Customer Reviews

The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty he Founded

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Kessler does an excellent job writing, truly, about the sins of the father, Joseph P. Kennedy. I had heard many stories about the man, but I didn't realize to what extent these stories were myths or real. Kessler certainly dispels that these stories are myths. He tells us what a manipulative, conniving, scheming, deceitful man that Kennedy really was.

We are treated to the stories of Kennedy's manipulation of the stock market for his own personal gain; his illegal importation of scotch to pad his growing millions; his manipulation and theft of Gloria Swanson's monies. It doesn't stop there. Kessler tells about how Joe wanted to avert war since he was afraid he would lose millions of dollars.

Kessler tells us how much Joe manipulated and controlled his children so that they would conform to his standards; and how their political life was formed in order for Joe to pursue his own dreams via his children's lives.

After reading of Joe's death, one has to wonder whether Joe's cruel and deceitful life was worth it in the end - two assassinated children; Rosemary's lobotomy; a family myth built on lies. A simply incredible book - first rate from start to finish.

Kessler puts forth a most direct and cards-on-the-table account of Joseph as the patriarch and architect of today's most powerful political family. Its an interesting account of how Joe bullied his children to do as he wanted when he wanted; Joe Jr died in WWII, so he decided it was Jack that was going into politics and become the first Catholic President of the United States, something that Joe Sr had failed at. This book goes to dispel the illusion effectively, and rightfully, that the Kennedy Clan was a model family for the annals of American History. I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in the history of the Kennedy Clan.

This book truly reflects the character of Joe Kennedy: ambitious, ruthless, and charismatic. To really understand Jack and Bobby Kennedy, one has to understand their old man. His influence on their lives was indelible, and in many ways, tragic. But I think the author could have done a better job of bringing out the fact that even Joe Kennedy's children saw his flaws and often remarked privately that they didn't agree with him. Bobby Kennedy was a true friend to Israel in his latter years (remember why he was shot to death), and yet his father was virulently anti-semitic.

Kessler's major contribution is documenting Rosemary's depression; she was a very bright but depressed person, and it was more expedient to lobotomize her and label her retarded, than to deal with the mental illness. JPK comes away here a very sick, perverted man. What Kessler doesn't answer for us is: what drove him to become this way? Kessler also exposes his 9-year affair with his secretary, Janet DeRosiers. I admire him for accomplishing so much, yet I'm saddened by his perversity.

Most of my generation takes for granted that Joe Kennedy Sr. built his empire in nefarious ways, but the depth and breadth of his corruption, exposed in "Sins of the Father," will leave you gasping for breadth. Only a serious journalist like Kessler could expose so much that was rotten about Kennedy and still do it with fairness and a surprisingly even hand. He interviewed everyone with any knowledge who would talk to him and dug deep for the paper trails. It isn't just Kennedy's bottomless greed that astounds, but his astonishing need for power and more power - over everyone including, of course, his sons who did what they were told. He was, frankly, a dangerous man and even though he's dead, it's a lesson for all of us what kind of people the glow of power will attract.

This book was a real eye-opener. Old Joe Kennedy cared about one thing: his pocketbook and how fat he could get it. And power, of course, but money is power, right? A more ruthless, cut-throat man has never lived. He used people and discarded them without blinking an eye. Some pie-in-the-sky Kennedy fans want to think the Kennedys went into politics, I mean public service, for virtuous reasons. When Joe Kennedy Jr. died over the English Channel, Joe Sr. turned to "Jack" Kennedy and handed him the responsibility of becoming president. It wasn't a choice, it was a demand. Why did Jack make Bobby his attorney general after he became President, even though Bobby didn't have the experience for the job? The old man demanded it. Jack, as a grown man, and already a Senator, had to ask his father for money to go out with a girlfriend. He controlled his children by controlling their access to his money.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. After you read this book, you'll know that the title is very appropriate.

The story of JPK's life is just as sordid as you have been led to believe. As another reviewer here says, Mass. voters should read this before continuing to sustain this political dynasty. Maybe they just don't care how corrupt their "public servants" are. I was aware of JPK's ties to organized crime and the lucrative bootlegging business he ran in the 20's, but this book relates a great deal of info on how he engaged in insider trading and stock pools before laws were passed to make these activities illegal. Ironic that JPK was the first SEC chairman. The prose here is typical newspaper journalist fare: it's written so that people with a typical substandard American education can read it without too much trouble. The author also helpfully explains events about which any American citizen ought to be at least a little bit knowledgeable. I haven't read the Whalen book on JPK (1964) to compare the writing; it can't be much worse than in this book. However, this book may have the advantage of including facts that have come to light in the last 30 years.

