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Original posts are at: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/dbwi-teddy-roosevelt-isn’t-elected-president-in-1912.530992/
The first two Lectures on TR and Churchill are already contained in a single thread in this forum.
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, JR. HALL: 8:07 AM EST AUGUST 12, 2024
THE KENNEDY FAMILY PRE-MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNORSHIP
Welcome to all of you here today for our lecture on the father and son Presidencies of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. who dominated United States and world politics from the 1940s through 1990s. Before we get started let me pass on my personal condolences to those streaming from our sister institutions in The Imperial Federation and Greater Commonwealth on the passing last week of Queen Elizabeth, who for almost 76 years was the only sovereign the Imperial Federation had known, and of course I’m sure we all wish her son and successor King George well.
Now back to our topic. This lecture will not be on just the Kennedy Administrations but will necessarily include what was going on in the United States and the world from the mid-1920s through the mid-1980s, and beyond. Still, it is fair to say the Kennedy influence is still felt today. Just look at the name of this venue dedicated 25 years ago this month, and our esteemed guest, my good friend, mentor and colleague Professor Emeritus Joseph P. Kennedy III, who prefers to be called Trip.
Trip took no credit, but I can tell you he edited the seminal book on this topic written by his uncle, the late historian, John F. Kennedy (Father to Son, Democrat to Republican, Power to Superpower) which was published posthumously in 1980. Let us not forget Trip’s daughter Senator Rose Kennedy-Nixon, who entered the family business, and sends her regrets for not being able to attend. I’m sure you are all aware she is somewhat busy having been nominated for Vice-President. Trip has his own book coming out this November, John E. Hoover and the National Bureau of Investigation 1927 -1967. He was kind enough to share a copy with me and has allowed me to share today some of the never before released revelations found through Sunshine Act requests and from his late Uncle John’s private papers.
Let us begin by going back to 1914 when Joseph P. Kennedy married Rose Fitzgerald. Both were from staunchly Democratic families. Rose’s father was mayor of Boston, while Joe’s father had been a Massachusetts legislator, and party boss. Joe at aged 25 was a Harvard graduate, a bank President and highly successful businessman.
The young couple likely planned on a big family. Joe junior was born in 1915 and was followed by John Kennedy in 1917. Tragedy struck in mid-1918, when Rose contracted Kansas flu. She survived but lost the child she was carrying. Rose was so weakened that she was not able to carry another child to term. It is believed she contracted the flu on a trip to New York, as she was one of the first recorded cases in Massachusetts. The pandemic was worldwide, and many attribute the spread to the fact that it traveled from Kansas to New York at about the same time as the second session of the Inter-Continental Congress (ICC).
Rose thereafter totally devoted herself to their two sons. Joe Junior and John were very competitive, but also very close. Joe Sr. had already developed business interests that had him away in New York, Florida, and California for weeks at a time, but he still made his first foray into politics in 1919 when he publicly opposed a prohibition amendment. His argument was based largely on what we would call Federalism. Kennedy took the position that alcohol use or abuse was a matter of morality which should be left to states and localities. He said that by outlawing such a widely used substance the Federal Government likely would not substantially reduce consumption, but would create a black market, and reduce respect for the rule of law due to many ignoring any prohibition. Of course, Joe’s investments in several distilleries and a brewery had nothing to do with his position. The amendment had been proposed in 1916 and given the 18th Amendment having given women full voting rights nationwide it was thought Prohibition would pass quickly, but it stalled when it was still four states short, and there was a question when the Louisiana and Massachusetts legislatures each voted to rescind their ratification. Kennedy led a group (informally called "temperate temperance") that proposed a compromise amendment that would in essence waive the supremacy clause for state and local laws regarding alcohol. The wording was "[T]he transportation or importation into any State, territory, or possession of the United States of any intoxicant is hereby prohibited where transportation, importation, or possession is a violation of the law of said State, territory or possession."
The compromise was in fact proposed in the Congress in late 1919. It allowed the states to experiment with prohibition without foreclosing the eventual adoption of complete prohibition. The compromise language became the 19th amendment when New York became the 36th State to ratify on April 4, 1921. It is interesting to note that by 1950 there was no statewide prohibition on alcohol in the United States, but many counties and smaller localities have restrictions and prohibitions. Likewise, since the 19th Amendment did not limit itself to alcohol, many states and the Federal Government do maintain extensive restrictions on “other intoxicants.”
In 1921 Joe, Sr. was surprised to be offered the governorship of the First District of the United States Central Bank (USCB) based in Boston. The offer came from the Republican Hughes Administration, which was attempting to comply with the 1914 Charter of the USCB requiring appointments to the Board of Governors be nonpartisan. Joe accepted the appointment, but only moderately cut back his travel. It should be noted that while Joe did not divest himself of any interests, he was not required to under the rules of the day. Joe Sr. remained with the USCB until mid-1929, and again concentrated on his varied business interests. On leaving the Board of Governors Kennedy issued a public letter of resignation warning that he and other members of the Board had been asking for reforms to include the power to oversee commodity and stock markets, but those reforms were not even being considered by the Congress. Kennedy wrote that close to a majority of investors in the markets were overextended with massive amounts of unsecured debt. Joe Sr. warned there would likely be one or more a crashes, and possibly wide scale bank failures, if not a depression. Few took notice of the resignation until the mini crash of 1930 that preceded the larger crash and worldwide Panic of 1931.
Joe Kennedy and his family were largely immune from the effects of the Panic as he had divested himself and his businesses of most stocks and gotten entirely out of the futures markets. Imagine Kennedy’s surprise when in June 1930, following the February 1930 mini crash he was approached by Republicans to run for Governor. The offer came from former Governor Calvin Coolidge who felt Frank G. Allen, the GOP incumbent, was unelectable due to the effects of the high unemployment, and losses already taking hold throughout New England. In the Northeast and Midwest, the mini crash (which was not considered mini until the following year) started a deep recession long before the bottom fell out completely in 1931. It was felt Kennedy was insulated from being blamed for the bad economy due to his public warning in 1929, and of course being Irish Catholic in Massachusetts didn’t hurt.
Joe, Sr. never wrote a memoir, but we know what he was thinking thanks to his son John’s recollection of a frank family talk (not a discussion as Joe Sr. wasn’t asking for input) recorded in John’s posthumously published book, Father to Son, Democrat to Republican, Power to Superpower. Joe, Sr. confessed he would not have considered the offer even though his ward boss father had already passed away, except he was actually encouraged, behind the scenes of course, by his father-in-law, Honey Fitz. Fitz was acting as a stalking horse for Democratic boss James Curley. It seems Curley and Fitz both felt that even though Joseph B. Ely had the Democratic nomination sewn up it was undeserved due to Ely’s perceived prejudice against Irish Catholics. In reality it appears Curley hoped the Democrats would dump Ely, or at the very worst if Kennedy won, Curly could defeat him in 1935. Ely still secured the nomination, but could not overcome what was frankly an unfair perception of being anti-Catholic. While Joe did not get an outright endorsement from his father-in-law, it was obvious that Fitz was providing support by not robustly turning out the Democratic machine for Ely. Kennedy prevailed as one of the few winning Republicans in a heavily Democratic year. Curly came to regret his machinations when he himself was defeated by Joe Sr. in 1934.
In reality the anti-Catholic bigotry of Ely was largely manufactured by James Curly. So, why would a staunch Democrat like Honey Fitz turn on the party? Well, it was part of a deterioration of the allegiance of Catholics to the Democratic Party that began with Woodrow Wilson’s first nomination in 1912, when Teddy Roosevelt won his third term. Wilson embraced the KKK and shared many of their racist aims, and while he did not specifically endorse the KKK’s anti-Catholic views, Wilson did not take any of the many opportunities he was given to denounce those views. Wilson was nominated twice more, losing to Hughes in 1916 and 1920, without once trying to appeal to Catholics. It is interesting to note Wilson got his first nomination over William Jennings Bryan in part based on an argument that you shouldn’t get a nomination when you already had lost the general election.
1924 was even worse. Wilson had died, so the Democrats nominated his son-in-law, William Gibbs McAdoo, who was even more openly racist and anti-Catholic. McAdoo vowed to enforce state Jim Crow laws on the Federal level and refused to distance himself from the KKK. He lost to Herbert Hoover in a landslide. It was revealed years later that the party bosses wanted to make New York Governor Al Smith the Vice-Presidential nominee, but McAdoo reneged. This started the movement of Catholics from the Democratic Party. The Party overcompensated in 1928 and actually nominated Smith, who also lost to Herbert Hoover, but Smith did better than McAdoo. Even with the Smith nomination the damage was done, as many Catholics were not mollified by the high number of Democrats in 1928 who sat out the election rather than vote for a Catholic. It would take the Panic of 1931 for the Democrats to get their first President since Grover Cleveland, with the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
So, it wasn’t all that surprising that Joe Sr. would actually become a Republican. In a way though the Democrats still leant a hand to the Kennedys, as without them nominating a Catholic in 1928, it is doubtful the Republicans would have done so in 1940. More on that later.
JOE, SR. AS GOVERNOR
Governor Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. came into office with Democrats controlling the lower House of the Legislature, and a slim Republican majority in the Senate. Massachusetts at that time had a large textile industry which was suffering mightily from the economic downturn. Kennedy ordered new uniforms for the Commonwealth Police and the Militia and placed a uniform requirement on more than a dozen other civil service jobs (mostly color-coded coveralls for janitors, parks workers, etc.). He then contracted for the uniforms with sources in four key Legislative Districts. All four Democratic legislators subsequently voted for Kennedy’s proposed bond issues.
The first bond issue was for a proposed Turnpike from Boston to the New York line near Albany. They were 30-year bonds with a 10% premium over the prevailing rate. The issue included a provision that at any point after five years the Commonwealth could redeem the bonds. During Kennedy’s first term there were three similar bond issues, except that instead of the bonds being secured by future tolls they were only guaranteed by the Commonwealth. The funds obtained allowed the Commonwealth to significantly alleviate unemployment and improve infrastructure. Projects included improving Boston Harbor, paving dirt roads throughout Massachusetts. The Turnpike was officially opened in 1937, but it was 1943 before the any early redemptions occurred because Federal and other states borrowing meant the rates of Massachusetts bonds were lower than the prevailing rates.
In 1932 the Republicans were routed around the country. 1933 saw a Democratic President, Congress, and Democrats in control of both Houses of the Massachusetts Legislature. Unlike other Republican governors around the country, Joe Sr. opted to work with Democrats. He had the assistance of his father-in-law, and goodwill built up in his first two years. In fact the last previously mentioned bond issue was put forward so Massachusetts could provide matching funds for Federal initiatives.
The likelihood of war with Japan, and instability around the world, especially in Russia and Germany, led to increases in defense spending sufficient to get the country past the worst effects of the Panic of 1931. In his 1934 reelection bid Kennedy easily defeated Curly, helped in large part from a series of financial scandals that came to light in the Boston Globe showing Curly had taken kickbacks as both a Congressman and as Mayor of Boston. It has been speculated Honey Fitz was the source for the stories, but this has never been confirmed. Republicans even took back slight majorities in both legislative houses.
In his second term Kennedy still cooperated with the Federal Government on infrastructure. He also funded a traveling business exposition that visited other states and foreign countries to attract companies to Massachusetts. On many of the exposition’s stops young Joe, Jr. was there as his father’s representative. It worked well enough that by the time Kennedy left office there were twelve other states with their own traveling expositions.
It should be noted here that Joe, Sr. was quite frankly an anti-Semite. This may be one of the reasons he left no private papers, but recollections of many who knew him attest to this, in fact in many cases it is clear they shared his views. That said, when there was a new diaspora of Jews from Europe starting in the mid-1930s Kennedy welcomed them to Massachusetts. True it may have just been expedient, and he was mainly interested in getting displaced scientists and academics to Massachusetts institutions of higher learning, but he still did it. Further, after 1935 there is no record of him making any new anti-Semitic statement. He evidently, still held those views as his son John wrote he would sometimes make remarks to him and Joe, Jr., but it appears he never let these distasteful personal views effect policy either as Governor or President.
For most of the last two years of his administration the country was caught up in the Pacific War with the Japanese Empire. That conflict was still raging when Kennedy’s term ended, but when Joe Sr. left the governorship in 1939 he was succeeded by war veteran Republican Henry Cabot Lodge, with increased Republican majorities in both Houses.
THE PACIFIC WAR
Joe, Jr. saw there was going to be a war with Japan, so on entering Harvard in 1933 he enrolled in the new Navy Reserve Officers Training Program (ROTC). Two years later John Kennedy did the same in 1935. Their mother was opposed to it, but unbeknownst to her Joe, Sr. actually pulled strings to get John a waiver for a physical ailment, and to get Joe, Sr. a flight school slot, even though this meant him taking a leave of absence from Harvard to accept his commission and attend training in 1936. After War was actually declared in 1937, John also left Harvard and took a commission, going into Naval Intelligence.
