Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was a prominent businessman and political figure, father of President John F. Kennedy, born in Boston to Irish Catholic parents. He graduated from Harvard, worked in banking, acquired film studios, made a family fortune on Wall Street, and served as chairman of the SEC, Maritime Commission, and US ambassador to Great Britain. He heavily involved in politics, helped elect President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and used his influence to help his son John F. Kennedy become president. He suffered a stroke in 1961 and lived to see the assassinations of his sons before his death in 1969.
Joseph Kennedy, or Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., was the father of United States President John F. Kennedy, patriarch of the Kennedy political family, and a prominent political figure and businessman. He was born on September 6, 1888 to Irish Catholic parents in Boston, Massachusetts. Joseph’s grandparents had emigrated to the United States to escape the Irish potato famine of the 1840s. Young Joseph attended the best school in Boston, graduated from Harvard, went into banking, acquired film studios, produced several films, and made a family fortune on Wall Street. Subsequently, he served as chairman of the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), chairman of the Maritime Commission and, finally, US ambassador to Great Britain.
In the late 1800s, even though Catholics were shunned and excluded from a predominantly Protestant Boston society, Joseph’s father was able to provide a comfortable home for his family through his many investments and a thriving saloon business. A large number of Irish Catholics, including the Kennedy family, became involved in the Democratic Party. Joseph Kennedy was an under-average student at Boston’s most prestigious school, Boston Latin High School. Even though his grades weren’t so good, he was a very popular student and was elected class president. Joseph also played baseball during his school years, maintaining a respectable .518 batting average.
Joseph Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1912 and continued to serve as a banking examiner. As an examiner, he learned information about a local bank takeover plan, borrowed money to buy control of the institution, and, at age 25, became the youngest bank president in U.S. history The following year, he married Rose Fitzgerald, the daughter of the popular mayor of Boston. In 1914, Kennedy became a successful real estate developer, turning a $1,000 United States Dollar (USD) investment into $25,000 USD in just three years. Subsequently, he accepted a government position overseeing the production of submarines and battleships used in World War I.
In the early 1920s, Joseph Kennedy acquired two movie studios, produced several films himself, and then sold the studios to the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Moving to New York City, he built one of the largest fortunes in the United States through his Wall Street investments. It went off the stock market in 1928, just before the stock market crash of 1929. During Prohibition in the early 1930s, Kennedy became the sole agent for several distilleries, stocked large stocks of liquor, sold the inventory after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, and he made millions.
Kennedy was heavily involved in politics and used a large amount of his own money to help elect US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt rewarded Kennedy by appointing him chairman of the SEC, where he made substantial reforms in the industry. When Kennedy resigned from the SEC in 1935, Roosevelt asked him to head the United States Maritime Commission. Three years later, Kennedy was appointed United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James, United Kingdom. He resigned in 1940, disagreeing with Roosevelt’s desire to involve the United States in World War II.
After his eldest son, Joseph Kennedy, Jr., was killed in World War II, Kennedy used his family’s position and political influence to help his eldest surviving son, John F. Kennedy, be elected president of the United States in 1960. In 1961, Joseph Kennedy suffered a stroke. However, he made a partial recovery and lived to see the assassinations of his sons John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy before his death on November 18, 1969.
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