John F. Kennedy: life and political legacy

John F. Kennedy

In contemporary times, John F. Kennedy is known for many things; winning a Pulitzer Prize, however, is not one of them (Coleman). Kennedy's awarding of the Pulitzer in 1957 -- a full four years before he was elected president of the United States -- for the biographical Profiles in Courage was one of his few achievements that he made prior to his election that did not directly involve his equally famous and influential family, including two brothers who also ran for president (Miller Center). Such a statement in no way detracts from Kennedy's prowess as a politician or as a leader. Yet it is highly difficult to extract his success as president from the intrinsic relationship between his family and his political life. In fact, there is a good deal of evidence that indicates that Kennedy's ensuing success as the commander-in-chief (for which he, of course, is chiefly responsible) has a lot to do with the efforts of his father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Kennedy's father was also a politician, and had a good deal of ambition for his children and for Jack Kennedy in particular. As such, the success of John F. Kennedy as president was mainly attributed to the correlation between his political career and his family life, particularly the work his father, Joseph Kennedy Sr., did to get him into office. A thorough examination of the history of Kennedy's life and the influence of his father on his political career readily confirms the veracity of this thesis.

It is difficult to separate the political ambition that Joe Kennedy Sr. had for his children and that which they had for themselves. Joe had always wanted his progeny to secure status as president of the country. Initially, however, he had designed that career path for his eldest son, Joseph Kennedy Jr. The subsequent quotation readily attests to Joe's design for his family.

The war ended in 1945, but not without a deep cost to the Kennedy family: the oldest son, Joseph Jr., a pilot, was killed on a bombing mission in Europe. Handsome and outgoing, Joseph had been the one tabbed by his father to become President one day. Upon his death, his father's aspirations fell on John (Coleman).

This quotation does not suggest that John did not have political ambitions of his own to become president. It does, however, confirm the fact that after the death of Jack's brother, the full largess of his father -- which included considerable economic and political clout, which will be explained shortly -- was directly disseminated to Jack. Prior to the death of Joe Jr., John routinely finished in second to his elder brother. For instance, while the future president manned a boat in the Navy during the Second World War, Joe Jr. was a pilot. During the children's respective childhoods, John was frequently ill while Joe was robust and energetic. Naturally, after the death of his namesake Joe Sr. attached his desires for the presidency of his children to his next best hope, which was John.

Joe Sr.'s influence on the political career and the success of John was both large and small, direct and indirect. Joe Sr.'s wealth and desire for "social acceptance" (Dallent) should not be underestimated. He amassed a fortune through decidedly fortuitous stock-trading (as well as by allegedly distributing liquor during the prohibition era) (Okrent) which included a savvy decision to withdraw his funds just prior to the 1929 Stock Market Crash that officially heralded the beginning of the Great Depression. As such, his family thrived during a time when most Americans suffered enormously undesirable economic fortunes. Joe's fortune also enabled John to attend one of the most prestigious educational institutions -- Harvard, where he was able to hone his leadership skills that he would utilize as president with other future leaders. It is noteworthy to mention that virtually every President of the U.S. has attended either Harvard or Yale.

In addition to providing the financial means to pave the way for John's presidency -- a fact which would become truly elucidated during John's presidential campaign) -- it is important to realize that the Kennedy family and Joe in particular had a lengthy history of involvement in politics which John merely perpetuated. Joe was the appointed the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1938 (Coleman), by then president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. These facts are extremely important to John's career and eventual success as president. They denote the fact that Joe was a key politician to one of the United States' closest allies during an extremely pivotal moment (just prior to World War II). Moreover, they underscore the degree of political clout with Joe had amassed. His relationship with Roosevelt would prove vital to John's election campaign, particularly during the crucial winning of the Democratic Primary in 1960.

Thus, it is an established fact that Joe Kennedy had already established some fundamental political connections that would enable John to go on and achieve success as president. After financing John's career at Harvard, one of the most salient ways in which Joe was able to boost his son's career was by getting him enrolled in the Navy. As previously mentioned, John had suffered from a number of childhood ailments (and would continue to suffer from various maladies throughout his presidency and until the end of his life). These physical restrictions were detrimental to his prospects to enrolling in the armed forces, until Joe intervened. The subsequent quotation readily establishes this point.

After Kennedy graduated from Harvard, the United States entered World War II. His efforts to join the U.S. Navy were initially thwarted by his ill-health, but through the intervention of his father, he was eventually admitted and assigned to serve in the South Pacific…(Coleman).

This favor of Joe's would only be one of the many ways in which his political, social, and possible criminal contacts would aid John in the latter's own political career.

