Kennedy, Joseph Patrick definition of Kennedy, Joseph Patrick in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Kennedy, Joseph Patrick, 1888–1969, U.S. ambassador to Great Britain (1937–40), b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1912, father of John F. Kennedy Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, 1917–63, 35th President of the United States (1961–63), b. Brookline, Mass.; son of Joseph P. Kennedy .

Early Life

..... Click the link for more information. , Robert F. Kennedy Kennedy, Robert Francis, 1925–68, American politician, U.S. Attorney General (1961–64), b. Brookline, Mass., younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and son of Joseph P. Kennedy .

A graduate of Harvard (1948) and the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Edward M. Kennedy Kennedy, Ted (Edward Moore Kennedy), 1932–, U.S. senator from Massachusetts (1962–), brother of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy and youngest son of Joseph P. Kennedy , b. Boston, Mass.
..... Click the link for more information. (see separate entries). He engaged in banking, shipbuilding, investment banking, and motion-picture distribution before he served (1934–35) as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was (1936–37) head of the U.S. Maritime Commission until his appointment as ambassador. In London he supported the overtures of the Chamberlain government to Hitler and was generally noninterventionist. He resigned as ambassador in Nov., 1940. In his later years he continued to be successful in business (notably real estate) and devoted considerable time to philanthropic activities, especially the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., Memorial Foundation, dedicated to his eldest son, who died in World War II. He wrote I'm for Roosevelt (1936).

Kennedy's wife,

Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1890–1995, was the daughter of U.S. congressman and Boston mayor John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald. They had nine children.

Bibliography

See A. Smith, ed., Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy (2000); J. F. Dinneen, The Kennedy Family (1960); D. K. Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys (1987); and biographies by R. J. Whalen (1964) and D. E. Koskoff (1974).