands and smiling. It even when Jo and Rose are in the same city, they stayed in separate hotels."
64.58% "Neither Rose not Joe attend their daughter Kathleen's wedding because she married a Protestant."
64.35% "Dinneen wrote a book called "The Kennedy Family" and included three paragraphs from the interview with Joe, detailing his virulent hatred for Jews. Jack saw the galley proofs and demanded that those paragraphs be removed. When he resisted, Jack cursed him and insisted the paragraphs be taken out of there"
64.35% "Boston Globe fails to publish an interview with Joe in which he claimed Jews brought (hitler's extermination of 2.5 million in 1944) on themselves"
61.34% "To Arvad (a suspected Hitler spy with whom JFK was having an affair), the entire family was weird. "The way she thought of it, "[Tim] McCoy said, "the old man would push Joe, Joe would push Jack, Jack would push Bobbie, Bobbie pushed Teddy, and Teddy would fall on his ass. ""
58.33% "The Kennedys focused attention on mental retardation was for the wrong reason, in order to hide that it really was mental illness, "Dr. Brown said."
58.33% "Dr brown, director of NIMH from 1970 to 1978, said that from his dealings with Eunice and other family members he came to realize that the families ever did and I that Rosemary was mentally L affected their attitude about psychiatry and helping the mentally L. And his role in the Kennedy White House, dr Brown constantly tried to overcome the family's antipathy toward psychiatry."
56.71% "According to a review in the American Journal of psychiatry of a report on all lobotomies ever done, the procedure was only used for psychiatric illness -- not, for mental retardation."
56.02% "The family considered Rosemary "a disgrace and a failure.""
55.32% "Joe could not tolerate losers anymore than he could tolerate crying. He banned Rosemary from the house."
54.86% "Roosevelt ordered the investigation of a report that just before Czechoslovakia fell, Jo
E sold Czech securities short, making a profit of approximately $500,000 in the time of that country's greatest need"
54.86% "Roosevelt ordered the investigation of a report that just before Czechoslovakia fell, Jo
E sold Czech securities short, making a profit of approximately $500,000 in the time of that country's greatest need"
54.63% "Roosevelt said "Joe is and always has been a temperamental Irish boy., Terrifically spoiled at an early age… thoroughly selfish and thoroughly obsessed with the idea that he must leave each of his nine children with $1 million apiece (he has often told me that). Has a positive horror of any change in the present methods of life in America.""
53.94% ""despite the fact that Kennedy was nothing but a stock market gambler with no political background and no social outlook, Roosevelt brought him here to make them chairman of the SEC, "Ickes wrote. Ickes thought Joe's appointment an example of Roosevelts management at its worst"
October 20, 2018 – page 232
53.7% "When the rest of the world Saul right through him, the New York daily news and William Randolph Hearst defended Jo's "record "and called him a "find an effective ambassador. ""
October 20, 2018 – page 231
53.47% "The daily news said, "we can forgive wrongheadedness but not bad faith. How little you know us, after all. Your three years as ambassador have not given you insight into character and traditions of the British people.""
October 20, 2018 – page 231
53.47% ""while Joe was here, his suave monotonous smile, his nine, over-photographed children...conceal a hard boiled business men's eagerness to do a profitable business deal with dictators. He deceived many decent English people.""
52.55% "Joe's dimwittedness as an ambassador"
50.0% "The Nazis use Joe's sentiments against England and propaganda claiming Churchhill did not represent the views of the British people."
48.38% "Aware that he was becoming an outcast, Joe Ray cast himself as a profit and made of honor, a candid man beset by hypocrites. In other words, he use the media to help reshape his image"
48.38% "Joe defied state department policy guidelines by making promises that the American government did not approve and did not support."
47.92% "Arthur Krock confirmed that Joe "hoped to be nominated in 1940. "However Krock had tested the waters and found out that Joe's reputation wasn't clean enough. Without missing a beat, Joe turned to his eldest son, Joe Jr to fulfill his own aspirations. Two days after the Times reported Joe would not run, Joe Jr filed nomination papers as a candidate for delegate to the Democratic national convention."
46.3% "Amid all the chaos, Joe's media friends did not abandon him. Henry Luce placed Joe on Time's cover for the second time, although Luce was well aware of Joe's three-year affair with Gloria Swanson."
