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

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

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 424 ratings · 117 reviews

2013 Pulitzer Prize Finalist
New York Times Ten Best Books of 2012

�RivetingThe Patriarch is a book hard to put down.” � Christopher Buckley, The New York Times Book Review

In this magisterial new work The Patriarch, the celebrated historian David Nasaw tells the full story of Joseph P. Kennedy, the founder of the twentieth century's most famous political dynasty. Nasaw—the...more 2013 Pulitzer Prize Finalist
New York Times Ten Best Books of 2012

�RivetingThe Patriarch is a book hard to put down.” � Christopher Buckley, The New York Times Book Review

In this magisterial new work The Patriarch, the celebrated historian David Nasaw tells the full story of Joseph P. Kennedy, the founder of the twentieth century's most famous political dynasty. Nasaw—the only biographer granted unrestricted access to the Joseph P. Kennedy papers in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library—tracks Kennedy's astonishing passage from East Boston outsider to supreme Washington insider. Kennedy's seemingly limitless ambition drove his career to the pinnacles of success as a banker, World War I shipyard manager, Hollywood studio head, broker, Wall Street operator, New Deal presidential adviser, and founding chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. His astounding fall from grace into ignominy did not come until the years leading up to and following America's entry into the Second World War, when the antiwar position he took as the first Irish American ambassador to London made him the subject of White House ire and popular distaste.

The Patriarch is a story not only of one of the twentieth century's wealthiest and most powerful Americans, but also of the family he raised and the children who completed the journey he had begun. Of the many roles Kennedy held, that of father was most dear to him. The tragedies that befell his family marked his final years with unspeakable suffering.

The Patriarch looks beyond the popularly held portrait of Kennedy to answer the many questions about his life, times, and legacy that have continued to haunt the historical record. Was Joseph P. Kennedy an appeaser and isolationist, an anti-Semite and a Nazi sympathizer, a stock swindler, a bootlegger, and a colleague of mobsters? What was the nature of his relationship with his wife, Rose? Why did he have his daughter Rosemary lobotomized? Why did he oppose the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, and American assistance to the French in Vietnam? What was his relationship to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI? Did he push his second son into politics and then buy his elections for him?

In this pioneering biography, Nasaw draws on never-before-published materials from archives on three continents and interviews with Kennedy family members and friends to tell the life story of a man who participated in the major events of his times: the booms and busts, the Depression and the New Deal, two world wars and a cold war, and the birth of the New Frontier. In studying Kennedy's life, we relive with him the history of the American Century.
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Hardcover, 896 pages

Published November 13th 2012 by Penguin Press HC, The

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Apr 20, 2013 Mikey B. rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a thorough biography of a truly remarkable man who, with his family, provides us with a grand view of the American century. Aside from the Roosevelt’s (Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor) I can think of no other family that has become so iconic and significant to U.S. history. It is a story of both high triumph and devastating tragedy.

Joseph P. Kennedy came from an upper middle class background, which he attempted concealing, perpetuating a myth that his roots were more humble. He made his...more This is a thorough biography of a truly remarkable man who, with his family, provides us with a grand view of the American century. Aside from the Roosevelt’s (Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor) I can think of no other family that has become so iconic and significant to U.S. history. It is a story of both high triumph and devastating tragedy.

Joseph P. Kennedy came from an upper middle class background, which he attempted concealing, perpetuating a myth that his roots were more humble. He made his millions from investments and stock exchange transactions. Patrick Kennedy was an extremely astute businessman – he could manage, multi-task and carry on several deals simultaneously – all of them piling up money. An example of his shrewdness was that he maintained his fortune when the Great Depression hit. The author also points out that Kennedy never made money from boot-legging liquor during prohibition.

Patrick Kennedy latched onto the Roosevelt band-wagon – he recognized a winner when he saw one. Roosevelt appointed him to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission that regulates the stock market. Kennedy thrived at this because he knew the tricks of the trade and actually passed regulations that would have prohibited his past transactions (by this time his fortune was made). Kennedy seems to have made a transition from acquiring money to acquiring power.

