JOSEPH P. KENNEDY

(Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr.)


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When ambassador to Great Britain, he was very supportive of the British Fascists, and was an admirer of Adolf Hitler. Once war with Germany was commenced, Kennedy predicted that England would lose the war and became a fascist puppet state controlled by Germany. He opposed Lend Lease and the other efforts of the Roosevelt administration to assist England to fight off the Germans. Ironically his oldest son died in a dangerous volunteermission fighting Germany in the War. Kennedy's earlier pro-German views ended his political career and was an embarassment to his sons when they entered politics.


The elder Kennedy was an admirer of Hitler and Fascism and was convinced that democracy was finished in England. As the U. S. Ambassador to England, his views—see also {610124} and {610122}—destroyed his own political career in the United States, and he thereafter kept a low profile and maintained his political aspirations through his children.


Kennedy although sharing some of the pro-Nazi sentiments of Coughlin was one of the first political leaders to recognize Coughlin as a danger. He was one of those instrumental in convincing the Vatican to shut down the priest’s political activities.


Kennedy was dining with Time Magazine publisher Henry Luce soliciting support for JFK's presidential candidacy. Luce observed that JFK to obtain the Democratic nomination would have left-of-center domestic policies. Luce was right and the father, wrong.


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Joseph P. Kennedy
Joseph P. Kennedy
  • Born: September 6, 1888
  • Died: November 18, 1969
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Diplomat

Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Kennedy family.