46.3% "By now it was widely assumed that Joe was using his position to enhance his own wealth. Foreign office officials and a former Swedish minister to London commented on "funny stories"!about Joes stock market dealings. Joe was thinking "all the time about his own financial position and his political future.""
46.06% "Joe continued to be a "pain in the neck" to Roosevelt. But Roosevelt saw him as a bigger political threat outside of the state department"
44.91% "Roosevelt drags his feet to take a stand against Nazism"
44.91% "Joe banks on a war on England helping his income from liquor importation."
44.21% "State dept holds Joe Sr in contempt, both for his cluelessness regarding international affairs, but also for his offensive remarks among British government. Officials in both British and American governments find him pro-Nazi, antisemitic, and convinced that Britain would be defeated. Joe also supposed Hitler could be bought "for the right price""
41.67% "Roosevelt and Hull rebuke Joe's interference in London to censor influential journalist who opposed Neville Chamberlain's Nazi appeasement policies."
41.44% "When Joe's aide Harvey Klemmer reported to Joe on the treatment of Jews in Germany, Joe dismissed the atrocities by saying, "they brought it on themselves. ""
40.05% "We have a rich man, untrained i. diplomacy, and unlearned in history and politics, who is a great publicity seeker and who apparently is ambitious to be the first Catholic president of the US, "wrote Josiah Wedgwood, a member of Parliament opposed to chamberlains foreign policy"
October 10, 2018 – page 173
38.66% "Joe remonstrated with Roosevelt for criticizing fascism in his speeches," Ickes recalled. Joe said very frankly that he thought we would have to have some sort of fascism here. Roosevelt said Joe would likely organize a small powerful committee under himself as chairman and this committee would run the country without much reference to congress."
38.43% "Joe threatens newspaperman Salzburger on an unflattering piece. When Sulzburger refused to make changes, Joe warned that his publisher was a close friend. When the article was published, Sulzberger found it so changed that "it seemed as if Joe himself had written it" he said."
"Joe double crosses longtime patron Currier when Currier goes on vacation overseas. Congressman names Joe "chief racketeer" in the RKO swindle and is called out by others for his fraud."
September 28, 2018 – page 53
12.27% "Joe promises the founder of KAO he will continue to expand the chain after buying them out. But once the papers are signed on May 10, 1928 and Joe's chairman, Joe said bluntly, "Don't you know , Ed? Your washed up. Through""
September 28, 2018 – page 49
11.34% "Trust funds were for binding his children permanently to his own dreams," wrote Doris Kearns Goodwin.
The trust funds favored his sons. Significantly, the later trusts provided only for his children, not for Rose."
September 28, 2018 – page 47
10.88% "Morton Downey Jr. said Joe and his father would refer to Jews by a code word -- "Canadian geese," apparently because of a perception that Jews have long noses.
"Dad was known for his indiscreet remarks," Ted would later say. "but never for being bigoted or prejudiced.""
September 28, 2018 – page 47
10.88% "Joe Kennedy's feeling toward Jews was the only way he could be a success, in that every day when he got up, he focused on one deal involving a Jew, and he would win the deal. That was this whole driving spirit," said Morton Downey Jr., quoting what his father told him about Joe."
September 28, 2018 – page 46
10.65% "Mort did him favors in the department Joe liked best -- girls," a confidante said. "He knew chorus girls."
Dave Farrell, former managing editor of the Boston Herald said, "I used to play touch football games with the Kennedys. It always amused me, this myth about them and touch football.… Jack, Ted, and Bobby were not good athletes. But they created this myth that they were marvelous athletes. "
The Kennedy curse, if you believe it exists, lies with its patriarch. The story of Joe Kennedy is one of seemingly limitless corruption. A pro-Hitler Nazi sympathizer who manipulated his family in the same way he did the stock market, his list of evil deeds knew no bounds. He ruined lives and destroyed companies according to what suited his personal gain. "Joe Kennedy never did anything without thinking of Joe Kennedy," newspaper editor Early said.
