I120 | PATRICK KENNEDY
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I121 | PATRICK KENNEDY
Patrick Kennedy was the son of a prosperous farmer from County Wexford, Ireland. He emmigrated to America at the age of 26 to improve his fortunes. He left a country in the middle of a devastating famine and arrived in an immigrant ghetto where thousands of his countrymen had fled to escape near certain death. On board he had met Bridget Murphy, also from County Wexford and soon married her. He worked as a cooper and died of consumption in 1858. He only survived 9 years in this country. |
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I123 | PATRICK JOSEPH KENNEDY
Patrick Joseph Kennedy was the first Kennedy to enter into politics during an era of ward bosses that controlled the political machinery of Boston. In 1886 he was elected to the State Senate for his ward and served three terms. He married Mary Augusta Hickey, the daughter of a prosperous businessman. |
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I105 | JOSEPH PATRICK KENNEDY
Born in 1888, the grandson of an Irish immigrant, Joseph Patrick Kennedy had an enormous drive to acquire both fame and fortune. His often cited goal was to be a millionaire by the age of 35. Within a year and a half of graduating from Harvard College, he had progressed from bank clerk through bank examiner to bank president and was on his way. Publicity from being the youngest U. S. bank president opened doors to other opportunities. Soon his financial enterprises embraced real estate, the stock market and motion pictures. Kennedy's accumulated wealth by 1929 enabled him to establish one million dollar trust funds for each of his children. In the 1930's he began to put his intelligence, personality and money into politics. His involvement in Roosevelt's inner circle during the presidential campaign led him to believe he would receive a cabinet post. Although that never materialized, he was chosen to head the newly created Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulatory body set up to govern the financial community. Later, he headed the Maritime Commission. However, his most famous appointment was that of ambassador to the Court of Saint James. He served from 1937 until 1940 when he retired from public service and returned to the business world. In 1961 he suffered a debilitating stroke followed by relapses and heart attacks that left him virtually incapacitated until his death in 1969. ![]() | ||||||||||||||||