In flight school Joe, Jr. made lifelong friends with his roommate Edward Henry O’Hare, better known as Butch. Joe, Jr. qualified as a torpedo bomber pilot, while Butch was a fighter pilot. They each became plank owners on the newly christened USS Enterprise CV-6 out of Cabo San Lucas. The carrier would participate in every major engagement of the Pacific War. In late 1937 Butch O’Hare’s squadron transferred to the USS Saratoga CV-3. Butch ended the war as a squadron leader and double ace with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In 1941 Joe, Jr. was best man at the marriage of Commander Edward H. O’Hare and Rita Wooster.
Joe, Jr. was credited with successfully torpedoing four ships including a cruiser and light aircraft carrier. His flying career was cut short in mid-1938 when a bomb exploded on the forward deck of Enterprise. Joe, Jr. ran to the explosion and managed to pull a pilot out of his aircraft, but not before being hit by a small piece of hot metal blown from the wreck. Kennedy lost sight in his left eye. Joe, Jr. was awarded the Navy Cross. Joe, Jr. requested Lederman Armed Forces Hospital near San Francisco for his follow up treatment and rehabilitation. As Harvard indicated it would accept work done at Stanford University toward the completion his degree. Kennedy did indeed complete his degree (a B.A. in Government). Joe, Jr. received a medical discharge in September 1938. He had been accepted at Stanford’s Law School but turned it down to oversee his father’s business interests on the west coast.
By the time Joe, Jr. was discharged the United States and Commonwealth forces had achieved air supremacy, and the Navy’s main task was blockading the Japanese home islands. Fierce fighting continued in Indonesia, Formosa, Indochina, the Korean peninsula and Manchuria until land forces and marines virtually destroyed the Japanese Imperial Army. The Emperor overruled his military commanders and sought peace because of the effects of the blockade and the knowledge that an invasion would totally destroy Japan.
John Kennedy remained in the Navy for several months after the War, as he had been detailed from Naval Intelligence to declassify material needed for the war crimes trials that followed the end in hostilities. John did eventually return to Harvard where he finished his degree and went on to get his Doctorate in International Affairs. For the rest of his life Dr. Kennedy was both a professor of History, and unbeknownst to most he was also an analyst for the National Intelligence Service or NIS, formed after the war. John was named NIS director by his brother in 1965 but retired due to health issues in 1970. Before his death in 1973 he completed his last book, the aforementioned Father to Son, Democrat to Republican, Power to Superpower, published in December 1980 in accordance with the author’s wish that two Presidential election cycles pass before its release.
There was no immediate widespread demobilization after the Pacific War. While the United States and Commonwealth were attempting by diplomacy and military action to deal with Japanese aggression, communists took the opportunity to launch insurgencies in Spain, France, Italy and Greece in the mid to late 1930s. The ICC called on member states in continental Europe to assist the legitimate governments. Various governments answered the call, but the bulk of troops were provided by the German Empire. After the insurgencies were defeated, the German troops stayed. The French and Dutch were especially vulnerable as they had sent troops to help liberate their colonies in the Pacific War. After the Japanese defeat their relations with the United States and soured when it appeared the Japanese were out, but the plan was for independence and not a return to be colonies.
This was further exacerbated by the Russians, who offered Vladivostok as the site for ICC sponsored peace talks with Japan. The Russians followed the German model. Although they did not participate in the fighting with Japan, after the war Russian troops supplanted Japanese troops in much of Asia. Like the Germans they stayed in place long after they were needed.
THE PACIFIC WAR IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH
The Roosevelt Administration tried to use the ICC to mandate the Germans and Russians end what amounted to occupations. Both powers had each sufficiently entrenched themselves that getting local authorities on the ground to “request” continued presence of foreign troops was easily accomplished by the two powers.
In the 1929 the German National People’s Party took full control of the government. They had previously crushed and outlawed all socialist and communist organizations in the Reich. After the Panic hit Europe in 1931, the Nationalists were anxious to divert blame from themselves. When the Kaiser tried to call elections in 1933, the Reichstag passed a bill abolishing the monarchy, and vesting all power in the Nationalist Party. The Kaiser fled to Britain, where he died in 1941.
They also blamed the Jews and removed citizenship from all non-Christians. The Reich did not conduct pogroms, but largely turned a blind eye to violence against Jews. This of course led to large scale efforts by Jews to emigrate. Those Jews who were better off financially fled the country, and anyone who could went to Britain or the United States. This included many of Germany’s best minds. The most famous was most certainly Albert Einstein who accepted a visiting professorship, arranged with the help of Massachusetts Governor Kennedy in 1936. Needless to say, Einstein never returned to Germany. Einstein was but one of many, but many more Jews could not afford to leave and lived an ever more pitiful existence until the Nationalists were finally turned out after the New Democracy Movement spread throughout Europe in 1953-54.
The German experience was extended to France, Italy, Spain and Greece once the German forces putting down the insurgencies became for all intents and purposes occupiers. By 1937 Italy, Spain and Greece had removed their own monarchs, and while they did not pass their own anti-Semitic statutes, they also denied entry to German Jews. The Dutch, Danes and Belgians were never occupied, but after being pressured to give up their colonies by the Commonwealth and America, they fell into Germany’s orbit. They were closely followed by Luxembourg, Albania, Hungary, the Balkans and even traditionally neutral Switzerland by 1938. Iceland declared itself completely independent in 1939, and this was immediately recognized by the United States and Britain.
American pressure to divest colonies was consistent since the formation of the ICC that any territory that is not to be fully incorporated should be guided to independence. To many Europeans this was a straw argument, as they saw no difference between French Algeria and the United States held Hawaii. The Commonwealth, on the other hand, moved to support freeing the European Powers colonies in Africa, and Asia to keep the resources from Germany and Russia who they perceived as growing threats.
After the Pacific War Russia emulated the Germans. They had already abolished the monarchy when Tsar Alexander II abdicated in 1929 and moved to the UK, but the Duma never really became a Democratic institution. There was no universal suffrage as only male landowners were allowed to vote, and no real parties had formed. They in essence went from strongman to strongman ever since ICC forces had defeated the communists in 1920. They took the opportunity of Japanese withdrawals in 1939 to put their own troops in Korea, Manchuria, and French Indochina. They essentially neutered Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltics (including Poland), Romania, and Bulgaria. These nations were reduced to being mere satellites.
Imagine the surprise throughout the Anglo-American Alliance when it was announced on January 1, 1940, that all of continental Europe was had formed its own alliance under German-Russian leadership. The alliance merged German industry and technology with the vast resources of Russia. The ICC was not dead, but it now appeared impotent. 1940 was an election year in the United States, and even though the Pacific War was won under Democratic leadership, the German-Russian alliance made Republicans the party to bet on, and all believed Brigadier General Charles Lindbergh was the man to lead the nation.
THE 1940 ELECTION
Lindbergh of course was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic in April 1927, was Ambassador Germany from 1933-37, and requested activation of his commission when the Pacific War started. He shot down three Japanese planes before being grounded by Roosevelt out of fear that the country’s morale would not recover from his loss to the enemy. Lindbergh returned to the United States and received his second ticker tape parade down the Great White Way in New York City.
You all of course remember President Lindbergh? No? Well, there were some surprises in 1940. Most of the other candidates at the 1940 Republican Convention were running as favorite sons and hoping for the second place on the ticket. This included Joe, Sr. who, in late 1939, after securing Boston as the site of the convention went on a three month round the world tour that included London, Berlin, Moscow, Saigon, and Sydney. This was followed immediately by a two-month cross country train tour. That tour began in San Francisco where he visited his sons (John was on the staff of the team prosecuting Japanese war criminals at Alcatraz). Joe, Sr. then went to in all the major cities the Boston Business Exposition had visited - Denver, Milwaukee, Chicago, Pittsburg, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York, as well as many smaller venues. Wherever he went Joe, Sr. glad handed the local party leaders, and listened to their concerns. When he arrived back in Boston Kennedy believed himself well positioned for the VP nomination.
What no one expected was Lindbergh having to drop out when it was revealed that when he was America’s man in Berlin, “Good Time Charlie,” as he came to be called, had in essence taken a German family. Lindbergh’s wife had not accompanied him to Berlin and stayed behind to raise their two children. The New York Times revealed that Lindbergh routinely spent days away from the Embassy, and at some point, early in his tenure he started living regularly with a young woman in Potsdam, a Berlin suburb. They acted as man and wife, he purchased a home, and fathered two children with her. After his ambassadorship ended Lindbergh returned to Germany at least twice and was paying regular support. He only avoided bigamy charges because there was no proof, he actually went through a marriage ceremony. Needless to say, there is no way he would be trusted to stand up to Germany if needed.
There was almost immediate speculation that Joe, Sr. had arranged the leak. He had visited Berlin just a few months before the Times broke the story on the literal eve of the convention. Kennedy had indeed met with the Times bureau chief when he was in Berlin. The speculation only increased years later when it was revealed that John Kennedy was an intelligence analyst, but in 1976 the Times named the actual source as a relative of the German family who had a falling out with Lindbergh on one of his visits. The Times held the identity of the source until he had passed, but it appears the story was easily confirmed due to the openness of the relationship. It was later confirmed that the story was offered first to Berliner Tageblatt in 1939, but the German government suppressed the story – evidently hoping to have leverage on Lindbergh.
While he may not have been the source of Lindbergh’s dilemma, Kennedy was quick to capitalize on it. He never referred to Lindbergh as “Good Time Charlie,” but neither did he continue to refer to him by his military rank. Joe, Sr. merely said he encouraged “Mr. Lindbergh to be with his family,” left unsaid was whether this included the German family. The Republicans delayed the balloting, but in the end Lindbergh’s name was not even placed in nomination.
A total of seven candidates received votes on the first ballot, including the un-nominated Lindbergh who finished sixth. Kennedy was first throughout the balloting. Frank Merriam, Governor of California finished behind New York Governor Thomas Dewey on the third ballot. After everyone behind him had dropped out, Merriam threw his support to Kennedy who was nominated on the fourth ballot. Surprise - Kennedy chose Frank Merriam for the VP slot. The Democratic ticket was led by House Minority Leader John Nance Garner of Texas, with Senator James Farley of New York, as his running mate. Farley wasn’t merely Catholic – he was a Knight of Malta and had been the first US representative to the Holy See. He was picked to try again to stem the loss of Catholics from the Democrats, but if anything, it made Kennedy more palatable to non-Catholic voters as either way there would be a Catholic elected to National Office.
The contest was much closer than it would have been without the Lindbergh scandal. Republicans ran on Kennedy’s executive experience as a Governor and businessman, and the Democratic Administration ignoring domestic needs to win a war that the Russians were reaping the benefits from. Republicans were short on what they would do differently but were helped by the fact that Garner was a really horrible campaigner. The GOP prevailed in the Electoral College by 295 to 256. They won the popular vote by just under a million votes out of more than 53 million cast. Republicans also took both Houses of Congress, and with the gains they had made in state legislatures in the previous cycle they were well positioned for reapportionment in 1942, as well as 1944 when the Electoral College went from 551 to 555.
JOE, JR. AFTER THE PACIFIC WAR
Before going into the first Kennedy Administration let’s see what Joe, Jr. was doing. When young Kennedy was recuperating at Letterman Armed Forces Hospital there were a large number of Commonwealth personnel who were also patients. Just before his discharge an Entertainment Live Event Troupe (ELET), the Commonwealth version of the USO, put on a show for the patients before doing a tour of bases in the Pacific. It was a variety show under the direction of actor Charles Laughton and included a sister act with Peggy and Maureen FitzSimons. Maureen was just 18, but had impressed Laughton, who wanted to get her into pictures. Joe was immediately smitten, and Laughton arranged an introduction, but Maureen turned him down flat saying she had a beau in the war. Joe was discharged, and Maureen went on her tour, and that was that.
Now to be clear Joe, Jr. was a young, wealthy war hero who was purportedly engaged twice while at Harvard, but still “dated” several women, including a young lady his brother was getting serious with. He was known as a lothario both before and after meeting Miss FitzSimons. In fact, in managing his father’s west coast interests Joe took a special interest in RKO, the movie studio. Like his father Joe was involved with several starlets, but unlike his father some of his assignations became public knowledge at the time.
By early 1939 Charles Laughton was under contract to RKO, and he approached Joe, Jr. who immediately brought up “that Irish girl –Maureen Fitzgerald.” Kennedy had confused her last name with his mother’s maiden name. Laughton corrected him and said she could be in California in short order if Kennedy could arrange a screen test. Joe, Jr. asked about her boyfriend, who Laughton stated had been killed. Laughton later recounted that he had no idea what Maureen’s status was, but to get the test he opted to make her single. Fortunately for the boyfriend he was not dead, but neither was he still her boyfriend. Kennedy agreed to the screen test, but it was done in London, as he wasn’t going to authorize paying for passage from Ireland without knowing a contract would be offered.