Joe's philandering kept him so preoccupied he failed to attend his own father's funeral. He offered to pay a young woman, Eunice Pringle, $10,000 to accuse a business rival of his of of sexual assault (and when Pringle was ready to come clean two years later, she died suddenly under mysterious means). The Nazis used Joe's demoralizing and anti-British remarks as part of their war propaganda. Payoffs to the Catholic church and Boston police officers kept Joe out of bounds of accountability. Jewelry, cash gifts, use of Joe's Palm Beach home, and Haig&Haig Scotch kept editors and the Washington Press Corps in Joe's pocket. Charitable donations to the Catholic Church in political battleground states ensured more votes.
"I don't think any of the Kennedys were capable of deep emotional attachment," Janet Des Rosiers, Joe's mistress of nine years said. Of Joe she said, "He was self-deluding… He could convince himself of anything to make it true ... and then he believed it.
Of all the evil Joe did, the ugliest thing of all was what he did to his daughter, Rosemary. (I could not get through that chapter without crying. She was a "loser," so Joe got her out of the way. Then to discover the Special Olympics in essence came out of the family's need to make a uniform narrative about what was done to their sister by their father...).
When it came to the Kennedy children, especially the boys, the apple surely didn't fall far from the tree.
"Recklessness was a family trait, and it affected others." Joe, Jr. died in a plane crash after being advised not to fly. Daughter Kathleen died in a plane crash (also due to recklessness). JFK was shot. Bobby Kennedy, shot. Ted chartered a plane that crashed in fog and killed the pilot. Later, a drunk Ted killed a young woman at Chappequidick. Joe II's reckless driving left one young woman paralyzed for life. JFK, Jr. died in a plane crash when flying in less than optimal circumstances.
"They were always told they were better than everyone else, " cousin Mary Lou McCarthy said. "Just like Hollywood starlet who says, 'I can get into this car and go 150 miles an hour if I want and the officer won't give me a ticket I give them an autograph, they think they can get away with anything. It's pitiful. The girl was paralyzed for life in a jeep driven by Joe II. Chappaquiddick took a life."
"An almost incestuous atmosphere pervaded the Kennedy household," according to Langdon Marvin, aide to Jack Kennedy, who said he helped acquire women for them. "What I mean is at the Kennedy men passed their women around like community property, preyed off each other's dates, traded them like baseball cards. ""
"Jack, Bobby, and Ted were all philanderers… The sons grabbed everything that was introduced to them, " Igor Cassini said. "All was permissible as long as appearances were maintained."
JFK, along with Addison's disease, had persistent complications from a case of gonorrhea he contracted at Harvard. He deflected questions about his gaunt appearance with humor, attributing his weight loss to "Jackie's cooking."
Jackie gave birth to their first baby, stillborn, at Newport Rhode Island. Jack, meanwhile, was on a yacht in the Mediterannean with several young women.
JFK declared the White House must be "the center of moral leadership". A month after, he begins affair with Judith Exner, introduced to him by Frank Sinatra. White House telephone logs record 70 calls between the two of them. She was also seeing mafia boss Sam Giancana, who gave money to JFK's campaign.
An American media every bit as corrupt and dysfunctional as the Kennedys continues to prop up the family image. The following updates from the book are insights into the depth of the scandal, the love-hate relationship with the Roosevelts, etc:
98.38% "The man does not know truth from fiction any more," Mary Lou McCarthy said of Ted. "How can you when you spent the last twenty five years doing what he's been doing?""
94.91% "Jeghegian was shocked by the way the members of the family walked around the house nude. "They often were nude walking around. Jack was the same way. There was nothing sacred about being private...a door would be open and someone would be getting out of a bathing suit into some clothes. It was Eunice or Pat or the president. ""
94.21% "Family invents fairytales to the media and the media reports them, on the condition of Joe's "improving health. ""
91.44% "Rose used to throw newspapers out the window when she was chauffeured. When warned, she giggled and said, "oh they know who I am.""
90.05% "Joe insists Jack make Bobby attorney general, even though Bobby had never gone to law school nor had a case in his life"
89.58% "Joe relies heavily on payouts to the Catholic Church, especially that in Boston and New York, for his son's election."
88.66% "Jack did what Joe wanted him to do, "George Smathers said "that included becoming president."
88.43% "Jackie pressured Jack's friend Red Fay to cut 2000 words from his book the 'pleasure of his company.' She went to court to demand major deletions from William Manchester's 'death of a president.' In the years after her husband's death, she gave only one interview. In that respect, she mirrored the rest the Kennedys, whom Joe taught to control their image as carefully as communist party leaders."