Roosevelt, in a rather disastrous move, appointed Kennedy as ambassador to England. Perhaps one reason for this was Kennedy’s growing Presidential aspirations – so better to locate him a few thousand miles away. Whereas Kennedy excelled in the business world he never comprehended what it took to be a good politician. He could never keep his big mouth shut. He was not only for appeasement with Germany and Italy, but repeatedly urged France and England to meekly surrender to Germany. After the war started this strikes one as not only defeatist, but traitorous. Roosevelt, much to Kennedy’s anger, started to circumvent his ambassador in communicating to England. For instance, among other methods, he started a secret correspondence with Churchill at the time that he was Naval Minister, under Chamberlain, at war’s onset.

Perhaps it was the length of the book (at close to 800 pages), but I started to find Kennedy a bit of a jerk – a prima donna, he had a Cassandra complex (the world was never getting better according to Kennedy), he was simply not a listener (a requirement for an ambassador I would think). He wanted to be called “Mr. Ambassador” for the rest of his life even though he left the post in disgrace. He gave to charities, but for the most part these had a Catholic angle. Aside from the plight of Irish Catholics, he never cared much for any of the destitute and downtrodden in his own country. He liked and supported Senator Joe McCarthy (partly because he too was a Catholic). This was strange because I don’t see how McCarthy’s virulent anti-communism could tie in with Kennedy’s extreme isolationism.

At times I found the author too fawning on his subject, but he does provide enough details to allow us our own evaluations. Even though the author states that Kennedy was a “good father” he was absent much of the time. I found the relationship between Kennedy and his wife, Rose, an enigma; he was covertly and not so covertly carrying on relationships with several women – like the actress Gloria Swanson and Clare Booth Luce (wife of Time/Life editor Henry Luce). Rose just seemed to take this all in stride – like she was wearing blinkers – constantly referring to her husband in the most glowing of terms.

This book is well-written with short and well-structured chapters. The Kennedy’s are a vibrant and lively bunch – but ultimately sad and harrowing.

Page xxiii (my book)
“The Kennedy children would complete the journey from Dunganstown, Ireland to East Boston to the pinnacle of American political power and social prominence that their father had begun. He would glory in their political and personal triumphs. But the sorrows he endured as father were as intense as the joys.”
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Apr 04, 2013 Peter Boody rated it 4 of 5 stars

For a while, I found it a little hard to stick with this exhaustive account of Joe Kennedy's life because, as other reviewers have commented, a good sense of the flesh and blood man is not revealed by a mere list of steps in his life.
I think this quality of the narrative has to do with Nasaw's apparent decision (as the "authorized" biographer) to do no more than report the facts as revealed by letters, interviews, memoirs, oral histories, news reports and other records. So there is something qu...more For a while, I found it a little hard to stick with this exhaustive account of Joe Kennedy's life because, as other reviewers have commented, a good sense of the flesh and blood man is not revealed by a mere list of steps in his life.
I think this quality of the narrative has to do with Nasaw's apparent decision (as the "authorized" biographer) to do no more than report the facts as revealed by letters, interviews, memoirs, oral histories, news reports and other records. So there is something quite dry here: Nasaw very rarely draws any conclusions or makes any characterizations himself that shed light on Kennedy or bring him to life on the page. The facts must speak for themselves. And so, despite all the family materials to which the author had access, it seems to be the purely public Joe Kennedy — the one well known to pre-war and WWII-era Americans through the news — who is recreated here with great detail and precision.
An example: there are references here and there to his always having a good looking woman at hand (which Rose seemed to ignore or accept, who knows which), and an intriguing reference to his hotty masseuse and secretary and other female support personnel late in his life before his stroke, as he spent time in the south of France, his apartment at the Waldorf Towers and his place in Palm Beach. What's UP with that? If sex and macho randiness are a big part of this dutiful husband's and doting, loving and yet controlling father's personality, we only get hints; we get no real sense of it as an elemental aspect of his character that had its impacts -- even, indirectly, on the presidency when Jack took office.
I know, I know, this is not a gossip book and makes no claim to be. But this part of the Kennedy legend shouldn't have been nearly ignored.
Nor does Nassaw go beyond a quick dismissal of the rumors and such legends as Joe's alleged connections to the mob. I'm not sure it's fair to blame him for that if the trove of records and recollections he sifted offered nothing to go on. And I'm sure those records were carefully controlled by Joe himself as he filed them to reveal only what he wanted revealed. He knew his letters, even to his kids, would be fodder for biographers and historians.
Despite these gaps, I became more and more intrigued as this tale unfolded. Joe began to emerge as the larger than life personality he was, despite the clinical treatment. I think I enjoyed the story the most as it came to involve his children as they matured and launched their own careers — all pretty much according to Joe's master plan. His kids are not distant figures for me; they were a big part of the American scene all my life and I found it fascinating to learn more about them.
The momentum built for me and after a while I found it very hard to put this book down, even though I knew the tragedies that would make its biggest moments. As a ridiculously fussy reader, I really enjoyed falling under the book's spell. Fantastic research and reporting job, sharply written if not masterfully, and a valuable resource for anyone who wants to understand the roots of the Kennedy legend.(less)