Following her screen test Maureen was offered a contract and passage. She arrived in Hollywood in May 1939. In their first meeting Maureen thanked Kennedy, and explained her beau was not dead, but was no longer her beau. Joe, Jr. immediately asked her out, but she demurred, indicating she didn’t want people thinking she was only getting work due to her connection to him. She suggested he ask her again after the release of her first picture. She was cast as Esmerelda in The Hunch back of Notre Dame, with Charles Laughton in the title role. In a television interview in 1980, Maureen confessed her initial rejection was made in part to assure she would actually get cast, and she was shocked to get a call from Kennedy the day after the film’s release. The film was a hit, and Maureen and Joe, Jr. stared dating just before Christmas 1939.
Joe, Jr. and Maureen quickly became what we today call a power couple. While they initially both saw other people, after a few months Maureen told Joe that she would not see anyone else and wanted him to reciprocate. She indicates that Kennedy then responded that they might as well get married if that was the case. Maureen wanted to meet his parents, and likewise wanted him to meet her family. Joe, Jr. introduced Maureen to his father when he visited San Francisco on his round the world tour. John Kennedy was also present. Joe, Sr. was courteous and jovial, but John later wrote that when Maureen had left the room, he said in no uncertain terms that he hoped they weren’t considering marriage as an “uneducated actress” was not an appropriate wife for him. Joe, Jr. thanked his father for his opinion and then called his mother to see if he could bring Maureen to their home for Easter.
After the visit that Easter Rose Kennedy said in front of the entire family that she very much hoped that Joe, Jr. would quickly propose to Maureen, and asked if she might have any sisters who might like to meet her son Jack. Joe, Sr. forced a smile and said he totally agreed. Joe, Sr. never said another negative word about Maureen, and forever after publicly celebrated the happy couple. Shortly thereafter, Joe, Jr. formally proposed. Maureen accepted but still wanted to wait until Joe could meet her family and preferred to first obtain US citizenship. Maureen also explained that she had almost married her former beau, and wanted to make sure the relationship would last. She quite likely was also worried that Joe, Jr. had a “wandering eye,” and marriage would possibly stunt her movie career. They were engaged, but there was no announcement, and Maureen was sometimes linked for publicity purposes to various male stars.
Young Kennedy did not get to Ireland until July 1941 when he accompanied Maureen on a visit. The family loved the young Kennedy; of course, it’s hard to imagine how they could object to a rich, glib Irishman who happened to be the eldest son of the President of the United States. Not known until many years later was that they were civilly married in June 1942, but kept it secret until Maureen was actually a United States citizen. They actually announced their “engagement” on July 4, 1944, when Maureen was sworn in as a United States citizen, and Joe, Jr. and his father were running respectively for their second terms for Congress and Presidency.
When Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. married Maureen FitzSimons in a Catholic Service on New Year’s Eve 1944 his best man was his brother John, and the groomsmen were Butch O’Hare, fellow California Congressman Dick Nixon, and Michigan Congressman Gerry Ford. They were all Navy veterans of the Pacific War, and respectively became the head of the National Intelligence Service, Chief of Naval Operations, Secretary of State, and Speaker of the House. At my own wedding 37 years ago, I had my brother and two brothers-in-law, who went on to become a landscaper, a police sergeant and a mortician, so you see my affinity for the Kennedy story. They had kept the civil ceremony so secret, that the speculation was Joe, Jr. did it only to get the tax benefit.
Between 1938 and 1944 more than 80 veterans of the Pacific War were elected to Congress, most were under thirty years old. Joe was going to run in 1940, but he decided to sit it out rather than run at the same time his father was seeking the Presidency. His father wanted him to run for a Massachusetts seat, but in 1942 Joe, Jr. chose to run in California, to again make clear he wasn’t just Daddy’s boy. He ran as J. Kennedy and had a safe Republican seat in Orange County. On arriving in Congress, he made fast friends with two other veterans – Californian Dick Nixon, and Michigan Representative Gerry Ford. Both had been elected to the House in 1940. Joe, Jr.’s first term was unremarkable, but he was easily re-elected in 1944.
JPK’s Presidency
On taking office in 1941, Joe, Sr. hit the ground running. He sent signals early on that he had no intention on refighting battles by trying to dismantle social security or other programs initiated under FDR, but as he had done in Massachusetts JPK, as he was now known, would concentrate on infrastructure. He started with highways. Whereas TR had built roads using the justification of post roads from the Constitution, JPK turned them into a true interstate highway system, to include going down both coasts of Canada from Alaska and Greenland using the justification of National Defense. He also cajoled the Senate to finally approve the Treaty for the St. Lawrence Seaway Canal which would take more than a dozen years to complete. The Boulder Dam was also finally completed.
While there was not a general demobilization following the Pacific War, JPK did do a drawdown of standing forces by enhancing the Reserves and giving the State Militias a dual role as National Reservists or Guardsman as they are known today. This also had the effect of having the Militias and other Reserve Forces training to a single standard. The public works projects largely prevented a downturn in the economy by absorbing the increased labor force.
The previous Roosevelt Administration had been caught flat footed by the German-Russian alliance announced in 1940. Shortly after the alliance was announced FDR received a letter signed by more than a two dozen physicists indicating that in the case of Germany especially there was fear that it had atomic research ongoing likely aimed at creating a chain reaction with fissionable material to split an uranium atom that could be turned into a weapon of immense power. The signatories included Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and Edward Teller. All three were refugees, who emigrated due to growing Anti-Semitism in Europe (Einstein, and Teller were both Jewish, as was Fermi’s wife). Einstein was recognized as the world’s greatest physicist, and both Fermi and Teller would have major roles in the Cambridge Cooperative.
The newly formed NIS was tasked with gathering intelligence on the extent of German-Russian military cooperation in general, and atomic research in particular. JPK named “Wild Bill” Donovan as the Director of the NIS. They soon partnered with the better resourced MI6. It was hoped that the two European powers would revert to their prior competitive (even antagonistic) stances, but they were indeed cooperating. By the time JPK took office intelligence showed there was an atomic program in place. The Germans provided the bulk of scientific personnel, while the Russians provided the resources and a site in Siberia. They were also closely cooperating on making advances in rockets, aircraft, armored vehicles, and submarines. The subs were developed out of pens on the Baltic Sea, while the Germans controlled most of the aircraft and rocket research, and the Russians concentrated on tanks.
By 1943 the alliance’s first U-Boats, and Russian T-42 tank (known in Germany as the Panther), were generations ahead of their Commonwealth and American counterparts. Even so fear of an atomic weapon dropped from a bomber, or mounted on a rocket is what prompted JPK to approach the Commonwealth about cooperating on their own program. Clement Atlee actually met with JPK in April 1941. Remember this was pre-Imperial Federation, and Atlee’s Labour led only the UK at the time, and as a minority government as that. It was therefore decided that the bulk of the work would be done in the United States with theoretical research based at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Cambridge University in England. The project was thus code named as the Cambridge Cooperative to mask it as a mere academic exchange. The funding was almost exclusively American, but MI6 and MI5 in conjunction with the NIA, NBI, and the United States military provided intelligence and operational security. When Churchill returned as Prime Minister in 1945 he did complain that the Americans had poached virtually every physicist the UK had. He would soon complain even more about rocketry assets, but more on that shortly.
JPK was not overly fond of the British, but just as he, at least publicly, set aside his Anti-Semitism for the good of the country, he did the same for cooperation with both Atlee and Churchill. Their intelligence agencies worked together to undermine the German-Russian alliance, encourage defectors, and do outright sabotage to their various weapons programs. They also used surrogates in Asia and Africa to confront the Russians and Germans respectively.
The most successful of the operations were those that revealed to the Germans how the Russians were not fully sharing data, and vice versa. The operation with the most immediate effect was when an MI6 Russian asset working on the atomic program gave the Germans papers showing their ally had changed important reports being sent to Germany to show less progress than actually occurred. The Germans recalled their scientists for almost eight months in 1943-44. The papers were essentially true but had been altered to make the subterfuge seem worse than it really was. It had a double benefit in that when the Germans returned, they started on another area of research that proved a dead end.
In 1943 MI6 recruited Werner Von Braun, who was second in command of German rocket/missile research. He provided invaluable intelligence to include drawings, and test reports. Von Braun wanted rockets to lead to space exploration and saw the German-Russian alliance only developing them as weapons. Were it just Germany Von Braun would have likely not been susceptible to recruitment, but he later wrote he feared the Russians would eventually turn German developed rockets against them. In early 1944 Von Braun asked the British to get him and his family out of Germany. That June many of the rocket scientists and their families were attending a combined conference and holiday on the Spanish Island of Mallorca. On June 6, 1944, Von Braun, his brother and their families took a Mediterranean cruise north along the Spanish coast to the French Riviera. The cruise was actually arranged by MI6 and took the party south to Gibraltar. Imagine the surprise of MI6 and the NIS when they found three other scientists and their families on the craft.
The British gave the American NIS full access to the defectors. JPK’s younger son John was an analyst with NIS. This really wasn’t his wheelhouse, but John Kennedy was ordered to participate in the debriefings. The debriefings were conducted in Northern Scotland. The accommodations were spartan, and the defectors and their families were uncomfortable. Von Braun was also chagrined that they were not being put to work. The MI6 agent in charge was a Kim Philby, who was not liked by the defectors, as he had expressed doubt on their veracity saying he couldn’t see how they could so easily turn on their country. While just getting over a long winter in February 1945, Von Braun and his cohorts were very receptive to John Kennedy’s “off the cuff” offer to relocate them all to the United States to immediately get to work on America’s rocket program.
On returning to No. 10 in 1945 Churchill was informed of the desire of the scientists to relocate. He was livid, but as the main priority at that time was completing the integration needed to finalize the Imperial federation, he chose not to hold the scientists or pick a fight with the Americans. In exchange the British were guaranteed full access the United States Rocket and Atomic Programs, to include permanently stationed personnel at all facilities involved in the programs. Kim Philby never forgave John Kennedy. When in 1965 John took over the NIS, Philby retired as the number two man in MI6. John Kennedy who allegedly seldom had a bad word to say about anyone –always referred to Philby as “that alcoholic.”
Relations with Germany and Russia became sufficiently tense that the press began referring to the time as an “Era of Phony Peace.” Commonwealth and American operations continued throughout both of JPK’s terms. By 1945 a clear pattern had emerged:
The largest projects were Pan-American Highway along the western coasts of the Americas from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Quelion, Chile was constructed between 1945 and 1963, the Nicaraguan Canal opened in 1967 (which is now used for all Pacific to Atlantic traffic, while the expanded Panama Canal handles Atlantic to Pacific transit), and the Eastern Highway of the Americas extending from St. John’s Newfoundland to Ushuaia, Argentina with a connection to Quelion was begun in 1966 and completed in 1979. The highways of course intersect in Panama. There were numerous smaller projects including dams, roads, bridges, and as time progressed radio, television, and computer infrastructure. In the Caribbean money was given to improve ports increasing trade and tourism. The largest project completed in Joe, Jr.’s second term is the International Spaceport in what was formerly French Guiana.
More on the ICC-WB later in discussions of JPK’s post-Presidency but suffice it to say the projects did much to wed the interests of Latin America to the United States. The cooperation fostered by the ICC-WB backed programs encouraged regional cooperation, and in point of fact was credited by politicians in both Bolivia and Paraguay as leading to a final settlement of the Chaco War where the belligerents had engaged in several battles over the region in 1934, only to settle into an armed ceasefire with occasional incursions by one side or the other over the following decade. When in 1945 the ICC-WB offered to loan money to develop the oil and other mineral resources the parties agreed within two months to share the resources and draw a border that still exists.
A similar tack was attempted in Africa with somewhat less success. There were several reasons for this. JPK took the lead with Latin America as he saw it as implementing the Monroe Doctrine, with a carrot added to TR’s big stick. The Commonwealth took on the major role in Africa but was working under some handicaps. First, unlike the Americas, much of Africa was still under (or only recently past) colonial rule, with some of the other European powers trying to hold or claw back their holdings. Second there were still numerous tribal, religious and ethnic differences throughout Africa, to include Commonwealth holdings. Finally, the Commonwealth had its own issues on the continent with apartheid in South Africa, and Rhodesia coupled with entering the final phases of creating the Imperial Federation and Greater Commonwealth.
In 1944 both Rhodesia and South Africa declared independence and dissociated themselves from the Commonwealth. They became rogue nations, they ignored all Commonwealth, Federation and ICC resolutions, and sanctions. Despite successes elsewhere in isolating Germany and Russia there was extensive trade forming an “Axis of Evil” between southern Africa and “Shackled Europe,” to quote Churchill. Even so, the aforementioned issues the rest of Africa slowly got past colonialism. Under ICC auspices borders were drawn with local input that took tribal, and ethnic divisions into consideration.