"Reporter Fred's Sparks over heard Jack and Jackie arguing at La Caravelle. Asking for the check, Jackie said, "I'm going to walk out on you. Every Kennedy thinks only of the family! Has anybody ever thought about my happiness?""
88.43% "Jackie was ready to divorce Jack, and Joe offered her $1 million to stay until Jack entered the White House, "said Igor Cassini. "Then she got a taste for being First Lady. But she knew all of his infidelities. He paid $1 million for her to stay with Jack until he was elected… He didn't tell me, but my brother and I learned about it.""
Jackie knew about her husband's philandering and developed a visceral dislike of politics."
86.81% "Joe furiously begins funneling money into West Virginia primary to swing a largely protestant state. Tip O'Neill witnesses the payoffs to sheriffs and other officials."
86.34% "Eleanor Roosevelt is berated by Jack for a statement she made on ABC, saying that "Senator Kennedy's father has been spending money all over the country and probably has a paid representative in every state by now." The two battle back-and-forth for a while before she outwits him by asking is she should write another column on him. He concedes let t rest."
86.11% "In his 60s, Joe openly philanders with girls as young as high school students. Multiple at a time. Rose, continues to live in a land of make-believe, pretending she does not know what is going on. Prescription tranquilizers meanwhile begin to take over her life."
85.42% "Joe contrives to give the image he had nothing to do with his sons' political career. Joe Timilty, however, asserted that Jo was, quite simply, the "mastermind of all jacks campaigns. Without his father, he never would've entered politics.""
85.19% "The yarns of touch football made good copy, but Richard Harwood, then a Washington Post reporter, gave a more telling description of how the game was played. Bobby "jammed his palm into my face in a deliberate foul." After scoring a touchdown anyway, Harwood turn to Bobby and said, "you're a dirty player, and a lousy one, too."
72.45% "Kathleen Kennedy dies in May 1948 in a plane crash. Joe put out word that she had been traveling with her boyfriend to France to obtain his approval for marriage to make her death look better than its actuality. Rose does not attend the funeral."
71.53% "Joe Kennedy represented the height of vulgarity, "Doris Lily said. "He was horny, that's all he was. "
70.83% "Krock described Bobby Kennedy as "cruel and driving and ungrateful.""
70.37% "Rose never "saw things or acknowledged thing she didn't want to "pitcairn said. "Like she was a non-person. Daddy was it. meanwhile, the children were always quizzing you at Meals. 'Which one of us is most popular? Which one of us do you really think is the brightest?'l"
70.14% "Rose was equally bizarre. Pick Karen recall that Rose will come to the lunch table in Hyannisport with scraps of paper pinned her address. On the scraps her questions to ask the children: "who has taken your father's steamer trunk? ""
70.14% "Joe outraged his daughter Kathleen's friend, charlotte McDonald, by forcing her to join them in the bathroom to impress will Hayes, the United States film sensor. She found Jo's behavior sick and said she would've "left" if her father play the same trick on her friends."
68.52% "Luce considered Joe profane and articulate, but a shrewd capitalist who jumped in and out of business without taking operating responsibility. Joe knew what money was for, how to enjoy it, and did it all for the sake of acquiring power"
67.82% "Joe paid Joseph Russo, a janitor, to enter the race to ensure that jack won the primary campaign. This split the votes cast for Joe Russo, a legitimate politician who was already on the ballot, thus confusing voters."
66.9% "The same man who was obsessed with appeasing Hitler now told his son Jack that his wartime record would be the centerpiece of his campaign."
66.67% "Rose's father and subsequently her mother left her out of their will"
66.44% "In Palm Beach during Christmas of 1944, Joe gave Jack his orders: he was to take Joe Junior's place in our politics."
66.44% "Truman threatens to throw Joe out of the Ritz Carlton window in Boston after Joe says to him (regarding Roosevelt), "Harry, what are you doing campaigning for that crippled son of a bitch who killed my son?"
65.97% "Arthur Krock was convinced that the reason Joe Junior and volunteered for such a dangerous mission was to compensate for his father's reputation as a coward. Roosevelt had told many people that Kennedy was yellow.
