50c ), C , THE NEW YORK TIMES, Kennedy, Financier and Diplomat, Built

By ALDEN WHITMAN WITH single-minded persever- VY Joseph Patrick Ken- nedy devoted himself to found- ing a family political dynasty. To this purpose he committed his extraordinary skill for mak- ing money, his far-reaching business and political friend- ships and his unquestioned po- WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1969 sition as a paterfamilias. In pursuing his goal, (in which pride of name was a conspicu- ous part) he amassed a tre- Fortune to Gain Real mendous fortune, perhaps $500- million, and with it a reputa- tion for financial shrewdness. In the end, however, he dis- . counted his riches, saying: "The measure of a man's suc- cess in life is not the money he's made. It's the kind of family he's raised." And after the election of his son to the Presidency in 1960 he put it this way: "I have a strong idea that there is no other success for a father and a mother except to Goal, Fame for Sons feel that they have made some contribution to the development of their children." Mr. Kennedy was forthright about his own contribution. He had nurtured his eldest son, Jo- , seph Jr., for a political career that he hoped would culminate in the White House; but the young man was killed in World War IL He then turned his at- tention to John, his second son. "I got Jack into politics, I was the one," Mr. Kennedy said in 1957 of his son, then a United States Senator who hoped to become President. "I told him Joe was dead and that - it was his responsibility to run for Congress. He didn't want to. He felt he didn't have the ability and he still feels that way. But I told him he had to." "It was like being drafted," ' John F. Kennedy said later. "My father wanted his eldest son in politics. 'Wanted' isn't the right word. He demanded it. You know my father." • Later, with John in the White House and Robert, another son, appointed Attorney General, Mr. Kennedy insisted that Ed- ward M., his youngest son, have his share of public office, a Senatorship from Massachu- setts. The elder Kennedy laid down the law in a conversation with the President and the Attorney General: "You boys have what you want and everybody worked to to help you get it. Now it's Teddy's turn. I'm going to see that he gets what he wants." United Press International And Edward got the Senate FATHER AND SON: Watching inaugural parade in 1961 • seat that he wanted in 1962, later director of the Peace but without the active partici- Corps and the Office of Eco- pation of his father, who had nomic Opportunity and Ambas- He served with distinction been partly paralyzed by a sador to France; and Patricia as first chairman of the Securi- stroke in December, 1961. was married to Peter Lawford, ties and Exchange Commission Mr. Kennedy's pride in his the actor. The Lawfords were and he supported President sons was immense. John's elec- divorced in February, 1966. Franklin D. Roosevelt when tion to the Presidency—he was Mr. Kennedy's success as a other business leaders reviled the first Roman Catholic to sit dynast was equaled by that in him. in the White House—gave his the realm of finance. He en- Mr. Kennedy was named Am- father unexampled satisfaction. joyed making money, and was bassador to Britain in 1938 and The beam on Mr. Kennedy's very good at it indeed. He served through 1940. There, dur- face in photographs at the coined millions in stock specu- ing the crisis over Czecho- time reflected the sweet tri- lation, the movies, liquor im- slovakia at Munich, he made umph he felt. porting, real estate, oil ventures known his support of Prime Afterward, when his son was and corporate reorganization. Minister Neville Chamberlain's assassinated in November, 1963, Sharp and shrewd, he was not appeasement policy. 'Mr. Kennedy was a frail in- primarily interested in industry "It is true," Mr. Kennedy said valid, yet he met the tragedy and production, but rather in then, "that the democratic and with stoic fortitude, concealing stocks and securities. Of these dictator countries have impor- his intense grief in silence. For he was an astute analyst, so tant and fundamental divergen- 'the fulfillment of his family keen, in fact, that he developed cies of outlook. But there is ambitions, he would have to look a prescience of what the stock simply no sense, common or oth- to Edward and to Robert, the market would do. His exquisite erwise, in letting these differ- elder surviving son, in whose sense of timing gave him an ences grow into unrelenting an- election to the Senate from edge over many other specu- tagonism. After all, we have to New York in 1964 Mr. Kennedy lators. live together in the same world, •found pleasure. In explaining Mr. Kennedy's whether we like it or not" But tragedy continued to success in the stock market, War, in Mr. Kennedy's view, stalk the Kennedys. On June 5, Richard J. Whalen wrote in was a fearsome catastrophe. 