Following America’s “Philippine Model,” the Commonwealth and United States tried to show good faith by freeing those areas that would never be a part of the Imperial federation or as an American State, while maintaining significant ties. In 1945 the Indian sub-Continent was partitioned into the four nations we know today. The United States freed the Philippines in 1946, with the Virgin Islands in 1947, and its Pacific holdings in 1948, and all such areas became “Nations in Free Association with The United States.” In 1949, shortly before the Federation came into full force, the Commonwealth created the nations of Jordan, Palestine and the Jewish state of Israel. As with the Indian sub-continent they remained Commonwealth members, but had borders controlled by troops from other Commonwealth members until 1969. The Israel-Palestine division was especially difficult due to the large numbers of displaced European Jews entering Israel. Allowing other powers former colonial holdings to apply to the Commonwealth or to become Nations in Association with the United States (or both) also served to isolate Shackled Europe. Iceland being the most prominent example.
In Asia there was more direct confrontation of the Russians. Alexander Kerensky had been the Leader of the Duma since the ICC forces had put down the Red rebellion in 1919. Originally it appeared he would guide Russia to a Constitutional Monarchy, but by 1929 the Tsar had been deposed and elections were repeatedly suspended often without explanation. Quite frankly, Kerensky and those around him saw what Germany was doing in Europe and decided to try to get in on the act.
The native armed forces in Asia were not shy about confronting the Russian forces and had the advantage of Russia wanting to avoid direct conflict with the United States or Commonwealth. In 1944 JPK signed the Military Assistance Act (MAA) authorizing the United States to provide virtually anything short of combat troops (and even then advisors were permitted) to “nations or territories under attack or threat from European Powers certified to be enemies of peace.” The Act also allowed Americans to volunteer for service in the armed forces of said nations or territories under attack or threat.
Based on the MAA, in 1945, the American Volunteer Force (AVF) consisting of a reinforced Infantry Brigade, three fighter-interceptor squadrons, and a bomber squadron was formed in the United States, and by 1946 was fully engaged in the Chinese Civil War. Russia called the AVF mercenaries and bandits, but within the year the Russians had formed their own analog (although almost half the manpower came from convicts). So right wing Russia was providing support to the Communists under Mao Tse Tung to undermine Chinese independence. The Russians also provided the Chinese Communists with chemical weapons, which were deployed at least a dozen times in the late 1940s. Russian support for the communists was obvious, but even the fig leaf of neutrality was obliterated by the evidence adduced at Mao’s trial in 1951.
The Anglo-American alliance was finally able to permanently split the Germans and Russians on the day following formation of the Imperial Federation on November 25, 1949. The almost worldwide boycott of Shackled Europe was taking a toll. The Germans were led to believe that were they to abandon Russia more normal relations would at least be open to discussion. Russian aggression in Asia was much more open than German domination in Europe. Germany announced that effective January 1, 1949, there would be a European Community for all of continental Europe save Turkey, and Russia. The irony that no other European nation meant to be a part of this Community issued a statement was lost on the Germans. The Russian response was to abrogate their alliance. The Germans had already left the joint atomic development program but continued basic research (looking to South Africa for Uranium). In the short term the response of the Americans and Federation deeply disappointed the Germans.
Even though German assistance was gone the Russians redoubled their efforts to create an atomic weapon. By early 1948 they actually had a design that would work but had been unable to overcome problems in enriching uranium, and were never able to produce Hesperium (also known as Plutonium). There was also at least one lab accident leading to a release of radiation that killed three of the top Russian scientists in mid-1948. What finally put an end to the program was the display JPK and Churchill jointly authorized on January 10, 1949. The United States exploded a hesperium bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific with representatives from Germany, and Russia invited to observe from a safe distance. They also released a film of the test uranium device exploded the prior month. The films of both tests remain are breathtaking even today. In the statement issued following the demonstration the United States indicated the Anglo-American Alliance had stockpiled several weapons that could be delivered by land or sea based aircraft or missiles, and that within the year they anticipated having an even more powerful weapon known as a fusion bomb. The communique went on to describe in detail the effects of the weapons, to include expected radiological effects on human beings and the general environment. The United States or the Imperial Federation pledged the weapons were only created as a deterrent to Aggressive Powers seeking to dominate weaker nations and territories. They stated that would not use the weapons, and it demanded other non-democratic nations, specifying Germany and Russia, immediately discontinue their research and dismantle any facilities dedicated to creating atomic weapons. More on the results when we get to the JFK post-Presidency.
Most of the discussion of dealing with the German-Russian alliance necessarily extended over both of JPK’s terms. So was there much of a contest when he ran for reelection in 1944? Well not exactly. The country was concerned that JPK was too involved in foreign affairs, and would bring the nation into a European War. Kennedy was able to argue that just as TR’s was proactive in foreign affairs and kept us out of the Great War, he would proactively prevent another European war. The President was once again blessed by poor opponents. The Democrats nominated Governor J. Melville Broughton of North Carolina and Senator Joseph O’Mahoney of Wyoming; O’Mahoney was actually the mirror image of JPK – a Republican turned Democrat. One of the major missed opportunities in JPK’s first term was his total neglect of civil rights. Had the Democrats nominated a more progressive candidate they might have made inroads on the black vote. As it was the Republicans prevailed by 285 to 270. They won the popular vote by under half a million votes out of more than 54 million cast. Republicans also barely held both Houses of Congress. A good result, but in all cases, it was closer than 1940. Joe, Jr. easily won reelection even though he had no particularly great accomplishments to cite.
In his second term JPK doubled down on foreign policy, letting Congress take the lead on domestic issues. This may have been the correct course, but there is no doubt it hurt the Republicans. JPK did try to enforce anti-lynching laws more forcefully, but he still failed to introduce comprehensive voting or civil rights legislation. Northern Democrats were actually willing to join with Republicans to overcome a filibuster by Southern Democrats on such legislation, but Kennedy failed to provide leadership.
One positive effect on civil rights came from JPK’s second term; in 1945 as his third Supreme Court appointment, he named Harold Burton as Chief Justice. Less than a decade later Burton wrote the opinion of a unanimous Court in Parks v. Alabama overruling the Plessy vs. Ferguson separate but equal doctrine. The case of course followed in 1956 by Meredith v. Conner et al wherein the 1954 Civil Rights Act was upheld as applying not only to State actions, but to “public accommodations” operated by private parties.
In the 1946 midterms the Republicans lost the Senate, and barely held the House. Joe, Jr. was reelected, but by a greatly reduced margin from 1942 and 1944. Even with those losses Joe, Sr. actually contemplated running for a third term. The Democrats had revolted when FDR eight years earlier had publicly mused about a third term, the Republicans had a similar reaction to JPK – saying he was no TR. Even though JPK subsequently renounced any intention to run again the result was the 20th Amendment which limited Presidents to two terms (although as with TR that would not limit someone who completed the term of another President from being elected twice in their own right). The Amendment also moved the convening dates of Congress and Inauguration of the President from March to January. The Amendment was not ratified until May 1950, so JPK’s term was not altered.
In foreign affairs at the end of JPK’s second term the United States was firmly allied with the Imperial Federation. Latin America and the Carribean nations were prospering, generally democratic, and on the road to forming what would later be known as the Common Market of the Americas. In Africa the Federation was having less success, with tribal resentments still coming to the surface, but progress was being made with the notable exceptions of South Africa and Rhodesia as well as the nascent Islamic Confederation formed by Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait being formed from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. The Anglo-American Alliance had managed to cause a real split between the Germans and Russians, but they each represented an individual threat to peace. Asia was looking more and more like the place where the Alliance and the Russians would actually get into a shooting war.
Congressman Kennedy
On November 22, 1945, the President announced the birth of his first grandchild, Marguerite Rose Kennedy, named for her grandmothers, and on August 20, 1947, our guest today – Joseph P. Kennedy III was born. Joe, Jr. and Maureen were totally devoted to their children. Maureen gave up acting to raise the children. Joe, Jr. remained in Congress, but was not a particular standout while his father was President. After the birth of his daughter Congressman Kennedy dropped the Junior and began referring to himself as simply J.P. to try to move out of his father's shadow; he would later write this was a conscious decision as he did not want to seem to be just an extension of his father. Not surprising is the fact that he kept any disagreements private, saying later there was no value in publicizing where they differed. In reality Joe, Jr. thought the failure to move on Civil Rights was the elder Kennedy’s biggest failure.
J.P. took on somewhat of a leadership role in military and veterans affairs where he and Wisconsin Democrat Joe McCarthy sponsored Military Education Act of 1946. It gave Federal allowances for college, or vocational school for any honorably discharged member of the armed forces. It also set up a system of low interest loans with minimal collateral for any sole proprietorship operated by an honorably discharged service member. The Act has of course been greatly expanded over the years, but it increased recruiting to the extent that there no need for a military draft, and in fact enlistees were usually placed on a waiting list to begin training. Joe, Jr. also co-sponsored legislation reorganizing the active and reserve forces. The partnership of the two Joe's across party lines continued even after J.P. went into the Senate. McCarthy lost his own attempt to enter the Senate after it was revealed he had lied about his war record in the Marines, and subsequently left the House in disgrace. In 1955, when McCarthy died in a one car accident evidently caused by a severe alcohol problem, J.P. was the only member of Congress to attend the funeral.
In 1951 five year old Marguerite Rose Kennedy died of complications from polio. The entire family was devastated by the sudden loss. Marguerite’s uncle John Kennedy later related Rose Kennedy was inconsolable. Unable to have more children after her 1918 bout of Kansas Flu, Rose Kennedy had considered Marguerite to be the daughter she never had. In 1968 John wrote “After Marguerite Rose died my mother essentially ceased to interact with anyone; she took some solace in the Church and the idea of being reunited with her granddaughter in the next life, but she herself died of a broken heart in just over a year.” Joe, Jr. threw himself into his work, and for the rest of his life pulled all stops in insuring funding for vaccines and anything relating to children’s health. The irony of course is that at the time Marguerite contracted polio a vaccine was already in testing, and was approved the following year. The Marguerite Rose Foundation still exists as one of the largest child health charities today.
1948 Election and JPK at the ICC
All predictions were that the Republicans would be swept nationwide in 1948. Just as TR had campaigned tirelessly for Hughes in 1916, so did JPK barnstorm for Dewey-Taft ticket in 1948. Barnstorm is right, as he had in every election cycle since 1940- JPK would often land in a small plane saying he was flown by his naval aviator son "hero of the Pacific War." J.P. later admitted "being blind in one eye meant I would never trust myself to safely fly a kite, never mind my dad, but I would sometimes sit in the copilot seat to give some credence to the story." The Democrats had nominated Kentucky Governor Alben Barkley, and Missouri Senator Harry Truman. The Democrats finally added a strong Civil Rights plank to their platform, and it was thought they could perhaps break the Republican lock on the Black vote. Polls at the time showed Democrats so far ahead that their National Candidates essentially stopped campaigning after Labor Day to avoid making mistakes. On election night all were shocked when the Republicans prevailed with 287 electoral votes to the Democrats 251 votes (17 electors from three Southern States actually cast votes for South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, who was not even on the ballot). The Republicans held the House, and the Senate was tied at 48 to 48. J.P. was easily reelected to his seat. Analysis showed a failure of Democrats to make significant inroads in the black vote, as despite the civil rights plank, they still nominated a ticket with candidates from states seen as hostile to blacks. On the other side that same plank likely cost the Democrats Virginia and West Virginia due to many being opposed to expanded civil rights and sitting out the election.
In March 1949 one of Tom Dewey’s first acts was to name JPK as the United States envoy to the ICC. He was the first President since TR to be named as envoy, and as with TR he was named Speaker by the ICC assembly. It should be noted that were it in doubt that JPK would be named Speaker, he would not have accepted the appointment. Even though the title was Speaker of the ICC, since TR, the presiding officer has always been referred to as Mr. or Madame President. JPK used his position to further isolate Russia, Germany and their vassal states. He actually named himself as the head of the board of Governors of the ICC-WB. This role proved more influential than the ICC Speakership. JPK got the board of Governors to start linking ICC-WB loans to the nations seeking funding making electoral reforms. Even more effective was the program reducing outstanding loans to nations that moved toward democracy. This was especially effective in sub-Saharan Africa. JPK was replaced as envoy to the ICC at the end of 1958, but stayed on as head of the ICC-WB until he retired in June 1960. By the time JPK left the bank his policies on lending had been codified.
This is a good point to break for questions. Please remember if you are getting this on a delayed feed from outside the eastern seaboard, I will answer questions by general email within a day or two.
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The first two Lectures on TR and Churchill are already contained in a single thread in this forum.
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, JR. HALL: 8:07 AM EST AUGUST 12, 2024
THE KENNEDY FAMILY PRE-MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNORSHIP
Welcome to all of you here today for our lecture on the father and son Presidencies of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. who dominated United States and world politics from the 1940s through 1990s. Before we get started let me pass on my personal condolences to those streaming from our sister institutions in The Imperial Federation and Greater Commonwealth on the passing last week of Queen Elizabeth, who for almost 76 years was the only sovereign the Imperial Federation had known, and of course I’m sure we all wish her son and successor King George well.
