Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was a patriarch of the Kennedy family, which included President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and longtime Senator Ted Kennedy.
Kennedy in 1938
Kennedy in 1914, aged 25, when he claimed to be America's youngest bank president.
Kennedy, along with fifteen others, signed a telegram warning that the release of Sadie Thompson starring Gloria Swanson would jeopardize the ability of the film industry to censor itself. Swanson needed financing for her film production company, and Kennedy began a three-year affair with her when he met her for lunch in New York after the film's release.
James Roosevelt, son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, helped Kennedy start his liquor business after Prohibition.
The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy became the first Kennedy elected to public office, serving in the Massachusetts state legislature until 1895. At least one Kennedy family member served in federal elective office from 1947, when P. J. Kennedy's grandson John F. Kennedy became a member of Congress from Massachusetts, until 2011, when Patrick J. Kennedy II retired as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island.
Image: Patrick J. Kennedy
Image: Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. 1938 (cropped) (b)
Image: John F. Kennedy, White House color photo portrait (3x 4) (cropped)
Image: Caroline Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador 2 (cropped)