65.05% "The Kennedys will sacrifice anyone for their own power, "Igor Cassini said. He found Joe's relationship with Rose particular curious. For photographers, they posed holding hands and smiling. It even when Jo and Rose are in the same city, they stayed in separate hotels."
64.58% "Neither Rose not Joe attend their daughter Kathleen's wedding because she married a Protestant."
64.35% "Dinneen wrote a book called "The Kennedy Family" and included three paragraphs from the interview with Joe, detailing his virulent hatred for Jews. Jack saw the galley proofs and demanded that those paragraphs be removed. When he resisted, Jack cursed him and insisted the paragraphs be taken out of there"
64.35% "Boston Globe fails to publish an interview with Joe in which he claimed Jews brought (hitler's extermination of 2.5 million in 1944) on themselves"
61.34% "To Arvad (a suspected Hitler spy with whom JFK was having an affair), the entire family was weird. "The way she thought of it, "[Tim] McCoy said, "the old man would push Joe, Joe would push Jack, Jack would push Bobbie, Bobbie pushed Teddy, and Teddy would fall on his ass. ""
58.33% "The Kennedys focused attention on mental retardation was for the wrong reason, in order to hide that it really was mental illness, "Dr. Brown said."
58.33% "Dr brown, director of NIMH from 1970 to 1978, said that from his dealings with Eunice and other family members he came to realize that the families ever did and I that Rosemary was mentally L affected their attitude about psychiatry and helping the mentally L. And his role in the Kennedy White House, dr Brown constantly tried to overcome the family's antipathy toward psychiatry."
56.71% "According to a review in the American Journal of psychiatry of a report on all lobotomies ever done, the procedure was only used for psychiatric illness -- not, for mental retardation."
56.02% "The family considered Rosemary "a disgrace and a failure.""
55.32% "Joe could not tolerate losers anymore than he could tolerate crying. He banned Rosemary from the house."
54.86% "Roosevelt ordered the investigation of a report that just before Czechoslovakia fell, Jo
E sold Czech securities short, making a profit of approximately $500,000 in the time of that country's greatest need"
54.86% "Roosevelt ordered the investigation of a report that just before Czechoslovakia fell, Jo
E sold Czech securities short, making a profit of approximately $500,000 in the time of that country's greatest need"
54.63% "Roosevelt said "Joe is and always has been a temperamental Irish boy., Terrifically spoiled at an early age… thoroughly selfish and thoroughly obsessed with the idea that he must leave each of his nine children with $1 million apiece (he has often told me that). Has a positive horror of any change in the present methods of life in America.""
53.94% ""despite the fact that Kennedy was nothing but a stock market gambler with no political background and no social outlook, Roosevelt brought him here to make them chairman of the SEC, "Ickes wrote. Ickes thought Joe's appointment an example of Roosevelts management at its worst"
October 20, 2018 – page 232
53.7% "When the rest of the world Saul right through him, the New York daily news and William Randolph Hearst defended Jo's "record "and called him a "find an effective ambassador. ""
October 20, 2018 – page 231
53.47% "The daily news said, "we can forgive wrongheadedness but not bad faith. How little you know us, after all. Your three years as ambassador have not given you insight into character and traditions of the British people.""
October 20, 2018 – page 231
53.47% ""while Joe was here, his suave monotonous smile, his nine, over-photographed children...conceal a hard boiled business men's eagerness to do a profitable business deal with dictators. He deceived many decent English people.""
52.55% "Joe's dimwittedness as an ambassador"
50.0% "The Nazis use Joe's sentiments against England and propaganda claiming Churchhill did not represent the views of the British people."
48.38% "Aware that he was becoming an outcast, Joe Ray cast himself as a profit and made of honor, a candid man beset by hypocrites. In other words, he use the media to help reshape his image"
48.38% "Joe defied state department policy guidelines by making promises that the American government did not approve and did not support."
47.92% "Arthur Krock confirmed that Joe "hoped to be nominated in 1940. "However Krock had tested the waters and found out that Joe's reputation wasn't clean enough. Without missing a beat, Joe turned to his eldest son, Joe Jr to fulfill his own aspirations. Two days after the Times reported Joe would not run, Joe Jr filed nomination papers as a candidate for delegate to the Democratic national convention."
46.3% "Amid all the chaos, Joe's media friends did not abandon him. Henry Luce placed Joe on Time's cover for the second time, although Luce was well aware of Joe's three-year affair with Gloria Swanson."
46.3% "By now it was widely assumed that Joe was using his position to enhance his own wealth. Foreign office officials and a former Swedish minister to London commented on "funny stories"!about Joes stock market dealings. Joe was thinking "all the time about his own financial position and his political future.""
46.06% "Joe continued to be a "pain in the neck" to Roosevelt. But Roosevelt saw him as a bigger political threat outside of the state department"
44.91% "Roosevelt drags his feet to take a stand against Nazism"
44.91% "Joe banks on a war on England helping his income from liquor importation."
44.21% "State dept holds Joe Sr in contempt, both for his cluelessness regarding international affairs, but also for his offensive remarks among British government. Officials in both British and American governments find him pro-Nazi, antisemitic, and convinced that Britain would be defeated. Joe also supposed Hitler could be bought "for the right price""
41.67% "Roosevelt and Hull rebuke Joe's interference in London to censor influential journalist who opposed Neville Chamberlain's Nazi appeasement policies."
41.44% "When Joe's aide Harvey Klemmer reported to Joe on the treatment of Jews in Germany, Joe dismissed the atrocities by saying, "they brought it on themselves. ""
40.05% "We have a rich man, untrained i. diplomacy, and unlearned in history and politics, who is a great publicity seeker and who apparently is ambitious to be the first Catholic president of the US, "wrote Josiah Wedgwood, a member of Parliament opposed to chamberlains foreign policy"
October 10, 2018 – page 173
38.66% "Joe remonstrated with Roosevelt for criticizing fascism in his speeches," Ickes recalled. Joe said very frankly that he thought we would have to have some sort of fascism here. Roosevelt said Joe would likely organize a small powerful committee under himself as chairman and this committee would run the country without much reference to congress."
38.43% "Joe threatens newspaperman Salzburger on an unflattering piece. When Sulzburger refused to make changes, Joe warned that his publisher was a close friend. When the article was published, Sulzberger found it so changed that "it seemed as if Joe himself had written it" he said."
"Joe double crosses longtime patron Currier when Currier goes on vacation overseas. Congressman names Joe "chief racketeer" in the RKO swindle and is called out by others for his fraud."
September 28, 2018 – page 53
12.27% "Joe promises the founder of KAO he will continue to expand the chain after buying them out. But once the papers are signed on May 10, 1928 and Joe's chairman, Joe said bluntly, "Don't you know , Ed? Your washed up. Through""
September 28, 2018 – page 49
11.34% "Trust funds were for binding his children permanently to his own dreams," wrote Doris Kearns Goodwin.
The trust funds favored his sons. Significantly, the later trusts provided only for his children, not for Rose."
September 28, 2018 – page 47
10.88% "Morton Downey Jr. said Joe and his father would refer to Jews by a code word -- "Canadian geese," apparently because of a perception that Jews have long noses.
"Dad was known for his indiscreet remarks," Ted would later say. "but never for being bigoted or prejudiced.""
September 28, 2018 – page 47
10.88% "Joe Kennedy's feeling toward Jews was the only way he could be a success, in that every day when he got up, he focused on one deal involving a Jew, and he would win the deal. That was this whole driving spirit," said Morton Downey Jr., quoting what his father told him about Joe."
September 28, 2018 – page 46
10.65% "Mort did him favors in the department Joe liked best -- girls," a confidante said. "He knew chorus girls."
Dave Farrell, former managing editor of the Boston Herald said, "I used to play touch football games with the Kennedys. It always amused me, this myth about them and touch football.… Jack, Ted, and Bobby were not good athletes. But they created this myth that they were marvelous athletes. "
May 24, 2020
A Compelling Read
Kessler pens a stunning biography about Joseph P. Kennedy with “Sins of the Father.” Joseph P. Kennedy is the father of President John F. Kennedy, however the path of his life, and his son’s, is marred in scandal - and the son could have only learned from the father.
What I liked is that Kessler spends time on Joseph P. Kennedy parents and what type of home they provided to the young man. Only generations removed from Ireland, Kennedy’s father, Patrick Joseph, makes money running a pub and being involved in politics. It’s a lesson Joseph P. Kennedy learns well as he emulates the same behavior as an adult. Another lesson Joseph P. Kennedy learns from his father: adultery.