Now back to our topic. This lecture will not be on just the Kennedy Administrations but will necessarily include what was going on in the United States and the world from the mid-1920s through the mid-1980s, and beyond. Still, it is fair to say the Kennedy influence is still felt today. Just look at the name of this venue dedicated 25 years ago this month, and our esteemed guest, my good friend, mentor and colleague Professor Emeritus Joseph P. Kennedy III, who prefers to be called Trip.
Trip took no credit, but I can tell you he edited the seminal book on this topic written by his uncle, the late historian, John F. Kennedy (Father to Son, Democrat to Republican, Power to Superpower) which was published posthumously in 1980. Let us not forget Trip’s daughter Senator Rose Kennedy-Nixon, who entered the family business, and sends her regrets for not being able to attend. I’m sure you are all aware she is somewhat busy having been nominated for Vice-President. Trip has his own book coming out this November, John E. Hoover and the National Bureau of Investigation 1927 -1967. He was kind enough to share a copy with me and has allowed me to share today some of the never before released revelations found through Sunshine Act requests and from his late Uncle John’s private papers.
Let us begin by going back to 1914 when Joseph P. Kennedy married Rose Fitzgerald. Both were from staunchly Democratic families. Rose’s father was mayor of Boston, while Joe’s father had been a Massachusetts legislator, and party boss. Joe at aged 25 was a Harvard graduate, a bank President and highly successful businessman.
The young couple likely planned on a big family. Joe junior was born in 1915 and was followed by John Kennedy in 1917. Tragedy struck in mid-1918, when Rose contracted Kansas flu. She survived but lost the child she was carrying. Rose was so weakened that she was not able to carry another child to term. It is believed she contracted the flu on a trip to New York, as she was one of the first recorded cases in Massachusetts. The pandemic was worldwide, and many attribute the spread to the fact that it traveled from Kansas to New York at about the same time as the second session of the Inter-Continental Congress (ICC).
Rose thereafter totally devoted herself to their two sons. Joe Junior and John were very competitive, but also very close. Joe Sr. had already developed business interests that had him away in New York, Florida, and California for weeks at a time, but he still made his first foray into politics in 1919 when he publicly opposed a prohibition amendment. His argument was based largely on what we would call Federalism. Kennedy took the position that alcohol use or abuse was a matter of morality which should be left to states and localities. He said that by outlawing such a widely used substance the Federal Government likely would not substantially reduce consumption, but would create a black market, and reduce respect for the rule of law due to many ignoring any prohibition. Of course, Joe’s investments in several distilleries and a brewery had nothing to do with his position. The amendment had been proposed in 1916 and given the 18th Amendment having given women full voting rights nationwide it was thought Prohibition would pass quickly, but it stalled when it was still four states short, and there was a question when the Louisiana and Massachusetts legislatures each voted to rescind their ratification. Kennedy led a group (informally called "temperate temperance") that proposed a compromise amendment that would in essence waive the supremacy clause for state and local laws regarding alcohol. The wording was "[T]he transportation or importation into any State, territory, or possession of the United States of any intoxicant is hereby prohibited where transportation, importation, or possession is a violation of the law of said State, territory or possession."
The compromise was in fact proposed in the Congress in late 1919. It allowed the states to experiment with prohibition without foreclosing the eventual adoption of complete prohibition. The compromise language became the 19th amendment when New York became the 36th State to ratify on April 4, 1921. It is interesting to note that by 1950 there was no statewide prohibition on alcohol in the United States, but many counties and smaller localities have restrictions and prohibitions. Likewise, since the 19th Amendment did not limit itself to alcohol, many states and the Federal Government do maintain extensive restrictions on “other intoxicants.”
In 1921 Joe, Sr. was surprised to be offered the governorship of the First District of the United States Central Bank (USCB) based in Boston. The offer came from the Republican Hughes Administration, which was attempting to comply with the 1914 Charter of the USCB requiring appointments to the Board of Governors be nonpartisan. Joe accepted the appointment, but only moderately cut back his travel. It should be noted that while Joe did not divest himself of any interests, he was not required to under the rules of the day. Joe Sr. remained with the USCB until mid-1929, and again concentrated on his varied business interests. On leaving the Board of Governors Kennedy issued a public letter of resignation warning that he and other members of the Board had been asking for reforms to include the power to oversee commodity and stock markets, but those reforms were not even being considered by the Congress. Kennedy wrote that close to a majority of investors in the markets were overextended with massive amounts of unsecured debt. Joe Sr. warned there would likely be one or more a crashes, and possibly wide scale bank failures, if not a depression. Few took notice of the resignation until the mini crash of 1930 that preceded the larger crash and worldwide Panic of 1931.
Joe Kennedy and his family were largely immune from the effects of the Panic as he had divested himself and his businesses of most stocks and gotten entirely out of the futures markets. Imagine Kennedy’s surprise when in June 1930, following the February 1930 mini crash he was approached by Republicans to run for Governor. The offer came from former Governor Calvin Coolidge who felt Frank G. Allen, the GOP incumbent, was unelectable due to the effects of the high unemployment, and losses already taking hold throughout New England. In the Northeast and Midwest, the mini crash (which was not considered mini until the following year) started a deep recession long before the bottom fell out completely in 1931. It was felt Kennedy was insulated from being blamed for the bad economy due to his public warning in 1929, and of course being Irish Catholic in Massachusetts didn’t hurt.
Joe, Sr. never wrote a memoir, but we know what he was thinking thanks to his son John’s recollection of a frank family talk (not a discussion as Joe Sr. wasn’t asking for input) recorded in John’s posthumously published book, Father to Son, Democrat to Republican, Power to Superpower. Joe, Sr. confessed he would not have considered the offer even though his ward boss father had already passed away, except he was actually encouraged, behind the scenes of course, by his father-in-law, Honey Fitz. Fitz was acting as a stalking horse for Democratic boss James Curley. It seems Curley and Fitz both felt that even though Joseph B. Ely had the Democratic nomination sewn up it was undeserved due to Ely’s perceived prejudice against Irish Catholics. In reality it appears Curley hoped the Democrats would dump Ely, or at the very worst if Kennedy won, Curly could defeat him in 1935. Ely still secured the nomination, but could not overcome what was frankly an unfair perception of being anti-Catholic. While Joe did not get an outright endorsement from his father-in-law, it was obvious that Fitz was providing support by not robustly turning out the Democratic machine for Ely. Kennedy prevailed as one of the few winning Republicans in a heavily Democratic year. Curly came to regret his machinations when he himself was defeated by Joe Sr. in 1934.
In reality the anti-Catholic bigotry of Ely was largely manufactured by James Curly. So, why would a staunch Democrat like Honey Fitz turn on the party? Well, it was part of a deterioration of the allegiance of Catholics to the Democratic Party that began with Woodrow Wilson’s first nomination in 1912, when Teddy Roosevelt won his third term. Wilson embraced the KKK and shared many of their racist aims, and while he did not specifically endorse the KKK’s anti-Catholic views, Wilson did not take any of the many opportunities he was given to denounce those views. Wilson was nominated twice more, losing to Hughes in 1916 and 1920, without once trying to appeal to Catholics. It is interesting to note Wilson got his first nomination over William Jennings Bryan in part based on an argument that you shouldn’t get a nomination when you already had lost the general election.
1924 was even worse. Wilson had died, so the Democrats nominated his son-in-law, William Gibbs McAdoo, who was even more openly racist and anti-Catholic. McAdoo vowed to enforce state Jim Crow laws on the Federal level and refused to distance himself from the KKK. He lost to Herbert Hoover in a landslide. It was revealed years later that the party bosses wanted to make New York Governor Al Smith the Vice-Presidential nominee, but McAdoo reneged. This started the movement of Catholics from the Democratic Party. The Party overcompensated in 1928 and actually nominated Smith, who also lost to Herbert Hoover, but Smith did better than McAdoo. Even with the Smith nomination the damage was done, as many Catholics were not mollified by the high number of Democrats in 1928 who sat out the election rather than vote for a Catholic. It would take the Panic of 1931 for the Democrats to get their first President since Grover Cleveland, with the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
So, it wasn’t all that surprising that Joe Sr. would actually become a Republican. In a way though the Democrats still leant a hand to the Kennedys, as without them nominating a Catholic in 1928, it is doubtful the Republicans would have done so in 1940. More on that later.
JOE, SR. AS GOVERNOR
Governor Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. came into office with Democrats controlling the lower House of the Legislature, and a slim Republican majority in the Senate. Massachusetts at that time had a large textile industry which was suffering mightily from the economic downturn. Kennedy ordered new uniforms for the Commonwealth Police and the Militia and placed a uniform requirement on more than a dozen other civil service jobs (mostly color-coded coveralls for janitors, parks workers, etc.). He then contracted for the uniforms with sources in four key Legislative Districts. All four Democratic legislators subsequently voted for Kennedy’s proposed bond issues.
The first bond issue was for a proposed Turnpike from Boston to the New York line near Albany. They were 30-year bonds with a 10% premium over the prevailing rate. The issue included a provision that at any point after five years the Commonwealth could redeem the bonds. During Kennedy’s first term there were three similar bond issues, except that instead of the bonds being secured by future tolls they were only guaranteed by the Commonwealth. The funds obtained allowed the Commonwealth to significantly alleviate unemployment and improve infrastructure. Projects included improving Boston Harbor, paving dirt roads throughout Massachusetts. The Turnpike was officially opened in 1937, but it was 1943 before the any early redemptions occurred because Federal and other states borrowing meant the rates of Massachusetts bonds were lower than the prevailing rates.
In 1932 the Republicans were routed around the country. 1933 saw a Democratic President, Congress, and Democrats in control of both Houses of the Massachusetts Legislature. Unlike other Republican governors around the country, Joe Sr. opted to work with Democrats. He had the assistance of his father-in-law, and goodwill built up in his first two years. In fact the last previously mentioned bond issue was put forward so Massachusetts could provide matching funds for Federal initiatives.
The likelihood of war with Japan, and instability around the world, especially in Russia and Germany, led to increases in defense spending sufficient to get the country past the worst effects of the Panic of 1931. In his 1934 reelection bid Kennedy easily defeated Curly, helped in large part from a series of financial scandals that came to light in the Boston Globe showing Curly had taken kickbacks as both a Congressman and as Mayor of Boston. It has been speculated Honey Fitz was the source for the stories, but this has never been confirmed. Republicans even took back slight majorities in both legislative houses.
In his second term Kennedy still cooperated with the Federal Government on infrastructure. He also funded a traveling business exposition that visited other states and foreign countries to attract companies to Massachusetts. On many of the exposition’s stops young Joe, Jr. was there as his father’s representative. It worked well enough that by the time Kennedy left office there were twelve other states with their own traveling expositions.
It should be noted here that Joe, Sr. was quite frankly an anti-Semite. This may be one of the reasons he left no private papers, but recollections of many who knew him attest to this, in fact in many cases it is clear they shared his views. That said, when there was a new diaspora of Jews from Europe starting in the mid-1930s Kennedy welcomed them to Massachusetts. True it may have just been expedient, and he was mainly interested in getting displaced scientists and academics to Massachusetts institutions of higher learning, but he still did it. Further, after 1935 there is no record of him making any new anti-Semitic statement. He evidently, still held those views as his son John wrote he would sometimes make remarks to him and Joe, Jr., but it appears he never let these distasteful personal views effect policy either as Governor or President.
For most of the last two years of his administration the country was caught up in the Pacific War with the Japanese Empire. That conflict was still raging when Kennedy’s term ended, but when Joe Sr. left the governorship in 1939 he was succeeded by war veteran Republican Henry Cabot Lodge, with increased Republican majorities in both Houses.
THE PACIFIC WAR
Joe, Jr. saw there was going to be a war with Japan, so on entering Harvard in 1933 he enrolled in the new Navy Reserve Officers Training Program (ROTC). Two years later John Kennedy did the same in 1935. Their mother was opposed to it, but unbeknownst to her Joe, Sr. actually pulled strings to get John a waiver for a physical ailment, and to get Joe, Sr. a flight school slot, even though this meant him taking a leave of absence from Harvard to accept his commission and attend training in 1936. After War was actually declared in 1937, John also left Harvard and took a commission, going into Naval Intelligence.
In flight school Joe, Jr. made lifelong friends with his roommate Edward Henry O’Hare, better known as Butch. Joe, Jr. qualified as a torpedo bomber pilot, while Butch was a fighter pilot. They each became plank owners on the newly christened USS Enterprise CV-6 out of Cabo San Lucas. The carrier would participate in every major engagement of the Pacific War. In late 1937 Butch O’Hare’s squadron transferred to the USS Saratoga CV-3. Butch ended the war as a squadron leader and double ace with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. In 1941 Joe, Jr. was best man at the marriage of Commander Edward H. O’Hare and Rita Wooster.
