One of the Most Controversial Figures in American History: Joseph P. Kennedy (2001)

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Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and government official. Kennedy was the husband of Rose Kennedy. Their children included President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968), and longtime Senator Ted Kennedy (1932–2009). He was a leading member of the Democratic Party and of the Irish Catholic community. He was the inaugural Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later directed the Maritime Commission. Kennedy served as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1938 until late 1940, including the early part of World War II. Born to a political family in East Boston, Massachusetts, Kennedy embarked on a career in business and investing, first making a large fortune as a stock market and commodity investor and later rolled over the profits by investing in real estate and a wide range of business industries across the United States.[1] During World War I, he was an assistant general manager of a Boston area Bethlehem Steel shipyard, through which he developed a friendship with Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy. In the 1920s Kennedy made huge profits from reorganizing and refinancing several Hollywood studios, ultimately merging several acquisitions into Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) studios.[2] After Prohibition of alcohol ended in 1933, Kennedy consolidated an even larger fortune when he traveled to Scotland with Roosevelt's son James to buy distribution rights for Scotch whisky. His company, Somerset Importers, became the exclusive American agent for Gordon's Gin and Dewar's Scotch. In addition, Kennedy purchased spirits-importation rights from Schenley Industries, a firm in Canada.[2] He owned the largest office building in the country, Chicago's Merchandise Mart, giving his family an important base in that city and an alliance with the Irish-American political leadership there. His term as ambassador and his political ambitions ended abruptly during the Battle of Britain in November 1940, with the publishing of his controversial remarks suggesting that "Democracy is finished in England. It may be here, [in the US]."[3] Kennedy resigned under pressure shortly afterwards. In later years, Kennedy worked behind the scenes to continue building the financial and political fortunes of the Kennedy family. After a disabling stroke in 1961, Kennedy developed aphasia and lost all power of speech, but remained mentally intact. He was confined to a wheelchair until his death in 1969. Kennedy plays a significant role as a character in Winston's War, Michael Dobbs' fictionalized account of the rise of Winston Churchill. In Richard Condon's thriller Winter Kills, Pa Keegan is a fictionalized version of Kennedy and is portrayed by John Huston in the film version of that novel. In the alternate history novel Fatherland by Robert Harris set in 1964, the senior Kennedy—not his son John F. Kennedy—is president of the United States and about to arrive in Berlin to conclude a treaty with Adolf Hitler. A fictionalized version of Joe Kennedy appears in the fifth season of the show Boardwalk Empire. He is portrayed by Matt Letscher. Kennedy has been portrayed by: Stephen Elliott in the 1977 movie Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy, E. G. Marshall in the 1983 miniseries Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan in the 1985 film Prince Jack Barry Morse in the 1987 miniseries Hoover vs. The Kennedys William Petersen in the 1990 miniseries The Kennedys of Massachusetts, Josef Sommer in the second episode "The Kennedy Years" of the 1991 miniseries A Woman Named Jackie Terry Kinney in the 1993 TV miniseries JFK: Reckless Youth, Irish actor Dan O'Herlihy in the 1998 movie The Rat Pack, Tom Skerritt in the 2000 TV movie Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Tom Wilkinson in the 2011 miniseries The Kennedys. William Hope in the 2012 Upstairs, Downstairs episode "The Love That Pays the Price". Matt Letscher in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy,_Sr.