1968, only minutes after he had "The Founding Father": "Joe thought war was irrational - won the California primary for "He mixed well in all kinds and debasing," a confidant said. the Democratic Presidential of company, against eery "War destroyed capital. What nomination, Robert Kennedy background. He was equall at could be worse than that?" was shot by an assassin in a ease with hard-eyed man pu- In 1940, after war had broken Lis Angeles hotel. He died the lators like [Ben] Smith nd out, Mr. Kennedy explained his ' next day. Wall Street patricians like J re- view in a Fetter to a friend in A cloud was cast over Ed- miah Milbank, with corp ra- the United States: ward Kennedy's political future tion bosses as different as Para- "I always believed that if last July 18, when a car he mount's [Adolph] Zukor and England stayed out of war it was driving plunged off a G.E.'s Owen D. Young, with would be better for the United bridge near Edgartown, Mass., bantering newspapermen and States and for that reason I was • and a woman passenger, Mary press lords like William Ran- a great believer in appeasement. Jo Kopechne, was killed. The dolph Hearst, Col. Robert R. I felt that if war came, that was young Senator's actions and McCormick and Joseph M. Pat- statements following the acci- terson. He could enjoy the com- the beginning of the end for dent stirred widespread criti- panionship of celebrities at the everybody, provided it lasted for Ziegfeld Roof and of roistering two or three years. I see no cism. reason yet for changing my Mr. Kennedy had nine chil- theatrical unknowns at Berto- dren. Three of his four sons pre- lotti's in Greenwich Village. mind one bit." ' deceased him, as did a daugh- Kennedy moved through many Meanwhile, Mr. Kennedy ex-' . ter, Kathleen, who was killed worlds, and only the keenest pressed somewhat similar views observer would detect the pro- in public in the ‘United States. in an air accident in 1948. "As you love America," he told Rosemary, another daughter, found detachment of this gre- - has been in an institution since garious man who belonged to one Boston audience In 1939, the nineteen-forties as mentally no world but his own." "don't let anything that comes, out of any country in the world, - retarded. A Political Career make you believe you can make! Of the three other daughters, Mr. Kennedy's eagerness to a situation one whit better by Jean was married to Stephen make money was so strong that getting into the war. There is not Smith, later active in the Ken- many observers considered him place in this fight for us." , nedy financial dealings; Eunice brusque and unfeeling in his use These remarks caused Mr. was married to Sargent Shriver, of economic power. As an ex- Kennedy to lose prestige abroad • manager of the Kennedy? Mer- ample, his critics cite the fact ' chandise Mart in Chicago and and at home, for in the climate that, shortly after buying con- of those times his isolationism trol of the Keith-Albee- was severely criticized. He had Orpheum theater chain in 1928, Mr. Kennedy responded to a business suggestion from E. F. Albee, the chain's titular presi- dent, by telling him: "Didn't you know, Ed? You're washed up, you're through." At one time Mr. Kennedy had political ambitions for himself. Associated Press IN 1960: With Joseph P. Kennedy at home in Hyannis Port, Mass., were, Robert F. Kennedy, Stephen E. Smith, Mrs. Smith, the then President- seated from left: Mrs. Sargent Shriver, Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy, Mrs. elect Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Mrs. Peter Lawford, Mr. Shriver, Mrs. John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy. Standing, from left: Mrs. Edward M. Kennedy and Mr. Lawford. Lawfords were divorced in 1966. •