Joe, Jr. was credited with successfully torpedoing four ships including a cruiser and light aircraft carrier. His flying career was cut short in mid-1938 when a bomb exploded on the forward deck of Enterprise. Joe, Jr. ran to the explosion and managed to pull a pilot out of his aircraft, but not before being hit by a small piece of hot metal blown from the wreck. Kennedy lost sight in his left eye. Joe, Jr. was awarded the Navy Cross. Joe, Jr. requested Lederman Armed Forces Hospital near San Francisco for his follow up treatment and rehabilitation. As Harvard indicated it would accept work done at Stanford University toward the completion his degree. Kennedy did indeed complete his degree (a B.A. in Government). Joe, Jr. received a medical discharge in September 1938. He had been accepted at Stanford’s Law School but turned it down to oversee his father’s business interests on the west coast.
By the time Joe, Jr. was discharged the United States and Commonwealth forces had achieved air supremacy, and the Navy’s main task was blockading the Japanese home islands. Fierce fighting continued in Indonesia, Formosa, Indochina, the Korean peninsula and Manchuria until land forces and marines virtually destroyed the Japanese Imperial Army. The Emperor overruled his military commanders and sought peace because of the effects of the blockade and the knowledge that an invasion would totally destroy Japan.
John Kennedy remained in the Navy for several months after the War, as he had been detailed from Naval Intelligence to declassify material needed for the war crimes trials that followed the end in hostilities. John did eventually return to Harvard where he finished his degree and went on to get his Doctorate in International Affairs. For the rest of his life Dr. Kennedy was both a professor of History, and unbeknownst to most he was also an analyst for the National Intelligence Service or NIS, formed after the war. John was named NIS director by his brother in 1965 but retired due to health issues in 1970. Before his death in 1973 he completed his last book, the aforementioned Father to Son, Democrat to Republican, Power to Superpower, published in December 1980 in accordance with the author’s wish that two Presidential election cycles pass before its release.
There was no immediate widespread demobilization after the Pacific War. While the United States and Commonwealth were attempting by diplomacy and military action to deal with Japanese aggression, communists took the opportunity to launch insurgencies in Spain, France, Italy and Greece in the mid to late 1930s. The ICC called on member states in continental Europe to assist the legitimate governments. Various governments answered the call, but the bulk of troops were provided by the German Empire. After the insurgencies were defeated, the German troops stayed. The French and Dutch were especially vulnerable as they had sent troops to help liberate their colonies in the Pacific War. After the Japanese defeat their relations with the United States and soured when it appeared the Japanese were out, but the plan was for independence and not a return to be colonies.
This was further exacerbated by the Russians, who offered Vladivostok as the site for ICC sponsored peace talks with Japan. The Russians followed the German model. Although they did not participate in the fighting with Japan, after the war Russian troops supplanted Japanese troops in much of Asia. Like the Germans they stayed in place long after they were needed.
THE PACIFIC WAR IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH
The Roosevelt Administration tried to use the ICC to mandate the Germans and Russians end what amounted to occupations. Both powers had each sufficiently entrenched themselves that getting local authorities on the ground to “request” continued presence of foreign troops was easily accomplished by the two powers.
In the 1929 the German National People’s Party took full control of the government. They had previously crushed and outlawed all socialist and communist organizations in the Reich. After the Panic hit Europe in 1931, the Nationalists were anxious to divert blame from themselves. When the Kaiser tried to call elections in 1933, the Reichstag passed a bill abolishing the monarchy, and vesting all power in the Nationalist Party. The Kaiser fled to Britain, where he died in 1941.
They also blamed the Jews and removed citizenship from all non-Christians. The Reich did not conduct pogroms, but largely turned a blind eye to violence against Jews. This of course led to large scale efforts by Jews to emigrate. Those Jews who were better off financially fled the country, and anyone who could went to Britain or the United States. This included many of Germany’s best minds. The most famous was most certainly Albert Einstein who accepted a visiting professorship, arranged with the help of Massachusetts Governor Kennedy in 1936. Needless to say, Einstein never returned to Germany. Einstein was but one of many, but many more Jews could not afford to leave and lived an ever more pitiful existence until the Nationalists were finally turned out after the New Democracy Movement spread throughout Europe in 1953-54.
The German experience was extended to France, Italy, Spain and Greece once the German forces putting down the insurgencies became for all intents and purposes occupiers. By 1937 Italy, Spain and Greece had removed their own monarchs, and while they did not pass their own anti-Semitic statutes, they also denied entry to German Jews. The Dutch, Danes and Belgians were never occupied, but after being pressured to give up their colonies by the Commonwealth and America, they fell into Germany’s orbit. They were closely followed by Luxembourg, Albania, Hungary, the Balkans and even traditionally neutral Switzerland by 1938. Iceland declared itself completely independent in 1939, and this was immediately recognized by the United States and Britain.
American pressure to divest colonies was consistent since the formation of the ICC that any territory that is not to be fully incorporated should be guided to independence. To many Europeans this was a straw argument, as they saw no difference between French Algeria and the United States held Hawaii. The Commonwealth, on the other hand, moved to support freeing the European Powers colonies in Africa, and Asia to keep the resources from Germany and Russia who they perceived as growing threats.
After the Pacific War Russia emulated the Germans. They had already abolished the monarchy when Tsar Alexander II abdicated in 1929 and moved to the UK, but the Duma never really became a Democratic institution. There was no universal suffrage as only male landowners were allowed to vote, and no real parties had formed. They in essence went from strongman to strongman ever since ICC forces had defeated the communists in 1920. They took the opportunity of Japanese withdrawals in 1939 to put their own troops in Korea, Manchuria, and French Indochina. They essentially neutered Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltics (including Poland), Romania, and Bulgaria. These nations were reduced to being mere satellites.
Imagine the surprise throughout the Anglo-American Alliance when it was announced on January 1, 1940, that all of continental Europe was had formed its own alliance under German-Russian leadership. The alliance merged German industry and technology with the vast resources of Russia. The ICC was not dead, but it now appeared impotent. 1940 was an election year in the United States, and even though the Pacific War was won under Democratic leadership, the German-Russian alliance made Republicans the party to bet on, and all believed Brigadier General Charles Lindbergh was the man to lead the nation.
THE 1940 ELECTION
Lindbergh of course was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic in April 1927, was Ambassador Germany from 1933-37, and requested activation of his commission when the Pacific War started. He shot down three Japanese planes before being grounded by Roosevelt out of fear that the country’s morale would not recover from his loss to the enemy. Lindbergh returned to the United States and received his second ticker tape parade down the Great White Way in New York City.
You all of course remember President Lindbergh? No? Well, there were some surprises in 1940. Most of the other candidates at the 1940 Republican Convention were running as favorite sons and hoping for the second place on the ticket. This included Joe, Sr. who, in late 1939, after securing Boston as the site of the convention went on a three month round the world tour that included London, Berlin, Moscow, Saigon, and Sydney. This was followed immediately by a two-month cross country train tour. That tour began in San Francisco where he visited his sons (John was on the staff of the team prosecuting Japanese war criminals at Alcatraz). Joe, Sr. then went to in all the major cities the Boston Business Exposition had visited - Denver, Milwaukee, Chicago, Pittsburg, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York, as well as many smaller venues. Wherever he went Joe, Sr. glad handed the local party leaders, and listened to their concerns. When he arrived back in Boston Kennedy believed himself well positioned for the VP nomination.
What no one expected was Lindbergh having to drop out when it was revealed that when he was America’s man in Berlin, “Good Time Charlie,” as he came to be called, had in essence taken a German family. Lindbergh’s wife had not accompanied him to Berlin and stayed behind to raise their two children. The New York Times revealed that Lindbergh routinely spent days away from the Embassy, and at some point, early in his tenure he started living regularly with a young woman in Potsdam, a Berlin suburb. They acted as man and wife, he purchased a home, and fathered two children with her. After his ambassadorship ended Lindbergh returned to Germany at least twice and was paying regular support. He only avoided bigamy charges because there was no proof, he actually went through a marriage ceremony. Needless to say, there is no way he would be trusted to stand up to Germany if needed.
There was almost immediate speculation that Joe, Sr. had arranged the leak. He had visited Berlin just a few months before the Times broke the story on the literal eve of the convention. Kennedy had indeed met with the Times bureau chief when he was in Berlin. The speculation only increased years later when it was revealed that John Kennedy was an intelligence analyst, but in 1976 the Times named the actual source as a relative of the German family who had a falling out with Lindbergh on one of his visits. The Times held the identity of the source until he had passed, but it appears the story was easily confirmed due to the openness of the relationship. It was later confirmed that the story was offered first to Berliner Tageblatt in 1939, but the German government suppressed the story – evidently hoping to have leverage on Lindbergh.
While he may not have been the source of Lindbergh’s dilemma, Kennedy was quick to capitalize on it. He never referred to Lindbergh as “Good Time Charlie,” but neither did he continue to refer to him by his military rank. Joe, Sr. merely said he encouraged “Mr. Lindbergh to be with his family,” left unsaid was whether this included the German family. The Republicans delayed the balloting, but in the end Lindbergh’s name was not even placed in nomination.
A total of seven candidates received votes on the first ballot, including the un-nominated Lindbergh who finished sixth. Kennedy was first throughout the balloting. Frank Merriam, Governor of California finished behind New York Governor Thomas Dewey on the third ballot. After everyone behind him had dropped out, Merriam threw his support to Kennedy who was nominated on the fourth ballot. Surprise - Kennedy chose Frank Merriam for the VP slot. The Democratic ticket was led by House Minority Leader John Nance Garner of Texas, with Senator James Farley of New York, as his running mate. Farley wasn’t merely Catholic – he was a Knight of Malta and had been the first US representative to the Holy See. He was picked to try again to stem the loss of Catholics from the Democrats, but if anything, it made Kennedy more palatable to non-Catholic voters as either way there would be a Catholic elected to National Office.
The contest was much closer than it would have been without the Lindbergh scandal. Republicans ran on Kennedy’s executive experience as a Governor and businessman, and the Democratic Administration ignoring domestic needs to win a war that the Russians were reaping the benefits from. Republicans were short on what they would do differently but were helped by the fact that Garner was a really horrible campaigner. The GOP prevailed in the Electoral College by 295 to 256. They won the popular vote by just under a million votes out of more than 53 million cast. Republicans also took both Houses of Congress, and with the gains they had made in state legislatures in the previous cycle they were well positioned for reapportionment in 1942, as well as 1944 when the Electoral College went from 551 to 555.
JOE, JR. AFTER THE PACIFIC WAR
Before going into the first Kennedy Administration let’s see what Joe, Jr. was doing. When young Kennedy was recuperating at Letterman Armed Forces Hospital there were a large number of Commonwealth personnel who were also patients. Just before his discharge an Entertainment Live Event Troupe (ELET), the Commonwealth version of the USO, put on a show for the patients before doing a tour of bases in the Pacific. It was a variety show under the direction of actor Charles Laughton and included a sister act with Peggy and Maureen FitzSimons. Maureen was just 18, but had impressed Laughton, who wanted to get her into pictures. Joe was immediately smitten, and Laughton arranged an introduction, but Maureen turned him down flat saying she had a beau in the war. Joe was discharged, and Maureen went on her tour, and that was that.
Now to be clear Joe, Jr. was a young, wealthy war hero who was purportedly engaged twice while at Harvard, but still “dated” several women, including a young lady his brother was getting serious with. He was known as a lothario both before and after meeting Miss FitzSimons. In fact, in managing his father’s west coast interests Joe took a special interest in RKO, the movie studio. Like his father Joe was involved with several starlets, but unlike his father some of his assignations became public knowledge at the time.
By early 1939 Charles Laughton was under contract to RKO, and he approached Joe, Jr. who immediately brought up “that Irish girl –Maureen Fitzgerald.” Kennedy had confused her last name with his mother’s maiden name. Laughton corrected him and said she could be in California in short order if Kennedy could arrange a screen test. Joe, Jr. asked about her boyfriend, who Laughton stated had been killed. Laughton later recounted that he had no idea what Maureen’s status was, but to get the test he opted to make her single. Fortunately for the boyfriend he was not dead, but neither was he still her boyfriend. Kennedy agreed to the screen test, but it was done in London, as he wasn’t going to authorize paying for passage from Ireland without knowing a contract would be offered.
Following her screen test Maureen was offered a contract and passage. She arrived in Hollywood in May 1939. In their first meeting Maureen thanked Kennedy, and explained her beau was not dead, but was no longer her beau. Joe, Jr. immediately asked her out, but she demurred, indicating she didn’t want people thinking she was only getting work due to her connection to him. She suggested he ask her again after the release of her first picture. She was cast as Esmerelda in The Hunch back of Notre Dame, with Charles Laughton in the title role. In a television interview in 1980, Maureen confessed her initial rejection was made in part to assure she would actually get cast, and she was shocked to get a call from Kennedy the day after the film’s release. The film was a hit, and Maureen and Joe, Jr. stared dating just before Christmas 1939.
