The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy

944 Pages·2012·7.06 MB·English

by  David Nasaw

ALSO BY DAVID NASAW
Andrew Carnegie
The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst
Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements
Children of the City: At Work and at Play
Schooled to Order: A Social History of Public Schooling in the United States

THE PENGUIN PRESS

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First published in 2012 by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Copyright © David Nasaw, 2012
All rights reserved

Photograph credits appear here.
Frontis photo © Bettmann/CORBIS

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nasaw, David.
The patriarch : the remarkable life and turbulent times of Joseph P. Kennedy / David Nasaw.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-101-59591-6
1. Kennedy, Joseph P. (Joseph Patrick), 1888-1969. 2. Ambassadors—United States—Biography. 3. Politicians—United States—Biography. 4. Businesspeople—United States—Biography. 5.
Kennedy family. I. Title.
E748.K376N37 2012
973.9092—dc23
[B]
2012027315

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of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

CONTENTS
Also by David Nasaw
Title Page
Copyright
Cast of Characters
Introduction
Part I: East Boston to Cambridge to Brookline
One: Dunganstown to East Boston
Two: School Days
Three: Starting Out
Four: War
Five: Making a Million
Part II: Hollywood
Six: “My Own Master in My Own Business”
Seven: Hollywood
Eight: Gloria and Rose
Nine: Last Exit from Hollywood
Part III: Washington
Ten: On the Roosevelt Train
Eleven: Waiting for the Call
Twelve: To Washington
Thirteen: Reelecting Roosevelt
Fourteen: Maritime Commissioner
Part IV: London
Fifteen: A Plainspoken Ambassador
Sixteen: A Rather Dreadful Homecoming
Seventeen: Munich
Eighteen: The Kennedy Plan
Nineteen: Sidelined and Censored
Twenty: “This Country Is at War with Germany”
Twenty-one: The Lives of Americans Are at Stake
Twenty-two: Defeatist
Twenty-three: The Fall of France
Twenty-four: The Worst of Times
Twenty-five: There’s Hell to Pay Tonight
Part V: Washington, but Briefly
Twenty-six: Home Again
Twenty-seven: The Man Who Out-Hamleted Hamlet
Part VI: Palm Beach and Hyannis Port
Twenty-eight: A Forced Retirement
Twenty-nine: War
Thirty: “A Melancholy Business”
Thirty-one: The Candidate’s Father
Thirty-two: Family Matters
Thirty-three: “The Great Debate”
Thirty-four: The Next Senator from Massachusetts
Thirty-five: Retirement
Thirty-six: Making Money and Giving It Away
Thirty-seven: The Catholic Candidate
Thirty-eight: Electing a President
Thirty-nine: “He Belongs to the Country”
Forty: “No!”

Photographs
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography of Works Cited
Index
Photograph Credits
About the Author