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Apr 08, 2013 Steve Sewall rated it 1 of 5 stars

The Patriarch has received glowing reviews in the New York Times and elsewhere. It's been praised for humanizing Joe Kennedy as a driven, up-from-nowhere Irish American and as a devoted father, brilliant investor, and peerless political kingmaker.

This 868-page book is thoroughly documented and has a huge bibliography and index. But for all of its scholarly trappings, the book is more the work of a hagiographer than a biographer. Why? Because Nasaw’s deeper intent, I think, is not to humanize Ke...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Marty rated it 5 of 5 stars

Exhaustively footnoted and thoroughly researched, this is an excellent biography -- albeit way, WAY longer than I had wished. Nasaw got wonderful cooperation from the Kennedy family in compiling this book, which in turn gave him entree to friends/associates with whom he had extraordinary access. However, it certainly did not at all color his detached and independent portrayal of his subject. This biography busts many long-time myths about Kennedy (i.e. while he certainly invested in legal liquor...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Ed rated it 4 of 5 stars

Review the book, not the subject. Review the book, not the subject. Just keep repeating that to yourself. David Nasaw has written a good book about a man who is hard to admire. The Kennedy family provided Nasaw with access to sources that previously were unavailable to biographers; if the expected him to write a hagiography, they must be disappointed.

Nasaw pretty much refrains from making judgments about Joseph Kennedy. When Nasaw edges toward the moral bar, and can't provide any but the dark...more Review the book, not the subject. Review the book, not the subject. Just keep repeating that to yourself. David Nasaw has written a good book about a man who is hard to admire. The Kennedy family provided Nasaw with access to sources that previously were unavailable to biographers; if the expected him to write a hagiography, they must be disappointed.

Nasaw pretty much refrains from making judgments about Joseph Kennedy. When Nasaw edges toward the moral bar, and can't provide any but the darkest motivation, he takes a few steps back, takes a deep breath, and lets the reader decide. It's clear that Nasaw never developed any great affection for his subject, but had no stomach for condemnation. This is both a strength and a weakness of the book. To his credit, Nasaw's "these are the facts, you decide" approach gives his account great credibility: the reader never feels that the author is dragging one to a conclusion. But the problems are that this sometimes drains the color from a portrait that screams for the palette of a Fauvist, and that the reader sometimes can almost feel Nasaw's frustration.
Kennedy's rise from privilege to great riches is narrated with a minimum of arcane business terminology, making it understandable to those of us lacking MBAs. His involvement in his son's political career is described fully. But the doorgreatest detail in the book is found in the lengthy section on his “career” as a diplomat to the Court of St. James. Here Nasaw goes far afield to give the reader all the information needed to understand Kennedy’s dramatic failures and stunningly corrosive pessimism. (I kept saying, “What! He did what?!”) Nasaw’s explanation for why Roosevelt refused to recall him until after the 1940 election is unedifying, to say the least.
Of course, anyone who picks up this book wants answers to these questions: How could a father have treated Rosemary the way Joseph did? How did Joe reconcile his Catholicism and his philandering? Nasaw evades neither question and lays out what information there is that suggests answers, but neither question gets an answer that is richly satisfying. I don't blame the author, it's not his failure. Some doors to some parts of the soul remain locked, possibly forever.
Writing a biography about someone the author clearly doesn't like much had to be difficult. In the face of this, Nasaw does an admirable job. This may stand as the definitive account of the life of Joseph P. Kennedy. (less)

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Feb 13, 2013 Andy Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars

This biography was a thoroughly researched history that often read like a novel, thanks in part to Joseph Kennedy's life and in part to David Nasaw's compelling writing style

The biography starts by noting that while Kennedy did not truly have a humble beginning, his family was able to afford to send him to Harvard for example, he did face discrimination because of his being Catholic. The banking community in Boston was closed to him so Kennedy turned to other ways to make a fortune. An example o...more This biography was a thoroughly researched history that often read like a novel, thanks in part to Joseph Kennedy's life and in part to David Nasaw's compelling writing style

The biography starts by noting that while Kennedy did not truly have a humble beginning, his family was able to afford to send him to Harvard for example, he did face discrimination because of his being Catholic. The banking community in Boston was closed to him so Kennedy turned to other ways to make a fortune. An example of Nasaw's thorough research was a detailed outline of how Kennedy made his millions, Nasaw tells us how much money Kennedy would make on a certain deal and convert it to present day dollars and describes how much of his money came from his work in early Hollywood. Nasaw also details the number of days that Kennedy spent away from his wife and evergrowing family while working hours on end, he would spend weeks and months without seeing them but still would take his extended Palm Beach and Europe vacations without his family. Nasaw also does not shy away from Kennedy's relentless pursuit of affairs and mistresses during his work and extended vacations

A favorite section was Kennedy's role in the New Deal, including his support for FDR in the 1932 and 1936 Presidential elections. Kennedy comes off as sincere in his commitment, he was a true capitalist who supported the New Deal because he saw it as a way to save capitalism and believed his fellow millionaire businessman's opposition to FDR was short sighted

Nasaw also does an excellent telling of Kennedy's tenure as US Ambassador to England at the start of World War II and shows how attributes that made him a successful businessman and head of the SEC made him a horrible Ambassador. Nasaw's citation to letters and conversations that contained Kennedy's anti-semitic views make the reader cringe not just because of the content but because Nasaw's scholarship removes any doubt as to the depth of his anti-Semitic views and his defeatist, isolationist positions while Ambassador.

There is a difference in tone between Nasaw's treatment of Kennedy's isolationist views and Doris Kearns Goodwin's analysis in her book, "Fitzgeralds and Kennedys"- Kearns Goodwin wrote of Kennedy's abhorrence of war dating back to World War I, believing it was futile and wasted the lives of his friends which made Kennedy's isolationist beliefs before and during World War II more personal and sympathetic than Nasaw's largely political analysis.

After Kennedy opposed the Lend Lease Act but refused to fully join the American First movement, he lost political credibility and it was during that time that he shifted his focus to his sons' political careers. While the biography continued to be well written, it was not as compelling for me as that story has been told and read so many times. The strength of the book was when it focused on Joe Kennedy, how he made his fortune, how he could be both such a terrible father and such a good father and how he balanced the many facets of his life(less)

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Jan 18, 2013 Kristi Thielen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Scholarly, authoritative work about the father of the Kennedy family, with a particular focus on how he made his millions, his successful work as the first chairman of the SEC, his unsuccessful work as the Ambassador to England and the personality and attitudes that worked for and against him.

Kennedy's obsession with how Irish Catholics were perceived and his readiness to blame American and European Jews for any slight he suffered (and for their own fate under Hitler) make Kennedy an unattracti...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Bob Glass rated it 4 of 5 stars

A few years before the late great Ted Kennedy passed, Senator Kennedy approached David Nasaw and asked him to write a biography of his father Joseph P. Kennedy. Nasaw said he would on the condition that he be allowed full access to the Kennedy(s) libraries for research in addition to no editing from the family. Senator Kennedy agreed and what we have on our hands is quite the masterpiece.