While Kennedy breaks no rules to earn his money, there are no rules to be broken. He chooses a politically correct wife, but his marriage brings him no happiness. And while his wife, Rose, has nine children, Kennedy thinks nothing of having affairs from Gloria Swanson to no-name one night stand women, known as “nieces” and as Kennedy gets older, his behavior, while unchanged, is questionable considering he’s sixty and the women are still in their twenties. I thought it was interesting to learn how his “romance” with Swanson ended, as it’s reflective to how he treats people who don’t stick up for themselves.
The book explores Kennedy’s time as a movie executive, distributor of fine liquor, a stock trader, head of the SEC and maritime committees, as well as his time as ambassador to Great Britain. During his time as a public servant, his comments about Nazism, socialism, and American democracy deeply impact the remainder of his life and his ambitions.
Every family has its secrets, but Joseph P. Kennedy’s secrets, behavior, and what he expected of his children have haunted his children and grandchildren to this day.
Kessler’s writing style is easy to read. The book is organized well. Every chapter offers another fascinating look into a man who believed in public service, but also believed in self-indulgent behaviors. A well written biography about a man with few redeeming qualities. The insight helps the reader to understand the Kennedy family. It’s a book that keeps the reader turning the pages.
Kessler pens a stunning biography about Joseph P. Kennedy with “Sins of the Father.” Joseph P. Kennedy is the father of President John F. Kennedy, however the path of his life, and his son’s, is marred in scandal - and the son could have only learned from the father.
What I liked is that Kessler spends time on Joseph P. Kennedy parents and what type of home they provided to the young man. Only generations removed from Ireland, Kennedy’s father, Patrick Joseph, makes money running a pub and being involved in politics. It’s a lesson Joseph P. Kennedy learns well as he emulates the same behavior as an adult. Another lesson Joseph P. Kennedy learns from his father: adultery.
While Kennedy breaks no rules to earn his money, there are no rules to be broken. He chooses a politically correct wife, but his marriage brings him no happiness. And while his wife, Rose, has nine children, Kennedy thinks nothing of having affairs from Gloria Swanson to no-name one night stand women, known as “nieces” and as Kennedy gets older, his behavior, while unchanged, is questionable considering he’s sixty and the women are still in their twenties. I thought it was interesting to learn how his “romance” with Swanson ended, as it’s reflective to how he treats people who don’t stick up for themselves.
The book explores Kennedy’s time as a movie executive, distributor of fine liquor, a stock trader, head of the SEC and maritime committees, as well as his time as ambassador to Great Britain. During his time as a public servant, his comments about Nazism, socialism, and American democracy deeply impact the remainder of his life and his ambitions.
Every family has its secrets, but Joseph P. Kennedy’s secrets, behavior, and what he expected of his children have haunted his children and grandchildren to this day.
Kessler’s writing style is easy to read. The book is organized well. Every chapter offers another fascinating look into a man who believed in public service, but also believed in self-indulgent behaviors. A well written biography about a man with few redeeming qualities. The insight helps the reader to understand the Kennedy family. It’s a book that keeps the reader turning the pages.
May 15, 2020
It must be difficult
For an author to meticulously research and write such a lengthy involved tome about a person he hates so much. Did Kessler hate Joseph Kennedy before he finished the book or after? But in all of the detail it’s, in the end, pointless. Okay Kennedy was scum. And he allegedly bought one son the presidency and had affairs with multiple women; sold out his own country yet considered himself a patriot. Did he control his sons right up until his death (or at least the stroke)? Kessler says so; other authors state John and Robert broke away from his hold and his poisonous thoughts. Is his control over his children and his money to blame for every misstep they’ve made? Their lack of accountability? Author spends the whole book hitting reader over head with that and then at end, veers off with the one sentence that if they let him control them, that’s their fault.
If you want a detailed and obsessively researched account of every single bad act Joseph Kennedy Sr ever committed, this is the book for you. But don’t go looking for explanations or character study because the author has none to give .
