American Experience

Narrator: November 1960, Hyannis, Massachusetts — John F. Kennedy appears in public for the first time since winning the presidency. His victory is not his alone, but the man who made it possible, his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, has forced himself to stay in the shadows.

Twenty years earlier, Joseph Kennedy had been the man of the hour. At the age of 49, he was American ambassador to Great Britain, the richest Irish American on earth. The presidency had seemed within his reach then, if not for himself, then for his firstborn son, Joe, Jr. The same ambition that fueled his relentless rise would ruin his career, then drive his sons on to heights he could never reach himself.

Born in East Boston in 1888, the son of a liquor dealer and ward boss, Joe Kennedy was bright, eager, self-confident. He triumphed at the Boston Latin School, then went on to Harvard, where he was best remembered for the fierce competitiveness he would one day teach his sons; but he was Irish and Catholic and, therefore, not in the running for the most prestigious social clubs. It was the first defeat in his life and he never forgot it.

Professor Milton Katz, Harvard Law School: He never felt himself “fully accepted” when he was an undergraduate at Harvard. I don’t think he ever quite got over the feeling that these were not his people and he liked to put them down whenever he could.

Narrator: At 25, he took over a small bank, billed himself as “the youngest bank president in the world” and set out to capture the most glittering prize in Irish Boston— Rose Fitzgerald, daughter of the mayor.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, biographer: I think there’s no question that Joe Kennedy — young Joe Kennedy — saw Rose as the catch of Boston, maybe even of America at that time.

Narrator: Rose’s flamboyant father, John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, was something of a noisy embarrassment to Joe Kennedy, but he left a political legacy his grandsons would one day exploit.

Edward M. Kennedy: He knew everyone in Boston, in Massachusetts, and, quite frankly, people wondered why the Kennedys had got a strong base back in Massachusetts, and in Boston and I think all of us understand the two reasons. One is my mother and two is Grandpa Fitzgerald.

Narrator: When Rose Fitzgerald and Joe Kennedy were married, Kennedy was quick to carry his bride outside her father’s orbit, to a Protestant suburb. She would keep house in Brookline. He would make money in New York.

The unregulated stock market in the 1920’s was made for Joseph Kennedy. With nerve and intelligence, he ruthlessly manipulated the market, using accomplices and pliant journalists to boost a stock artificially. Then, at its peak, he unloaded the stock and reaped the benefit. Kennedy told friends he needed to make this easy money fast— “before they pass a law against it.” All through the Prohibition years, there were stories that he made still more money importing illegal liquor — bootlegging — and he forged alliances with the underworld that would endure throughout his life.

Back in Brookline, Rose barely knew what her husband did for a living. He had begun to live his life in compartments, keeping his wife and growing family walled off from the predatory world in which he was building his fortune.

He had named his firstborn son for himself.

John, frail and sick, was named for his grandfather. Rosemary, born in 1918, was soon diagnosed retarded. Then came Kathleen and Eunice — five children in six years.

In 1926, leaving Rose to cope with the strains of the household, Kennedy moved on — west to Hollywood. He made another fortune turning out low-budget movies with recycled stars and lots of gaudy publicity. Off-screen, Kennedy set his sights on the most seductive Hollywood star of all, Gloria Swanson. Swanson asked Kennedy to manage her affairs. Soon, they were lovers.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, biographer: I have no doubt that Rose knew what was going on, but, in my judgment, she willed that knowledge out of her mind. She didn’t want to lose her marriage. She didn’t want to lose her husband. She didn’t want to lose that family that she had created. It mattered too much to her. And I think, underneath, she knew Joe didn’t want to lose it, either.

Narrator: Joe Kennedy pursued women throughout his life — “consumed them like food,” a friend said — but he always returned to his family, now safely sheltered on a summer estate in the seaside town of Hyannis Port.

By 1928, there were eight children, including Patricia, Robert and Jean. The children rarely saw their mother and father together. When Joe was in Hyannis Port, Rose often left for Europe; but even when they were both at home, the elder Kennedys led largely separate lives.