IN 1934: He posed with his wife and, from left, Edward, Jean, Robert, Patricia, Eunice, Kathleen, Rosemary and John seemingly misjudged the thrust nedy had little m common tem- of events and in doing so he peramentally with the ebullient market, having taken his win- voiced opinions that proved to John F. (Honey Fitz) Fitzger- nings early and in cash. "Only a be political liabilities not only to ald, the maternal grandfather of fool," he said at the time, "holds himself but also to his son the 35th President. In fact, Pat out for the top dollar." He also John. Kennedy found Honey Fitz, who made money in the crash itself served three terms in Congress by selling stocks short. . After John Kennedy began his Meanwhile, by 1926, Mr. rise in politics, his father's iso- and was Mayor of Boston, a barely tolerable buffoon, much Kennedy's varied business inter- lationism was kept in the back- ests were concentrated so ex- ground lest it be misunderstood. given to singing "Sweet Ade- line." clusively in New York that he At the time there were whis- But the families were on so- decided to uproot his family pers that Mr. Kennedy was anti- from the Boston scene. The Semitic. These reports were cial terms, and in 1914, Joseph P. Kennedy married Rose Fitz- move was made in style—a pri- based in part on Mr. Kennedy's vate railroad car brought the habit of referring in conversa- gerald, daughter of Honey Fitz. Joseph was at that time family from Brookline to their tion to Jews as "sheenies" and new home, in the Riverdale sec- "kikes." (He was, it was point- a lanky youth with pale blue eyes and sandy-red hair who tion of the Bronx. ed out in his defense, equally Later the family moved to inelegant about Italians —he had showed business acumen by earning $5,000 as entrepre- Bronxville, N. Y., where Mr. called them "Waps"—and the . Kennedy had purchased an 11- Irish, who were "micks" to him.)1 neur of a tourist-bus enterprise during summer vacations at bedroom red-brick mansion sur- In part, the whispers were also rounded by spacious lawns.This based on documents in the Nazi Harvard. He told friends that he would was the family homestead until archives, among them dispatch-' be a millionaire before he was World War II. es from Herbert von Dirksen, 35. Within two years of his Mr. Kennedy had announced the German envoy In London. his intention of settling a $1- In one message allegedly cover- graduation he was president of a bank, the Columbia Trust Com- million trust fund • on each of ing a long talk with Ambassa- pany, in which his father was a the children. He said he wanted dor Kennedy, von Dirksen director. He and Mrs. Kennedy them to be able to look him in wrote: moved to Brookline, then .a mod- the eye and tell him to go to "The Ambassador then erately fashionable suburb of hell. Yet, with all this outward touched upon the Jewish ques- Boston. The family expanded show of encouraging independ- tion. In this connection it was rapidly—five babies in six ence, he somehow managed to not so much the fact that we years, nine in all. instill in the children a fierce kind of tribal loyalty. wanted to get rid of the Jews John F. Kennedy, their second that was so harmful to us, but child, was born in the Brookline Mr. Kennedy entered national rather the loud clamor with house May 29, 1917. Shortly politics in 1932. Through deal- which we accomplished this pur- after his birth, the father ac- ings with William Randolph pose." Hearst, the publisher, he was cepted Charles M. Schwab's of- of significant help in obtaining Mr. Kennedy denied the au- fer of a wartime executive job thenticity of the interview and the Democratic Presidential at the Bethlehem Steel Com- nomination for Mr. Roosevelt. said that the views attributed to pany's big Fore River plant in him were "complete poppy- Quincy, Mass. Moreover, he gave $25,000 to cock." Mr. Kennedy often his campaign fund, lent it At the end of World War I, he $50,000 and raised $100,000 for criticized Hitler's persecution of joined an investment banking the Jews in later years. it from friends. firm in Boston. He foresaw they He had a hope of being Father's Determination beginning of a wild financialj named Secretary of the Treas- Joseph P. Kennedy's independ- boom and soon he was in Wall; ury, but President Roosevelt ence and his fierce will to suc- chose him as the first chairman ceed were bred into him as a of the Securities and Exchange child. His father, Patrick J. Street, trying his luck as a lone- Commission. In this post he Kennedy, was born in an East wolf operator. was responsible for writing the Boston slum, but he became a During the nineteen-twenties stern regulations that outlawed "lace-curtain" Irishman, with a Mr. Kennedy dabbled in show wild buying on margin and that comfortable income derived business. He bought a chain of protected investors from sharp from ownership of saloons, a New England movie houses, got Wall Street practices. wholesale liquor business and control of a small producing Just before taking the Gov- an interest in a bank. He was company and finally flourished ernment job, Mr. Kennedy made determined that his son, who as a board chairman, special a million dollars or more by was born Sept. 6, 1888, should adviser or reorganizer of five cornering the important fran- rise high in the world. film, vaudeville and radio com- chise for several Scotch whis- With this in mind, he sent panies: Paramount, Pattie, First kies and a British gin. With Joseph to Boston Latin School Nationale Keith-Albee-Orpheum repeal imminent, he obtained a and to Harvard, schools that and the Radio Corporation of Government permit to import few Boston Irish Catholics at- America. He is said to have thousands of cases of his whis- tended in those years. There made $5-million in three years ky and gin for medicinal pur- the young man experienced the in the motion-picture business. hauteur of the established fam- In pursuit of his motion-pic- ilies. He got to know the well- ture ventures, Mr. Kennedy connected at Harvard (his class spent a considerable time on was 1912) but he was not a the West Coast, leaving the day- member of the best clubs. (Mr. to-day rearing of the family to Kennedy's connections with his wife. It was she who ruled Harvard were never enthusias- the children in her husband's tic, and they became positively name and saw to it that, absent; frigid when he was turned though he was, he retained down for an honorary degree their respect. later in life.) Among the movie stars Mr.1 In addition to giving his son Kennedy backed was Gloria. educational advantages that Swanson, whose banker, adviser ' most Roman Catholic boys of and close friend he was for sev his day did not enjoy, Patrick eral years. The end of their Kennedy endowed Joseph with relationship was abrupt. "I a political heritage that was to questioned his judgment," Miss come in handy for Joseph's sons. Swanson recalled. "He did not Patrick was a power in Boston like to be questioned." Earlier, politics, serving five terms as a however, she had named her State Representative and one as adopted son for him. a State Senat6r. He was also a All the while Mr. Kennedy member of the famous Board of was managing Miss Swanson's Strategy, the inner circle of Bos- fortunes and making money in ton Irish ward leaders. Hollywood, he was busy in Wall Quiet spoken, Patrick Ken-1 Street. When the crash came in 1929 he was largely out of the poses. Kennedy warehouses come a close and frequently nedy owned real estate in New were bulging and ready to flow consulted friend of Prime Min- York having an assessed valua- 'when repeal came. ister Chamberlain and other tion of $15-million. His transac- The franchise had cost $118,- leading appeasers of Hitler in tions were spectacular. He 000. Mr. Kennedy sold it 13 the Government —Sir Horace bought a property at 51st years later for $8.5-million. Wilson and Sir John Simon. Street and Lexington Avenue Like them, he felt that Munich for $600,040 and sold it for Questioned by Moley assured "peace in our time." $3,970,000; another at 46th Just before his appointment He made a widely quoted Street and Lexington for $1.7- to the S.E.C. Mr. Kennedy was speech at the British Navy million, selling it for $4,975,000, questioned by President Roose- League dinner in 1938 in which and another at 59th and Lex- velt in the presence of Ray- he said that the world was big ington for $1.9-million, which mond Moley, a New Deal ad- enough for the democracies and skyrocketed in value to more viser. In the conversation, Mr. the dictatorships, and there than $5.5-million. Moley told Mr. Kennedy that was no reason why they As fast as he moved into real "If anything in your career in couldn't get along together estate, Mr. Kennedy got his business could inpre the Pres- without war. money out by mortgaging his ident, this is the time to spill Annoyed Roosevelt properties to the hilt. Much of it" the money he made went into In his book "After Seven President Roosevelt had not oil ventures offering depletion Years," Mr. Matey recalled what yet taken an open stand against allowances for tax purposes happened next: the Munich agreement, but he He joined syndicates back- "Kennedy reacted precisely as found Mr. Kennedy's words hard ing wildcat wells, and although ,I thought he would. With a to swallow. Shortly after the his luck ran hot and cold he burst of profanity he defied Navy League speech, the Am- managed to earn high profits. anyone to question his devotion bassador was in the news again Meanwhile, in 1946, John F. to the public interest or to with a plan to remove 600,000 Kennedy was persuaded to get point to a single shady act in Nazi-persecuted Jews from Ger- into politics. A family council his whole life. The President many and resettle them in decided that he should make did not need to worry about sparsely populated parts of the his debut in a race for the that, he said. What was more, world. In Washington, Presi- House of Representatives from he would give his critics — and dent Roosevelt and Secretary the I 1 th Massachusetts Dis- here again the profanity flowed of State Cordell Hull, clearly trict, which embraced Harvard, freely — an administration of annoyed, said they knew noth- slum areas and middle-class the S.E.C. that would be a cred- ing of the Kennedy plan. Irish and Italian wards in Bos- it to the country, the President, The war years were grim for ton. himself and his family — clear the Kennedys. Mr. Kennedy's At the time, the elder Ken- down to the ninth child." eldest son and namesake nedys were not legal residents And, indeed, liberals who had went to war as a Navy pilot, of Massachusetts and John was protested Mr. Kennedy's ap- and was killed when his plane not a registered Democrat, a pointment were obliged to con- exploded over England on Aug. qualification he met as the cede that he did a splendid job 12, 1944. His death cut off a deadline was about to expire. at the commission. He was a political career that had begun The primary in June, 1946, good administrator — consci- in 1940 when he was a 25-year- not the election, was crucial, entious, outspoken, thorough. old delegate to the Democratic since the district was solidly He resigned in 1935, but was National Convention. Democratic. Ten aspirants recalled to Washington as chair- Mr. Kennedy was emotionally sought the nomination, but only man of the Maritime Commis- shattered, for at that time his one had Joseph P. Kennedy for sion, a post in which he served son John, also a Navy lieuten- a father, whose command post with distinction in an attempt ant, was in Chelsea Naval Hos- was a suite in Boston's Ritz- to reorganize the nation's mer- pital, Boston, recovering from Carlton Hotel. chant navy. severe injuries suffered when "I just caned people," Mr. In 1936, when many business a Japanese destroyer rammed Kennedy' said modestly in after leaders were joining the Liber- his PT boat in the Solomon years. "I got in touch with peo- ty League to battle the New Islands. Only a few weeks after ple I knew. I have a lot of Deal, Mr. Kennedy supported the death of Joseph Jr., Mr. contacts." Mr. Roosevelt's second-term bid, Kennedy lost his son-in-law, Describing Mr. Kennedy's role writing an effective tract, "I'm the Marquess of Hartington, in that campaign, Mr. Whalen for Roosevelt," that argued that the husband of Kathleen. He wrote in "The Founding Fa- the New Deal was saving the was killed while leading an ther": capitalist economic structure. Infantry charge in Normandy. "The telephone was the in- His reward this time was the (Four years later Kathleen was strument and symbol of Ken- post of Ambassador to the killed in a plane crash in nedy's power. That a man with Court of St. James's. He was to France.) his enormous wealth enjoyed represent the United States in After the war, Mr. Kennedy influence was not unusual; but London at one of the most cru- increased his fortune by Texas the scope of his influence was cial periods of Anglo-American oil investments and the pur- extraordinary. He knew pre- relations-1938 through the out- chase of real estate in New cisely whom to call to move break of World War II and un- York, Palm Beach and Chicago. the levers of local political pow- til his resignation in the fall He bought Chicago's Merchan- er. of 1940. dise Mart, the world's largest "Jack's campaign had two Mr. Kennedy's honeymoon commercial building, from Mar- separate and distinct sides. On with the British press was shall Field in 1945 for $12.5- display before the voters was short-lived. A chill also quickly million, putting up only $800,- the candidate, surrounded by developed between the Ambas- 000 in cash, and promptly mort- clean-cut, youthful volunteer sador and the White House. In gaged it for $18-million. workers, the total effect being London Mr., Kennedy had be- By the end of 1945 Mr. Ken- one of wholesome amateurism.