Ronald Kessler has an unfortunate habit of writing tabloidesque tell-all exposes on topics like the CIA, the FBI and the White House. His yen for the tawdry can be irritating, but in this case, no better author could be found for a frank book on Joseph P. Kennedy, the Paterfamilias of the Kennedy Clan. Kessler's style rings true here, without excessive flourishes. Nothing written here seems exaggerated.

Joe Kennedy was clearly brilliant. More than lucky, he had an almost flawless instinct to be on the leading edge of every socioeconomic wave that rolled ashore during his lifetime. Whether it was Wall Street, Hollywood or Washington DC, Joe Kennedy always seemed to find himself in the right place at the right time and in the company of the right people. Charming to women and exuding bonhomie toward men, he managed to become an ultimate insider and power broker par excellence.

Had Joe Kennedy had any passion beyond feeding his own ego, he might well be remembered as a truly great man who accomplished much. But despite all he did in his own life, nothing of note truly stands out.

Kessler is unsparing in showing us the dark side of the man. Bigoted, avaricious, scheming, unfaithful, amoral and cruel, Joe Kennedy had no greater ambition than his own aggrandizement. He loved money and power and the things money and power could give him. During World War One he found his way into shipbuilding just as the Navy dumped millions of dollars in contracts into his lap. In the early Nineteen Twenties he was a Wall Street bull who played three card monty with millions of dollars in stock in order to line his pockets. In the mid 'Twenties he became actress Gloria Swanson's Svengali-cum-paramour in Hollywood, resuscitating her career at the expense of her bankbook. As the Stock Market peaked he sold, and as it dropped he bought, often using straw men to hide his questionable financial machinations. In the depths of the Depression he owned three large Estates. He became an SEC Director under FDR, molding the rules of the new agency to his own needs.

Despite his avowed love of family, he kept numerous mistresses. He disowned one daughter, Kathleen, who married into the British Peerage, and lobotomized another, Rosemary, ostensibly due to her retardation, but really because of her obstreperous, perhaps not-quite bright enough intellect. In short, she wasn't enough of a Kennedy.

Finding his way to politics, he dreamed of being President. Blocked in this ambition by men of greater moral acumen, he groomed his sons for political power regardless of their own wishes. Joe Jr. was supposed to use his war hero status to propel his postwar plans; he was killed instead. Jack took up his role. Ultimately, Joe Kennedy succeeded in having his progeny reach the White House, but at a truly terrible cost. Bobby Kennedy paid the price for his father's ambition as well, while Teddy evaded it by paying a different price.

The Kennedy sons were the sons of their father insofar as they used their great personal charm to seduce women and ensnare men into their webs of power. Being sons of their mother, however, Jack, Bobby, and Teddy did manage to develop some sense of honor and social conscience; and perhaps they inherited the innate decency of Joe's father P.J., who gifted millions to the needy, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy's father, "Honey Fitz," who truly valued human beings.

Sadly, successive generations of Kennedys have inherited the "Kennedy Curse," a tendency toward disastrous misfortune. Reading SINS OF THE FATHER one has to wonder if those sins are being visited upon the children unto the tenth generation.

This is a great story of how the family got started. If you ever watched Dallas or Dynasty, this is the spitting image in written form. If you ever heard or wondered why the Kennedy boys turned out the way they did, it all has to do with their father's teachings.
I just can't beleive some of the things Joe Kennedy could get away with! I don't know if he could do it all his way in this era. A great read.

Kessler's,"The Sins of the Father," is a page turner, not merely for the colorful and bombastic life of Joseph P. Kennedy. But, a gut check for those fraught with extreme ambition and a thirst for power. Joseph Kennedy answered the age old question, "How far would you go to achieve ultimate power?" His life's response was, "To the ends of the earth." That he did and more.

In addition, Kennedy is an excellent case study on a small percentile of individuals steeped in an insatiable desire to achieve great success at all costs. The statement,"Men do not differ an any respect from other animals, but survive, according to their aptitudes, by adapting themselves to exterior conditions which prevail at the moment of their birth,"(P. 102). The gene pool, environment, and conditions that create a Joseph Kennedy is more prevalent in contemporary times than they ever were.

"The Sins of the Father" is the potential for greatness and vile we all have within us. The ending words speak volumes to our best and worst--"...He did not care about his reputation. What he cared most about was having power. Through the political dynasty that he founded, Joseph P. Kennedy achieved that for generations to come. If he hurt and corrupted others in the process, it was because no one had the courage to challenge him. For that, they only have themselves to blame" (p. 428).

Edward Brown
Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute