Joseph P. Kennedy: The Mogul, the Mob, the Statesman, and the Making of an American Myth - Hardcover

Schwarz, Ted

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471176818 ISBN 13: 9780471176817

Publisher: Wiley, 2003

Synopsis

Advance Praise for Joseph P. Kennedy

"Ted Schwarz gives us a darker, and truer, picture of the founding father (and only Kennedy to ever make any money) than the habitual family spinmeisters and hagiographers."
–Axel Madsen, author of Gloria and Joe: The Star-Crossed Love Affair of Gloria Swanson and Joe Kennedy

What price glory?

He is best known as the patriarch of America’s most loved, hated, and talked-about family. Long before the Kennedy name became synonymous with wealth, political idealism, and agonizing tragedy, however, Joe Kennedy was on the move. This unflinching portrait of the man who sired three major twentieth-century political figures introduces copious new information about Joseph Kennedy’s questionable financial practices, his Hollywood exploits, his tenure as ambassador to Great Britain, and his relationship with organized crime. Drawing on previously untapped sources, author Ted Schwarz provides a rare peek into Joseph Kennedy’s secret activities and public accomplishments, including:

• Baseball scams that Kennedy concocted as an adolescent
• Kennedy’s cynical manipulation of Franklin Roosevelt’s son
• His business dealings with Al Capone
• Kennedy’s very public affair with actress Gloria Swanson
• How he transformed Hollywood studios into product manufacturers
• His dismal performance as ambassador to Great Britain
• And much, much more

About this title

From the Publisher:

Ted Schwarz gives us a darker, and truer, picture of the founding father (and only Kennedy ever to make any money) than the habitual family spinmeisters and hagiographers.  —Axel Madsen, Author of Gloria and Joe: The Star-Crossed Love Affair of Gloria Swanson and Joe Kennedy

From the Inside Flap:

How far would the brash and ambitious young son of an Irish Catholic saloonkeeper go to prove himself the equal of Boston’s disdainful Protestant elite? Joe Kennedy’s ruthless and relentless quest for money, power, and above all, social status, began in his early childhood and continued through the final days of his life. This unflinching portrait of the man who sired three of America’s most important twentieth-century political figures introduces a wealth of new information about Kennedy’s questionable financial practices, his Hollywood exploits, his tenure as ambassador to Great Britain, and his very risky relationship with organized crime.

Author Ted Schwarz reveals that, long before his family’s name became synonymous with wealth, glamour, political idealism, and agonizing personal tragedy, Joe Kennedy was on the move. From baseball scams he concocted as an adolescent to his cynical manipulation of Franklin Roosevelt’s son, Kennedy showed few scruples when it came to getting ahead in the world. Even his long and successful courtship of Rose Fitzgerald, daughter of Boston’s first Irish mayor, was calculated to advance his career and improve his standing in the community.

Drawing on previously untapped sources, including interviews with Meyer Lansky’s accountant, who knew Joe in Miami, and the files of a private investigator who worked both for and against the Kennedy family for many years, Schwarz provides a rare peek into Joseph Kennedy’s most secret activities and most public accomplishments. He discloses how Joe prevented Rose from being humiliated by his very public affair with screen siren Gloria Swanson, what made him think that he could safely do business with Al Capone, and much more.

Schwarz also assesses Kennedy’s accomplishments and failures in business and politics, including the creation of the vertical merger, his transformation of the Hollywood studio into a product business manufacturer, and his dismal performance as Ambassador to Britain.

Complete with fascinating portraits of Joe’s father, P. J. Kennedy, Mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, and a huge supporting cast of politicians, movie stars, gangsters, con artists, and captains of industry, Joseph P. Kennedy tells a classic American tale of ambition, greed, triumph, and tragedy. It is must-reading for Kennedy buffs, biography lovers, business readers, and anyone interested in the complex and controversial story behind the patriarch of America’s most loved, most hated, and most talked-about family.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0471176818
• ISBN 13: 9780471176817
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480