To say there are to many books about the Kennedy's is a slight understatement but their family is "American R...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Sam Finn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Well done biography. Avoids the common pitfall of "taking sides" either with or against its subject. J P Kennedy was a complex man. Not much to admire in him or his behavior, on either a personal or a professional level. Clannish - tribal, really - and prejudiced in his way of viewing the world. Cold, mercenary and demanding in his personal, business and political dealings. Ultimately a narcissist: he was the center of his universe, followed next (and closely) by his children. These were, it see...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Paul Pessolano rated it 5 of 5 stars

“The Patriarch” by David Nasaw, published by The Penguin Press.

Category – Biography

This has to be one of the best biographies written due to the incredible amount of work and research that was done to put it together. This, and the fact that Nasaw was asked by the Kennedy family to write it and that Nasaw agreed only to do it if he had full access to all the Kennedy files and would not be censored in any way.

There have been many stories about the life of Joseph P. Kennedy, some true some false,...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

I went back and forth between liking Joe Kennedy and hating him, so it must be a good biography. I'm astonished at his ability to bet well on business dealings - this was a guy who lost NOTHING during the stock market crash because he realized a few years earlier that the market was unstable - yet read world events so badly (he thought Hitler would win and Europe, particularly Britain, should seek a reasonable peace). His relationship with Rose was - well - broadly defined. It was not the kind o...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Daniel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

A giant doorstop Father's-Day-present biography like this one is hard to do well all the way through, because nobody's life is inherently compelling the whole way through. Nasaw finds the intricacies of JPK's early business deals a little too fascinating, for example, whereas it seems to me that they're only interesting to the degree that they display Kennedy's character. I was more interested in Kennedy's decision to leave the Protestant-dominated world of Boston finance for Hollywood, where he...more A giant doorstop Father's-Day-present biography like this one is hard to do well all the way through, because nobody's life is inherently compelling the whole way through. Nasaw finds the intricacies of JPK's early business deals a little too fascinating, for example, whereas it seems to me that they're only interesting to the degree that they display Kennedy's character. I was more interested in Kennedy's decision to leave the Protestant-dominated world of Boston finance for Hollywood, where he immediately advertised his "Americanism" (vis-a-vis the immigrant Jewish owners of other studios) and sold himself as basically the only Christian in show business.

The book peaks when Nasaw is discussing Kennedy's infamous term as Ambassador to Britain from 1938 to 1941. Kennedy's relentless defeatism and sympathy for Fascism makes him an entertaining protagonist for the well known story of Munich, the rise of Churchill and the Battle of Britain.

Kennedy was appointed by Roosevelt to stand apart from the British establishment, but he could not resist being included in a club as exclusive as the British nobility. He also saw the world from the provincial lens of an American businessman, and became convinced that Nazi aggression was caused primarily by the lack of economic growth in America. (Lack of economic growth, meanwhile, was apparently caused by the failings of democracy, which is why Kennedy told Roosevelt on several occasions that a form of fascism would soon be necessary to prevent the American economy from ruin.)

The result is that Kennedy embraced the appeasement strategy more thoroughly than Chamberlain and Halifax, and often broke diplomatic protocols in doing so. (When Halifax thought that an American guarantee of Czech independence would help negotiations with Hitler, Kennedy gave every indication that there was such a thing when he had basically made it up.) Even after Chamberlain had concluded that war was necessary, Kennedy was scheming for America to undertake 'economic appeasement' to cure the shortages of raw materials that he believed were causing Hitler's aggression.

Kennedy's defeatism became so rampant that the British government quietly gathered a file on him in order that they might request his recall. His unceasing pessimism gives the account of the Battle of Britain a darkly comic undertone. Although Germany did not invade as threatened, this did not shake his conviction that the war was a folly: the lack of a Nazi invasion only ensured that Britain would suffer a longer and more painful disintegration. No 'Britain's finest hour' for him, certainly.

Kennedy could not see why anybody would seek out war with Germany, unless they were Jewish, or deceived by a vast Jewish conspiracy. (Interestingly, this led Kennedy to undertake considerable efforts on behalf of Jewish emigration from Germany, the better to buy off opponents of appeasement.) As war came over Kennedy's objections, he descended further and further into anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and as late as 1960 would be fuming that his own Catholic Church wasn't as ruthlessly efficient a lobby as 'the Jews.'

Outside of Kennedy's brief stint as Washington insider (which lasted for less than ten years, from his endorsement of FDR in 1932 to his political exile shortly before WWII began), there isn't a lot in JPK's life that's quite so interesting. Kennedy made a tacit quid pro quo with Senator McCarthy in the 1950s, cultivating his friendship and ensuring that McCarthy left Jack Kennedy alone for his first Senate campaign. He slept with any number of women, and was occasionally a first-rate cad (to Gloria Swanson in particular); and he was a controlling, emotionally reticent father. But he was never at the center of events like that again, even as Jack Kennedy's father, and as a result Nasaw's narrative can drag in the final chapters. I'm definitely glad that I read this, but it could have been pruned towards the end and I would have liked it better.(less)

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Jan 05, 2013 Uwe Hook rated it 4 of 5 stars

THE PATRIARCH is more than a biography of Joseph P. Kennedy. It is a fascinating review of history in the pre-World War Two era as well as the war years and beyond. Anyone who is interested in background on the Kennedy clan will be assured of an in depth analysis of the beginnings of their wealth and power. Joseph Kennedy himself is a figure to be admired, emulated, derided, envied and despised. Sometimes the politics of the reader will influence which of these descriptions is the most accurate,...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Frederic rated it 5 of 5 stars

The much maligned,constantly caricatured patriarch of the Kennedy family is here given the biography he deserves...Kennedy Haters will enjoy the recapitulation of JPK's myriad sins(serial adultery,virulent anti-Semitism,sharp business practices,advocacy of accomodation with Fascism before WWII,etc.etc.)and Kennedy lovers will probably hate the picture of his children(especially JFK)as endlessly influenced by their very conservative,pro-business,anti-Communist,bigoted father...the myth of JFK as...more The much maligned,constantly caricatured patriarch of the Kennedy family is here given the biography he deserves...Kennedy Haters will enjoy the recapitulation of JPK's myriad sins(serial adultery,virulent anti-Semitism,sharp business practices,advocacy of accomodation with Fascism before WWII,etc.etc.)and Kennedy lovers will probably hate the picture of his children(especially JFK)as endlessly influenced by their very conservative,pro-business,anti-Communist,bigoted father...the myth of JFK as some sort of "Liberal" is effectively skewered here...but for readers who try to put aside their preconceptions of the ci-devant "Holy Family" of American Politics this is a facinating story of a man of many contradictions who tapped into the Zeitgeist of American Business and Cultural Life with extra-ordinary success until he turned to Politics and became a pariah because he wanted to keep the U.S. out of WWII and suffered the fate of other unreconstructed isolationists by becoming totally irrelevant to those in power and unable to maintain his former position as a Major Player on the World Stage...the fact that he was right about many ideas for which he was castigated(especially his analysis of the long-term effects of WWII on American Society)has been forgotten while apocryphal tales of Mob Ties,Stolen Elections and other alleged crimes are pretty effectively debunked...the emotional core of his story is the extremely unconventional but totally loving and devoted relationship that he enjoyed with all of his children(his wife,Rose,of whom he seems to have been fond in a rather detached way,figures almost peripherally in his life...they seem to have almost nothing in common intellectually,politically,spiritually...other than loving their children as much as he did,Rose's function in his life seems to have been simply to have and raise the children...and shop)...as Hamlet said of his father,"He was a man.Take him for all in all.I shall not look upon his like again."...that would have been an appropriate epigraph for this excellent,informative and compelling biography...(less)

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Jan 10, 2013 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: president-john-f-kennedy

What to say about this book? What to say about this man who sired perhaps (in my opinion) one of the greatest presidents in U. S. history? There is no doubt in my mind that Joseph P. Kennedy was nothing less than an unscrupulous human being...and to me, that's putting it lightly. The average reader upon going into reading this biography would be hard pressed upon completing it to find their head swimming. Not so for myself, a true Kennedy maven. I have read almost everything on the 35th presiden...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Irving Koppel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Joe Kennedy was a man of complexity.He could be ruthless in business,
yet be very loving a home. He was the best father when he was at home,but
his long absences might make him one of the worst. He was obstinate in his political beliefs,but he would ignore them if it helped his sons po-
litically.

Everything Joe touched in business turned to gold;yet,the deaths of
his three sons impoverished his spirit.He supported his Catholic Church
for most of his life,but when the Church turned on JFK's candid...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a remarkable book about an extraordinary man, who had his hand in many of the major events of the twentieth century, from handling shipping during WWI, to being a major player in the stock market in the 20's, running a movie studio, being instrumental in getting our economy out of the depression by organizing and heading the SEC, and being the Ambassador to England during the start of WWII. Unfortunately, as with most biographers, Nasaw lets his admiration of his subject put a more posit...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Warren Walters rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 11, 2013 Kilian Metcalf rated it 3 of 5 stars

When I started this book I knew only two things about the President's father: that he made his fortune by bootlegging and that he promised to buy his son the election but would be damned if he'd pay for a landslide. Both factoids were wrong. He made his pile honestly, and the landslide remark was a joke telegram that JFK read at a banquet. I had no idea what an eventful life the man had lived, how many businesses and political events he had a hand in, well before his sons entered politics. He tr...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Corny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This is the second Nasaw bio I have read, the first being Andrew Carnegie, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Joe Kennedy is not a likable person but Nasaw is fair to him, noting both his incredible financial acumen and intuition as well as his complete lack of political skills. If I come away with one thing from this immensely detailed and well crafted biography, it is "open mouth, insert foot." It was only Joe's money that kept anyone except his family around him. Nasaw describes him aptly as the con...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Fenix Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars

An over 800 page book with about 100 pages of notes and source listings. Now that is something to look for in a nonfiction book. That says that this writer did their homework. That they treat their readers as intelligent. That this may be their view based on these sources of information but be free to make up your own mind.

What I found most intriguing about this man is that when young during the 20's he made a fortune in the stock market. Roosevelt picked him to chair the SEC to form the rules b...more

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May 12, 2013 James rated it 5 of 5 stars

An epic true story about acceptance, rejection, power, prestige, success, failure and tragedy. The sections on the years leading to World War II alone are worth the price of admission. The entire book does a remarkable job of framing the better part of a century, through the life of one whose actions and influence was in the thick of history, and who raised a family that made history.

The book is thorough at nearly 800 pages, but curiously omits any insights to or stories about the Cuban missile...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Jim Kelsh rated it 4 of 5 stars

This masterwork revisits the life of the mostly forgotten head of the Kennedy clan, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. Author Nasaw had the cooperation of the Kennedy family as well as unfettered access to the Kennedy archives and he makes the most of it.
Mostly biography and part social history, this traces to roots of Kennedy's drive as a first generation irish son of a politician from East Boston. Boston Latin student, baseball star, Harvard graduate, financial wunderkind Kenndy was all of these.
We learn...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Jack rated it 4 of 5 stars