Joe's influence over the presidential campaign of John was considerable. He not only utilized his own personal financial resources to orchestrate funding and political maneuvering that would result in his son's victory, but he also utilized his vast connections with other influential individuals. There is a substantial amount of evidence that confirms the influence that Joe had on John's victory in the Democratic primary in 1960, which largely centered on the West Virginia Primary. Many of these details are uncovered in the autobiography of John written by Robert Dallek who authored An Unfinished Life. Although the author takes pains to illustrate the point that John also desired to become president for his own personal ambition, it is said that "Dallek details the precise mechanics by which family money was used to purchase the West Virginia primary in 1960" (Garrow). This primary was crucial to the eventual election of John, because it was in dispute around the time that the issue of his Catholic faith (in which many Americans feared he might have a greater allegiance to the Pope than to the United States) became public. The role of pecuniary prowess in this critical state primary should not be underestimated: in fact, many view Kennedy's victory in this political battle over Hubert Humphrey due to finances -- finances which Joe largely was responsible for. The subsequent quotation alludes to this fact. "Humphrey, who was short on funds, could not match the well-financed Kennedy operation" (Black et al.).

Joe's influence on this particular primary is largely representative of his influence on John's entire career. However, it was especially crucial in this instance because in the days leading up to the primary Kennedy, who had previously led in the state prior to the revelation of his faith, had fallen behind. Joe Kennedy's money and socio-political power was exercised to its full extent. Kennedy's increased his efforts in West Virginia at a rate that the lesser funded Humphrey simply could not. The following quotation demonstrates the effectiveness of Joe's money in the state.

Kennedy responded by moving his key campaign aides to West Virginia, calling on close friends to volunteer their time, and training county campaign chairs in 39 of the state's 59 counties to staff phone banks, host receptions, and…to distribute literature. He changed his schedule to campaign throughout the state and brought Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. there to endorse his candidacy (Black et al.).

Joe bankrolled the vast majority of John's West Virginia campaigning, which called for sudden aid and a change of schedule. Training 39 campaign chairs is not something that is done inexpensively, not even in 1960, nor was funding and putting on the many receptions and literature distribution campaigns.

Perhaps even more importantly than the amount of money that Joe spent to finance this full-on West Virginia campaign effort, he also requested favors from some of his political 'friends' -- individuals with influence in both social and political circles. Joe's relationships with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which began years ago when the pair were working together in a shipyard, proved a valuable means of helping voters to look beyond John's religious denomination. Even though it was Roosevelt's son who helped to make the rounds in West Virginia and endorse John, the pair's relationship was nothing more than an extension of their fathers'. Having the son of one of the most well-liked and successful presidents in recent U.S. history (who successfully guided the country through the Great Depression and World War II) certainly helped solidify Jack's image as an American, and not as a partisan to the Pope and to the Catholic faith.

Other allies of Joe's proved decidedly less beneficent in their public image, yet were no less valuable to Jack's campaign difficulties in the West Virginia primary. Joe's relationship with criminality and illicit affairs in the business world were longstanding. In addition to his purported predilection for operating as a bootlegger during prohibition, his success in the stock market was attributed to what some term as insider trader and market manipulation (Kessler) -- despite the fact that these terms and their actions were not explicitly illegal at the time he engaged in them (which is why his appointment to head of the Securities Exchange Commission, in which he outlawed many of these same tactics that built his own fortune, proved more than a little ironic). There are also other implications that some of his success in Hollywood were the effects of similar strong arm tactics (Kessler). Therefore, when it became apparent that the success of Jack's gaining the Democratic nomination hinged upon a victory in West Virginia, it was not completely out of character for Joe to solicit -- indirectly -- the aid of the organized crime outfit commonly referred to as 'the mob'. The subsequent quotation, in which Frank Sinatra's daughter recounts a meeting between Joe and her father, the well-known (and reputed Mob ally) Frank Sinatra demonstrates this point. "The campaign had entered a critical phase. Jack needed to win the primary in West Virginia…to knock out Hubert Humphrey. The Kennedys would need strong support from the mob-infested unions -- which was where my father came in" (Bates, 2009). Sinatra's daughter goes on to recount how at the request of Joe, her father arraigned for the mob's Sam "Momo" Giancana to utilize the criminal organization's considerable union ties to further give John votes in West Virginia. The anecdote is not only demonstrative of Joe's effect on John's political career, but also of the way in which Joe routinely conducted business -- by both legal and illicit means -- to realize his aspirations.

In fact, there is a substantial amount of evidence that indicates that Joe's political manipulation of John's tenure as a politician was present ever since it began -- and perhaps before. John received an honorable discharge from the navy following a well -- publicized incident in the South Pacific during World War II. He was the leader of a sea vessel known as PT 109. As leader, John was directly responsible for the fact that during one evening there was no one keeping watch (everyone was sleep) when the vessel was attacked by a Japanese ship. The story has disseminated to posterity that John was instrumental in helping the crew to swim to an island, to hide from the enemy for days, and to eventually get the crew rescued. This story is largely supported by the fact that Kennedy was issued a medal and purple heart for his efforts. What is little known is that there was a formal military inquiry into this incident, in which it was found that there was "evidence of poor seamanship" (Coleman). Yet under a massive media campaign spurred by Joe, John was widely touted as the hero (and not the cause) of this unfortunate incident. The massive publicity which John received for this exploit was underscored by a number of speaking engagements across the country, which directly preceded his initial foray into politics. Under Joe's tutelage, what could have been a potentially disastrous event helped to launch his son's political career.