For an author to meticulously research and write such a lengthy involved tome about a person he hates so much. Did Kessler hate Joseph Kennedy before he finished the book or after? But in all of the detail it’s, in the end, pointless. Okay Kennedy was scum. And he allegedly bought one son the presidency and had affairs with multiple women; sold out his own country yet considered himself a patriot. Did he control his sons right up until his death (or at least the stroke)? Kessler says so; other authors state John and Robert broke away from his hold and his poisonous thoughts. Is his control over his children and his money to blame for every misstep they’ve made? Their lack of accountability? Author spends the whole book hitting reader over head with that and then at end, veers off with the one sentence that if they let him control them, that’s their fault.
If you want a detailed and obsessively researched account of every single bad act Joseph Kennedy Sr ever committed, this is the book for you. But don’t go looking for explanations or character study because the author has none to give .
December 8, 2019
Chapters are segmented by events in Joe's life which makes it easy to read this book in bits and pieces - which I did. Kessler gives us a chronological look at Joe Kennedy's life - how he amassed his wealth, the methodical/calculated way he made both personal and business decisions. Outlines Joe's dabbling in movie production, his liquor industry holdings, his need to always be in control and meeting his goals for success. We learn of the insider trading he used to make money, his multiple mistresses, anti-semitism, arguments with Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the first chair of the SEC and as the United States ambassador to Great Britain. Kennedy did things his way - always working for whatever worked best for Joe.
April 26, 2018
This book is a real eye opener. This man, Joe Kennedy, was a poster boy for greed and control.
After you read this book, you will have a different view of the Kennedy family - a much more down to earth view. This book takes you on a strange adventure to the real life of the Kennedy’s, it’s not what you have been led to believe.
Extremely well written and easy to read. The author did a great job writing this book.
Excellent- highly recommend.
After you read this book, you will have a different view of the Kennedy family - a much more down to earth view. This book takes you on a strange adventure to the real life of the Kennedy’s, it’s not what you have been led to believe.
Extremely well written and easy to read. The author did a great job writing this book.
Excellent- highly recommend.
November 10, 2012
This was a well researched and though provoking book. However, I felt that too much of the book focused on Joe's political shenanigans and not enough on why he made the decisions he did. I would have liked to hear more about his relationship with this family. Then again his political shenanigans were quite legendary Haig and Haig pinch anyone?
April 12, 2015
A very interesting story showing the drive and ruthlessness Joe Kennedy had to make sure he and his children succeeded. It forces you to question the golden reputation of Camelot and the Kennedy's. There was a feeling of gossip and pettiness in this story but the information does seem to be backed up.
October 29, 2008
Very intersting look at the Kennedy dynasty. Founded on lies, deceit, corruption and a connection to the mafia.
December 22, 2010
Freaking amazing!! Instead of going to prison he was made the head of the SEC. Only in America.
June 19, 2012
Very interesting. A little slow at first then hard to put down. I was very surprised by what this book had to say.
September 10, 2014
It took me months to finish this book, but I enjoyed every page. It was a fascinating insight into one of the great American dynasties.
May 17, 2016
Got me wondering on just how America selects its heroes. This is s sinister read of money driven greed trumping all.
December 13, 2016
Gotta stop reading about these people- corruption personified- the book went back to his early days and thru the White House- there are those with different rules or so they think
July 10, 2018
A goddamn page turner!
I typically read sober historian like accounts of politics but found this gem at an old guy's home.
Not sure how accurate but this is like coke to a political junkie - some serious spicy stuff on the Kennedys.
I typically read sober historian like accounts of politics but found this gem at an old guy's home.
Not sure how accurate but this is like coke to a political junkie - some serious spicy stuff on the Kennedys.
July 28, 2025
This is a fascinating biography of Joe/Kennedy family history. It fully details how underhanded Joe Kennedy was while creating the family dynasty and more or less how he paid for it by helplessly watching one family tragedy after another befall his children.
September 4, 2025
I am no fan of the Kennedys. But this thing is a hit piece. The author obviously despises his subject.
There are some great biographies out there that are neither fawning nor contemptuous. Unless you are a Kennedy hater stay away from this one.
There are some great biographies out there that are neither fawning nor contemptuous. Unless you are a Kennedy hater stay away from this one.
June 1, 2018
Very engaging. Learned a lot! Just do not like the title!
March 23, 2019
Gave me a better understanding of the foundation of the Kennedy clan. Sure broke the mythology I grew up knowing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2020
As much as the truth hurts, I wouldn't want it any other way. Camelot is a total fabrication.
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