I don't believe biographies are written for the purpose of entertainment. They are written to educate and inform, and this book does the later very well. Before I started reading this book I knew almost nothing about Joseph P. Kennedy, other than he was the parent or grandparent of many famous politicians... the Kennedy clan. I was truely amazed at the historical influences, and lack of influences, he had on American and World history. Kennedy wrote numerous papers and letters, and kept a daily...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Marks54 rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an excellent book about a difficult man. JP Kennedy would have qualified as having lived a noteworthy life even if he was not the father of Jack, Robert, or the other political Kennedys that were so important in US politics. He was a stock market operator (a true "plunger"), an accomplished investor in real estate and oil, and an extraordinary manager and administrator. He also tried to be a thinker, although he was less successful on this line of activity. He also built his own politica...more This is an excellent book about a difficult man. JP Kennedy would have qualified as having lived a noteworthy life even if he was not the father of Jack, Robert, or the other political Kennedys that were so important in US politics. He was a stock market operator (a true "plunger"), an accomplished investor in real estate and oil, and an extraordinary manager and administrator. He also tried to be a thinker, although he was less successful on this line of activity. He also built his own political career, before any thought was given to his children, reaching some amazing heights of influence in the 1930s and early 1940s. He was also an exemplar for immigrants wishing to pull themselves up in society - to move from being an outsider to an insider.

. . . but that was not the most interesting or perplexing part of the book. This was an extremely flawed individual just as he was a capable one. He was egotistical, insensitive, and could be downright mean to those in his way. He was bigoted (even in an age with a higher general level of bigotry). Personally, he had the curses often seen in "entrepreneurs" of not being a team player and not knowing "when to quit" in a given situation. He made a lot of enemies on the way up and they were there to greet him on the way down. He was a devoted father who outlived four of his children. At the end of his life, he was stricken and left to observe events without a chance of responding. The image of Icarus comes to mind -- although this link has been made by other readers of the book.

Nasaw is rapidly becoming my favorite biographer, after this and his book on Carnegie. He is easy to read, very thoughtful, and clearly tries to raise both the good and the bad about his subject -- and there is much of both here. I was afraid that there would be some of the glorification of the family that one has seen in other treatments, but it is not apparent. This is a superb book that is trying to present a rich and balanced picture of a man about whom it is difficult to be balanced. That makes for a long book, albeit a rewarding one.(less)

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Jan 20, 2013 Stephanie Patterson rated it 3 of 5 stars

So I bought this massive biography based on Christopher Buckley’s review in The New York Times. American biographer’s specialize in writing enormous tomes, heavy on narrative but short on any sort of analysis or interpretation. While I’m glad I read the book (and am even happier that FDR never bought Kennedy’s view of how Hitler should be handled). the praise it’s getting perplexes me. The reader certainly benefits from the access the author had to a variety of primary sources and the cooperati...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Wanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent and I think probably an accurate portrayal of JP Kennedy, a complex and pretty unlikeable human being. I was surprised that Nasaw did not write a fawning elegaic to him, especially considering that the Kennedy family actually persuaded him to write this biography. A few things that I found interesting included the fact that JP did not, contrary to myth, engage in bootlegging, and that he was as disengaged in his relationship to his wife as he was. What a despicable human being. He did...more

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May 08, 2013 Carolann rated it 4 of 5 stars

I find it hard to get my thoughts together about this book.

I did not expect anything so unbiased.

It was actually to the point where I found it cruel.

The end descriptions of what Joe Kennedy was like after his stroke.
I found some of that unnecessary, almost like the author was aiming low blows and cheap shots.

I also had the thought that if Joe Kennedy was so lovingly cared for and revered even after he was severely disabled.
Why was Rosemary Kennedy not afforded that same treatment by the family?

W...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Don Gorman rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an outstanding book. An incredible portrait of an incredible man. The hard part here is not to review Joe Kennedy, but to review the book. I learned a huge amount about U.S. and World politics and economics from about 1900 on. Kennedy and his family were so much more influential than I had ever known. This book is detailed and researched (or so it appears) to death. The players are not always painted in flattering terms, but that makes it even that much more believable. The fact that it...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Craig Oliver rated it 4 of 5 stars

Before reading this book all I heard about Joseph P. Kennedy was that he was a bootlegger and Nazi apologist. As with all things in life there multiple sides to any story. The author combs through the Kennedy archives for letters and other information and constructs solid narrative that entertains and educates. I gained an interesting perspective of Roaring 20's, Great Depression, World War II, and the first half of the Cold War from a devoted father and shrewd businessman. The author writes an...more

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