Joe, Jr. and Maureen quickly became what we today call a power couple. While they initially both saw other people, after a few months Maureen told Joe that she would not see anyone else and wanted him to reciprocate. She indicates that Kennedy then responded that they might as well get married if that was the case. Maureen wanted to meet his parents, and likewise wanted him to meet her family. Joe, Jr. introduced Maureen to his father when he visited San Francisco on his round the world tour. John Kennedy was also present. Joe, Sr. was courteous and jovial, but John later wrote that when Maureen had left the room, he said in no uncertain terms that he hoped they weren’t considering marriage as an “uneducated actress” was not an appropriate wife for him. Joe, Jr. thanked his father for his opinion and then called his mother to see if he could bring Maureen to their home for Easter.
After the visit that Easter Rose Kennedy said in front of the entire family that she very much hoped that Joe, Jr. would quickly propose to Maureen, and asked if she might have any sisters who might like to meet her son Jack. Joe, Sr. forced a smile and said he totally agreed. Joe, Sr. never said another negative word about Maureen, and forever after publicly celebrated the happy couple. Shortly thereafter, Joe, Jr. formally proposed. Maureen accepted but still wanted to wait until Joe could meet her family and preferred to first obtain US citizenship. Maureen also explained that she had almost married her former beau, and wanted to make sure the relationship would last. She quite likely was also worried that Joe, Jr. had a “wandering eye,” and marriage would possibly stunt her movie career. They were engaged, but there was no announcement, and Maureen was sometimes linked for publicity purposes to various male stars.
Young Kennedy did not get to Ireland until July 1941 when he accompanied Maureen on a visit. The family loved the young Kennedy; of course, it’s hard to imagine how they could object to a rich, glib Irishman who happened to be the eldest son of the President of the United States. Not known until many years later was that they were civilly married in June 1942, but kept it secret until Maureen was actually a United States citizen. They actually announced their “engagement” on July 4, 1944, when Maureen was sworn in as a United States citizen, and Joe, Jr. and his father were running respectively for their second terms for Congress and Presidency.
When Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. married Maureen FitzSimons in a Catholic Service on New Year’s Eve 1944 his best man was his brother John, and the groomsmen were Butch O’Hare, fellow California Congressman Dick Nixon, and Michigan Congressman Gerry Ford. They were all Navy veterans of the Pacific War, and respectively became the head of the National Intelligence Service, Chief of Naval Operations, Secretary of State, and Speaker of the House. At my own wedding 37 years ago, I had my brother and two brothers-in-law, who went on to become a landscaper, a police sergeant and a mortician, so you see my affinity for the Kennedy story. They had kept the civil ceremony so secret, that the speculation was Joe, Jr. did it only to get the tax benefit.
Between 1938 and 1944 more than 80 veterans of the Pacific War were elected to Congress, most were under thirty years old. Joe was going to run in 1940, but he decided to sit it out rather than run at the same time his father was seeking the Presidency. His father wanted him to run for a Massachusetts seat, but in 1942 Joe, Jr. chose to run in California, to again make clear he wasn’t just Daddy’s boy. He ran as J. Kennedy and had a safe Republican seat in Orange County. On arriving in Congress, he made fast friends with two other veterans – Californian Dick Nixon, and Michigan Representative Gerry Ford. Both had been elected to the House in 1940. Joe, Jr.’s first term was unremarkable, but he was easily re-elected in 1944.
JPK’s Presidency
On taking office in 1941, Joe, Sr. hit the ground running. He sent signals early on that he had no intention on refighting battles by trying to dismantle social security or other programs initiated under FDR, but as he had done in Massachusetts JPK, as he was now known, would concentrate on infrastructure. He started with highways. Whereas TR had built roads using the justification of post roads from the Constitution, JPK turned them into a true interstate highway system, to include going down both coasts of Canada from Alaska and Greenland using the justification of National Defense. He also cajoled the Senate to finally approve the Treaty for the St. Lawrence Seaway Canal which would take more than a dozen years to complete. The Boulder Dam was also finally completed.
While there was not a general demobilization following the Pacific War, JPK did do a drawdown of standing forces by enhancing the Reserves and giving the State Militias a dual role as National Reservists or Guardsman as they are known today. This also had the effect of having the Militias and other Reserve Forces training to a single standard. The public works projects largely prevented a downturn in the economy by absorbing the increased labor force.
The previous Roosevelt Administration had been caught flat footed by the German-Russian alliance announced in 1940. Shortly after the alliance was announced FDR received a letter signed by more than a two dozen physicists indicating that in the case of Germany especially there was fear that it had atomic research ongoing likely aimed at creating a chain reaction with fissionable material to split an uranium atom that could be turned into a weapon of immense power. The signatories included Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and Edward Teller. All three were refugees, who emigrated due to growing Anti-Semitism in Europe (Einstein, and Teller were both Jewish, as was Fermi’s wife). Einstein was recognized as the world’s greatest physicist, and both Fermi and Teller would have major roles in the Cambridge Cooperative.
The newly formed NIS was tasked with gathering intelligence on the extent of German-Russian military cooperation in general, and atomic research in particular. JPK named “Wild Bill” Donovan as the Director of the NIS. They soon partnered with the better resourced MI6. It was hoped that the two European powers would revert to their prior competitive (even antagonistic) stances, but they were indeed cooperating. By the time JPK took office intelligence showed there was an atomic program in place. The Germans provided the bulk of scientific personnel, while the Russians provided the resources and a site in Siberia. They were also closely cooperating on making advances in rockets, aircraft, armored vehicles, and submarines. The subs were developed out of pens on the Baltic Sea, while the Germans controlled most of the aircraft and rocket research, and the Russians concentrated on tanks.
By 1943 the alliance’s first U-Boats, and Russian T-42 tank (known in Germany as the Panther), were generations ahead of their Commonwealth and American counterparts. Even so fear of an atomic weapon dropped from a bomber, or mounted on a rocket is what prompted JPK to approach the Commonwealth about cooperating on their own program. Clement Atlee actually met with JPK in April 1941. Remember this was pre-Imperial Federation, and Atlee’s Labour led only the UK at the time, and as a minority government as that. It was therefore decided that the bulk of the work would be done in the United States with theoretical research based at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Cambridge University in England. The project was thus code named as the Cambridge Cooperative to mask it as a mere academic exchange. The funding was almost exclusively American, but MI6 and MI5 in conjunction with the NIA, NBI, and the United States military provided intelligence and operational security. When Churchill returned as Prime Minister in 1945 he did complain that the Americans had poached virtually every physicist the UK had. He would soon complain even more about rocketry assets, but more on that shortly.
JPK was not overly fond of the British, but just as he, at least publicly, set aside his Anti-Semitism for the good of the country, he did the same for cooperation with both Atlee and Churchill. Their intelligence agencies worked together to undermine the German-Russian alliance, encourage defectors, and do outright sabotage to their various weapons programs. They also used surrogates in Asia and Africa to confront the Russians and Germans respectively.
The most successful of the operations were those that revealed to the Germans how the Russians were not fully sharing data, and vice versa. The operation with the most immediate effect was when an MI6 Russian asset working on the atomic program gave the Germans papers showing their ally had changed important reports being sent to Germany to show less progress than actually occurred. The Germans recalled their scientists for almost eight months in 1943-44. The papers were essentially true but had been altered to make the subterfuge seem worse than it really was. It had a double benefit in that when the Germans returned, they started on another area of research that proved a dead end.
In 1943 MI6 recruited Werner Von Braun, who was second in command of German rocket/missile research. He provided invaluable intelligence to include drawings, and test reports. Von Braun wanted rockets to lead to space exploration and saw the German-Russian alliance only developing them as weapons. Were it just Germany Von Braun would have likely not been susceptible to recruitment, but he later wrote he feared the Russians would eventually turn German developed rockets against them. In early 1944 Von Braun asked the British to get him and his family out of Germany. That June many of the rocket scientists and their families were attending a combined conference and holiday on the Spanish Island of Mallorca. On June 6, 1944, Von Braun, his brother and their families took a Mediterranean cruise north along the Spanish coast to the French Riviera. The cruise was actually arranged by MI6 and took the party south to Gibraltar. Imagine the surprise of MI6 and the NIS when they found three other scientists and their families on the craft.
The British gave the American NIS full access to the defectors. JPK’s younger son John was an analyst with NIS. This really wasn’t his wheelhouse, but John Kennedy was ordered to participate in the debriefings. The debriefings were conducted in Northern Scotland. The accommodations were spartan, and the defectors and their families were uncomfortable. Von Braun was also chagrined that they were not being put to work. The MI6 agent in charge was a Kim Philby, who was not liked by the defectors, as he had expressed doubt on their veracity saying he couldn’t see how they could so easily turn on their country. While just getting over a long winter in February 1945, Von Braun and his cohorts were very receptive to John Kennedy’s “off the cuff” offer to relocate them all to the United States to immediately get to work on America’s rocket program.
On returning to No. 10 in 1945 Churchill was informed of the desire of the scientists to relocate. He was livid, but as the main priority at that time was completing the integration needed to finalize the Imperial federation, he chose not to hold the scientists or pick a fight with the Americans. In exchange the British were guaranteed full access the United States Rocket and Atomic Programs, to include permanently stationed personnel at all facilities involved in the programs. Kim Philby never forgave John Kennedy. When in 1965 John took over the NIS, Philby retired as the number two man in MI6. John Kennedy who allegedly seldom had a bad word to say about anyone –always referred to Philby as “that alcoholic.”
Relations with Germany and Russia became sufficiently tense that the press began referring to the time as an “Era of Phony Peace.” Commonwealth and American operations continued throughout both of JPK’s terms. By 1945 a clear pattern had emerged:
- The United States would take action to insure stability and prosperity in the Americas and use its influence to foreclose trade or cooperation of Latin American and Caribbean Nations with the German-Russian Alliance. This included recognizing independence for territory still under technical European control and preventing the extracting resources from such territories (this included French, Danish and Dutch holdings).
- The Commonwealth would undertake similar action in Africa, Indian Ocean and the Pacific (where the French, Dutch, Portuguese, and Belgians still had holdings).
- On mainland Asia the United States would take the lead on confronting the Russians. This would be done by using local surrogates on the Korean Peninsula, Indochina, and Manchuria combined with a military alliance that would come to include The Philippines, Formosa, Indonesia and Thailand. That alliance of course still exists today and includes Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China, Tibet, Mongolia, and Japan. The United States was not formally part of the alliance but had an agreement whereby they provided extensive logistical support, equipment and training in exchange for basing rights. The training included on the ground “advisors,” observers, and a deployment of the American Volunteer Force (AVF) consisting of a reinforced Infantry Brigade, three fighter-interceptor squadrons, and a bomber squadron.
- In Europe the Anglo-American Alliance used diplomatic pressures to split the Germans and Russians. Goods within the German-Russian block were boycotted, and trade was otherwise severely restricted. The Americans used their influence at the ICC to get other nations outside Europe to cooperate. Tariffs on goods coming out of the block were raised, and the Americans and the Commonwealth routinely undercut Block prices for their goods to third party nations.
The largest projects were Pan-American Highway along the western coasts of the Americas from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Quelion, Chile was constructed between 1945 and 1963, the Nicaraguan Canal opened in 1967 (which is now used for all Pacific to Atlantic traffic, while the expanded Panama Canal handles Atlantic to Pacific transit), and the Eastern Highway of the Americas extending from St. John’s Newfoundland to Ushuaia, Argentina with a connection to Quelion was begun in 1966 and completed in 1979. The highways of course intersect in Panama. There were numerous smaller projects including dams, roads, bridges, and as time progressed radio, television, and computer infrastructure. In the Caribbean money was given to improve ports increasing trade and tourism. The largest project completed in Joe, Jr.’s second term is the International Spaceport in what was formerly French Guiana.
More on the ICC-WB later in discussions of JPK’s post-Presidency but suffice it to say the projects did much to wed the interests of Latin America to the United States. The cooperation fostered by the ICC-WB backed programs encouraged regional cooperation, and in point of fact was credited by politicians in both Bolivia and Paraguay as leading to a final settlement of the Chaco War where the belligerents had engaged in several battles over the region in 1934, only to settle into an armed ceasefire with occasional incursions by one side or the other over the following decade. When in 1945 the ICC-WB offered to loan money to develop the oil and other mineral resources the parties agreed within two months to share the resources and draw a border that still exists.
A similar tack was attempted in Africa with somewhat less success. There were several reasons for this. JPK took the lead with Latin America as he saw it as implementing the Monroe Doctrine, with a carrot added to TR’s big stick. The Commonwealth took on the major role in Africa but was working under some handicaps. First, unlike the Americas, much of Africa was still under (or only recently past) colonial rule, with some of the other European powers trying to hold or claw back their holdings. Second there were still numerous tribal, religious and ethnic differences throughout Africa, to include Commonwealth holdings. Finally, the Commonwealth had its own issues on the continent with apartheid in South Africa, and Rhodesia coupled with entering the final phases of creating the Imperial Federation and Greater Commonwealth.