ENVOY: Mr. Kennedy shaking hands with President Roosevelt after being sworn in as Ambassador to London in 1938. Supreme Court Justice Stanley F. Reed is in the center. definite albatross. At the Demo- cratic convention in Los. An- At work on the hidden side of geles, supporters of Adlai, the campaign were the profes- Stevenson charged that Joseph sional politicians whom Joe P. Kennedy had attempted; to Kennedy had quietly recruited. buy the nomination for his .son In his hotel suite and other and had tried to influence dele- private meeting places, they sat gates, notably from New York with their hats on and cigars and New Jersey. Mrs. Franklin aglow, a hard eyed, cynical D. Roosevelt, who had. never band, brainstorming strategy." liked Joseph Kennedy,- won- The result was that John dered about the father's influ- Kennedy's district was saturat- ence on the son. ed with his name, and he -him- And just a few hours before self went from door to door John F. Kennedy won. the ncen- soliciting votes. His brothers ination, Senator Lyndon B. John- and sisters also pitched in.. Jo- son of Texas, a leading- con- seph Kennedy did not believe tender for the nomination, made in leaving politics to chance. a bitter attack on his father. His son won easily; his father's "I was never any Chamber- cash outlay, according to -Mr: lain umbrella policy man;" Sen- Whalen, was $50,000. Once in ator Johnson said. "I never office, Representative Kennedy thought Hitler was right.", , was re-elected handily in .1948 If the Johnson slur angered and 1950. Senator Kennedy, political- ex- As early as 1949, however, pediency dictated an overnight John (and his father) had an healing of wounds. Next day, eye on Henry Cabot Lodge's he said he wanted SenatotJohn- Senate seat, which would be -up son as running mate and;"to for contest in 1952. Every week- the astonishment of many, ,Mr. end John was in Massachusetts Johnson accepted. He succeeded on speaking engagements., :in President Kennedy after his as- preparation for that campaign. sassination in 1963. "We're going to sell Jack' like The idea that Senator 'Ken- soap flakes," his father said,. nedy seldom, if ever, agreed with "Old Joe" on political is- Senate Campaign -- sues was carefully nurtured by And again in 1952 Mr. ken- the Democrats in the carapiign nedy moved into the Ritz-Carl- and by the candidate himself. ton, recruited campaign person- "Dad is a financial genius, nel and worked out of the public all right," his son once , sap, view. How much he spent was "but in politics he is something never disclosed, but the cost:of else." the Kennedy campaign was esti- mated to exceed $500,000., Returned for Election The campaign against 3/fr, Joseph Kennedy was more Lodge and his defeat had 'over- than 3,000 miles from American tones for Mr. Kennedy. In1516; shores, in a villa at Cap d'Aii- Mr. Lodge's grandfather' had tibes, when his son won the nom- barely beaten Mr. Fitzgerald; ination. He stayed there- most Mrs. Joseph Kennedy's father. of the summer. He was back Moreover, since 1936, ' Mr. in his rambling beachfront home Lodge, the quintessence of at Hyannis Port, Mass., on Cape Brahmin' ism, had defeated Cod, in time for the election.- James M. Curley, JosepIrCasey "I just think it's time for 72- and David I. Walsh, three popu- year-old men like me to step iar Irish politicians who had aside and let the young people lsought the Senatorship. - take over," he told a correspon- A few weeks before the elec- dent who hunted him out on tion, The Boston Post switched the Riviera. Rose, his wife,. had support from Mr. Lodge to his another explanation: • '• opponent. Six years later _ a "He has been rather a .con- House investigating committee troversial figure all his life- and discovered that Joseph Kennelly he thinks it's easier for his sons had lent John Fox, owner • of if he doesn't appear on the The Boston Post, $500,000..The scene." loan was made after the -elec- He surfaced quickly when the tion and Mr. Kennedy insisted election had been won. Shortly that it was "simply a commer- after Richard M. Nixon, the Re- cial transaction." publican candidate, had -con- This was a time when the late ceded, the Kennedys gathered Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, for news photographers at Hy- Republican of Wisconsin, was annis Port. The photos -in- at the height of his power,in cluded a beaming Joseph Ken- Washington. Mr. Kennedy- con- nedy, sitting at the right of , the tributed to Mr. McCarthy's new President. campaign. It was later alleged Subsequently, until his crip- that one purpose of Mr. Ken- pling stroke, Mr. Kennedy was nedy's contribution was to keep prominent in photos and articles the Wisconsin Senator ,from on the activities of the' fitst coming into Massachusetts and Family at the White House, campaigning in behalf of ,:Mr. Palm Beach and Cape Cod. " Lodge. Whatever the truth of After his stroke, Mr. Kennedy this, the fact was that 1v r. lived in virtual seclusion either stayed out of Massa- in Palm Beach or in' Hyannis chusetts. And John F. Kennedy Port. When he recovered mime suppressed any urge he may, of his facility for speech, --he have had to attack Mr. Mc- enjoyed the presence of 'his Carthy. children and 2randchildren. But when he ran for, Presi- • ' . dent in 1960 his father was a