In 1944 both Rhodesia and South Africa declared independence and dissociated themselves from the Commonwealth. They became rogue nations, they ignored all Commonwealth, Federation and ICC resolutions, and sanctions. Despite successes elsewhere in isolating Germany and Russia there was extensive trade forming an “Axis of Evil” between southern Africa and “Shackled Europe,” to quote Churchill. Even so, the aforementioned issues the rest of Africa slowly got past colonialism. Under ICC auspices borders were drawn with local input that took tribal, and ethnic divisions into consideration.
Following America’s “Philippine Model,” the Commonwealth and United States tried to show good faith by freeing those areas that would never be a part of the Imperial federation or as an American State, while maintaining significant ties. In 1945 the Indian sub-Continent was partitioned into the four nations we know today. The United States freed the Philippines in 1946, with the Virgin Islands in 1947, and its Pacific holdings in 1948, and all such areas became “Nations in Free Association with The United States.” In 1949, shortly before the Federation came into full force, the Commonwealth created the nations of Jordan, Palestine and the Jewish state of Israel. As with the Indian sub-continent they remained Commonwealth members, but had borders controlled by troops from other Commonwealth members until 1969. The Israel-Palestine division was especially difficult due to the large numbers of displaced European Jews entering Israel. Allowing other powers former colonial holdings to apply to the Commonwealth or to become Nations in Association with the United States (or both) also served to isolate Shackled Europe. Iceland being the most prominent example.
In Asia there was more direct confrontation of the Russians. Alexander Kerensky had been the Leader of the Duma since the ICC forces had put down the Red rebellion in 1919. Originally it appeared he would guide Russia to a Constitutional Monarchy, but by 1929 the Tsar had been deposed and elections were repeatedly suspended often without explanation. Quite frankly, Kerensky and those around him saw what Germany was doing in Europe and decided to try to get in on the act.
The native armed forces in Asia were not shy about confronting the Russian forces and had the advantage of Russia wanting to avoid direct conflict with the United States or Commonwealth. In 1944 JPK signed the Military Assistance Act (MAA) authorizing the United States to provide virtually anything short of combat troops (and even then advisors were permitted) to “nations or territories under attack or threat from European Powers certified to be enemies of peace.” The Act also allowed Americans to volunteer for service in the armed forces of said nations or territories under attack or threat.
Based on the MAA, in 1945, the American Volunteer Force (AVF) consisting of a reinforced Infantry Brigade, three fighter-interceptor squadrons, and a bomber squadron was formed in the United States, and by 1946 was fully engaged in the Chinese Civil War. Russia called the AVF mercenaries and bandits, but within the year the Russians had formed their own analog (although almost half the manpower came from convicts). So right wing Russia was providing support to the Communists under Mao Tse Tung to undermine Chinese independence. The Russians also provided the Chinese Communists with chemical weapons, which were deployed at least a dozen times in the late 1940s. Russian support for the communists was obvious, but even the fig leaf of neutrality was obliterated by the evidence adduced at Mao’s trial in 1951.
The Anglo-American alliance was finally able to permanently split the Germans and Russians on the day following formation of the Imperial Federation on November 25, 1949. The almost worldwide boycott of Shackled Europe was taking a toll. The Germans were led to believe that were they to abandon Russia more normal relations would at least be open to discussion. Russian aggression in Asia was much more open than German domination in Europe. Germany announced that effective January 1, 1949, there would be a European Community for all of continental Europe save Turkey, and Russia. The irony that no other European nation meant to be a part of this Community issued a statement was lost on the Germans. The Russian response was to abrogate their alliance. The Germans had already left the joint atomic development program but continued basic research (looking to South Africa for Uranium). In the short term the response of the Americans and Federation deeply disappointed the Germans.
Even though German assistance was gone the Russians redoubled their efforts to create an atomic weapon. By early 1948 they actually had a design that would work but had been unable to overcome problems in enriching uranium, and were never able to produce Hesperium (also known as Plutonium). There was also at least one lab accident leading to a release of radiation that killed three of the top Russian scientists in mid-1948. What finally put an end to the program was the display JPK and Churchill jointly authorized on January 10, 1949. The United States exploded a hesperium bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific with representatives from Germany, and Russia invited to observe from a safe distance. They also released a film of the test uranium device exploded the prior month. The films of both tests remain are breathtaking even today. In the statement issued following the demonstration the United States indicated the Anglo-American Alliance had stockpiled several weapons that could be delivered by land or sea based aircraft or missiles, and that within the year they anticipated having an even more powerful weapon known as a fusion bomb. The communique went on to describe in detail the effects of the weapons, to include expected radiological effects on human beings and the general environment. The United States or the Imperial Federation pledged the weapons were only created as a deterrent to Aggressive Powers seeking to dominate weaker nations and territories. They stated that would not use the weapons, and it demanded other non-democratic nations, specifying Germany and Russia, immediately discontinue their research and dismantle any facilities dedicated to creating atomic weapons. More on the results when we get to the JFK post-Presidency.
Most of the discussion of dealing with the German-Russian alliance necessarily extended over both of JPK’s terms. So was there much of a contest when he ran for reelection in 1944? Well not exactly. The country was concerned that JPK was too involved in foreign affairs, and would bring the nation into a European War. Kennedy was able to argue that just as TR’s was proactive in foreign affairs and kept us out of the Great War, he would proactively prevent another European war. The President was once again blessed by poor opponents. The Democrats nominated Governor J. Melville Broughton of North Carolina and Senator Joseph O’Mahoney of Wyoming; O’Mahoney was actually the mirror image of JPK – a Republican turned Democrat. One of the major missed opportunities in JPK’s first term was his total neglect of civil rights. Had the Democrats nominated a more progressive candidate they might have made inroads on the black vote. As it was the Republicans prevailed by 285 to 270. They won the popular vote by under half a million votes out of more than 54 million cast. Republicans also barely held both Houses of Congress. A good result, but in all cases, it was closer than 1940. Joe, Jr. easily won reelection even though he had no particularly great accomplishments to cite.
In his second term JPK doubled down on foreign policy, letting Congress take the lead on domestic issues. This may have been the correct course, but there is no doubt it hurt the Republicans. JPK did try to enforce anti-lynching laws more forcefully, but he still failed to introduce comprehensive voting or civil rights legislation. Northern Democrats were actually willing to join with Republicans to overcome a filibuster by Southern Democrats on such legislation, but Kennedy failed to provide leadership.
One positive effect on civil rights came from JPK’s second term; in 1945 as his third Supreme Court appointment, he named Harold Burton as Chief Justice. Less than a decade later Burton wrote the opinion of a unanimous Court in Parks v. Alabama overruling the Plessy vs. Ferguson separate but equal doctrine. The case of course followed in 1956 by Meredith v. Conner et al wherein the 1954 Civil Rights Act was upheld as applying not only to State actions, but to “public accommodations” operated by private parties.
In the 1946 midterms the Republicans lost the Senate, and barely held the House. Joe, Jr. was reelected, but by a greatly reduced margin from 1942 and 1944. Even with those losses Joe, Sr. actually contemplated running for a third term. The Democrats had revolted when FDR eight years earlier had publicly mused about a third term, the Republicans had a similar reaction to JPK – saying he was no TR. Even though JPK subsequently renounced any intention to run again the result was the 20th Amendment which limited Presidents to two terms (although as with TR that would not limit someone who completed the term of another President from being elected twice in their own right). The Amendment also moved the convening dates of Congress and Inauguration of the President from March to January. The Amendment was not ratified until May 1950, so JPK’s term was not altered.
In foreign affairs at the end of JPK’s second term the United States was firmly allied with the Imperial Federation. Latin America and the Carribean nations were prospering, generally democratic, and on the road to forming what would later be known as the Common Market of the Americas. In Africa the Federation was having less success, with tribal resentments still coming to the surface, but progress was being made with the notable exceptions of South Africa and Rhodesia as well as the nascent Islamic Confederation formed by Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait being formed from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. The Anglo-American Alliance had managed to cause a real split between the Germans and Russians, but they each represented an individual threat to peace. Asia was looking more and more like the place where the Alliance and the Russians would actually get into a shooting war.
Congressman Kennedy
On November 22, 1945, the President announced the birth of his first grandchild, Marguerite Rose Kennedy, named for her grandmothers, and on August 20, 1947, our guest today – Joseph P. Kennedy III was born. Joe, Jr. and Maureen were totally devoted to their children. Maureen gave up acting to raise the children. Joe, Jr. remained in Congress, but was not a particular standout while his father was President. After the birth of his daughter Congressman Kennedy dropped the Junior and began referring to himself as simply J.P. to try to move out of his father's shadow; he would later write this was a conscious decision as he did not want to seem to be just an extension of his father. Not surprising is the fact that he kept any disagreements private, saying later there was no value in publicizing where they differed. In reality Joe, Jr. thought the failure to move on Civil Rights was the elder Kennedy’s biggest failure.
J.P. took on somewhat of a leadership role in military and veterans affairs where he and Wisconsin Democrat Joe McCarthy sponsored Military Education Act of 1946. It gave Federal allowances for college, or vocational school for any honorably discharged member of the armed forces. It also set up a system of low interest loans with minimal collateral for any sole proprietorship operated by an honorably discharged service member. The Act has of course been greatly expanded over the years, but it increased recruiting to the extent that there no need for a military draft, and in fact enlistees were usually placed on a waiting list to begin training. Joe, Jr. also co-sponsored legislation reorganizing the active and reserve forces. The partnership of the two Joe's across party lines continued even after J.P. went into the Senate. McCarthy lost his own attempt to enter the Senate after it was revealed he had lied about his war record in the Marines, and subsequently left the House in disgrace. In 1955, when McCarthy died in a one car accident evidently caused by a severe alcohol problem, J.P. was the only member of Congress to attend the funeral.
In 1951 five year old Marguerite Rose Kennedy died of complications from polio. The entire family was devastated by the sudden loss. Marguerite’s uncle John Kennedy later related Rose Kennedy was inconsolable. Unable to have more children after her 1918 bout of Kansas Flu, Rose Kennedy had considered Marguerite to be the daughter she never had. In 1968 John wrote “After Marguerite Rose died my mother essentially ceased to interact with anyone; she took some solace in the Church and the idea of being reunited with her granddaughter in the next life, but she herself died of a broken heart in just over a year.” Joe, Jr. threw himself into his work, and for the rest of his life pulled all stops in insuring funding for vaccines and anything relating to children’s health. The irony of course is that at the time Marguerite contracted polio a vaccine was already in testing, and was approved the following year. The Marguerite Rose Foundation still exists as one of the largest child health charities today.
1948 Election and JPK at the ICC
All predictions were that the Republicans would be swept nationwide in 1948. Just as TR had campaigned tirelessly for Hughes in 1916, so did JPK barnstorm for Dewey-Taft ticket in 1948. Barnstorm is right, as he had in every election cycle since 1940- JPK would often land in a small plane saying he was flown by his naval aviator son "hero of the Pacific War." J.P. later admitted "being blind in one eye meant I would never trust myself to safely fly a kite, never mind my dad, but I would sometimes sit in the copilot seat to give some credence to the story." The Democrats had nominated Kentucky Governor Alben Barkley, and Missouri Senator Harry Truman. The Democrats finally added a strong Civil Rights plank to their platform, and it was thought they could perhaps break the Republican lock on the Black vote. Polls at the time showed Democrats so far ahead that their National Candidates essentially stopped campaigning after Labor Day to avoid making mistakes. On election night all were shocked when the Republicans prevailed with 287 electoral votes to the Democrats 251 votes (17 electors from three Southern States actually cast votes for South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, who was not even on the ballot). The Republicans held the House, and the Senate was tied at 48 to 48. J.P. was easily reelected to his seat. Analysis showed a failure of Democrats to make significant inroads in the black vote, as despite the civil rights plank, they still nominated a ticket with candidates from states seen as hostile to blacks. On the other side that same plank likely cost the Democrats Virginia and West Virginia due to many being opposed to expanded civil rights and sitting out the election.
In March 1949 one of Tom Dewey’s first acts was to name JPK as the United States envoy to the ICC. He was the first President since TR to be named as envoy, and as with TR he was named Speaker by the ICC assembly. It should be noted that were it in doubt that JPK would be named Speaker, he would not have accepted the appointment. Even though the title was Speaker of the ICC, since TR, the presiding officer has always been referred to as Mr. or Madame President. JPK used his position to further isolate Russia, Germany and their vassal states. He actually named himself as the head of the board of Governors of the ICC-WB. This role proved more influential than the ICC Speakership. JPK got the board of Governors to start linking ICC-WB loans to the nations seeking funding making electoral reforms. Even more effective was the program reducing outstanding loans to nations that moved toward democracy. This was especially effective in sub-Saharan Africa. JPK was replaced as envoy to the ICC at the end of 1958, but stayed on as head of the ICC-WB until he retired in June 1960. By the time JPK left the bank his policies on lending had been codified.
This is a good point to break for questions. Please remember if you are getting this on a delayed feed from outside the eastern seaboard, I will answer questions by general email within a day or two.
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