A Synopsis of the Kennedy Family

The Kennedy family has gigantic been plagued by tragedy and scandal. The patriarch of the Kennedys, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, prohibitedlived v of his own children. many an(prenominal) Kennedy offspring grew up non kno superchargeg their breed. Kennedy administrations stick out keen-sighted been wracked with scandal. in spite of every of this, the Kennedys dedicate long been thought of as the Statess purple family. What is it about the legion(predicate) misdeeds and tragedies of this particular family that has drawn the States to state of struggleds them? why it is that America has been fascinated by the royal status of the Kennedy, and just what is it about this beleaguered dynasty that has hypnotized generations?The patriarch of the Kennedy semipolitical dynasty, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, better cognize as Joe, came from very humble beginnings. His father, Patrick Joseph Kennedy, came to America during the great potato famine in Ireland. He was in the U. S. solitary(p renominal) lodge years when he died of tuberculosis. After the conclusion of his father, Josephs acquire Bridget began working at a cake and was even outtu everyy fitted to view enough m singley to cloud her own saloon, which was quite prosperous. The m sensationy from this saloon went to control Josephs education at Harvard.After graduating from Harvard, Joe went into the liquor business, and from the liquor business he got into the movie business, all the go single-foot up enormous sums of m unrivaledy and devising himself a very rich man. On October 7, 1914, Joe espouse Rose Fitzgerald and began the greatest political dynasty in American history. Joe used his fabulous wealth to further his own pushful political flight. He was fitted to earn favors from powerful politicians, and even formed a relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt by cosmos maven of his major supporters during his get-go bid for president.After FDR was in office Joe expected to be rewarded for his large contri besidesions by being nominated for every Secretary of Treasury or embassador to England. Although it was the Secretary of Treasury position that he really wanted, he was barely able to finagle the ambassador position out of Roosevelt, and he solitary(prenominal) managed this by development his powerful influence in the media. Joe was a horrible politician, and many of the comments he make prior to World war II prevented him from ever holding a racy pass around office, (The Kennedy Curse page 43) including the one that was his ultimate goal, president. eon ambassador to England, Joe make comments indicating that he sympathized with Nazi Ger umteen and supported their extermination of the Jewish plenty.He alike said that egalitarian countries should bribe dictator countries in align to avoid war, and also queasye umteen other statements that indicated that he did not support democracy. Soon later on the war started Joe returned to the fall in State s where he was relieved of his title and banished from all aspects of going-ons in Washington, D. C. After his aspirations of holding ut just about office were dashed, Joe Kennedy placed all his expectations on his eldest son, Joseph Kennedy jr. Born on July 15, 1915, Joe Jr. received all the benefits of advance from a wealthy and important family. He graduated from the best schools, and was around through with law school when World War II broke out, which prompted him to drop out, wed the navy and become a pilot. He was awarded his wings in whitethorn of 1942, and was move to England in kinsfolk of 1943. He flew legion(predicate) delegacys and collected many accolades.He was on the bound of being offered leave when his younger brother, hindquarters F. Kennedy won a title-h sure-enough(a)ic skirmish in the Pacific and stole his limelight. This inconvenience Joe Jr. more than many people realized (The Kennedy Curse page 36). alternatively of accepting his offered l eave and going home, Joe Jr. stayed in Europe and continued to fly, a lot taking more and more risks. In 1944 he volunteered for a authorize- mystery mission, in which the odds of him living were hardly 50-50. His mission was to take a bomber arch with 21,170 pounds of explosives and fly everywhere England to Normandy and crash-dive on a German V-2 rocket-launching site.Shortly after take-off on August 12, 1944, his plane exploded putting to finale both Joe Jr. and his co-pilot. Joe was awarded the Navy grumpy and the Air Medal posthumously (countrystudies. us). While World War II was untrained in Europe, another Kennedy was frolicking in England. Kathleen ( shiver) Kennedy was braggart(a) in London society during Englands war era. She had succeeded in capturing the heart of William Robert bathroom Cavendish, who was the son of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, who was the present Duke of Devonshire.By marrying William Cavendish, better cognise as billystick Hartington, flush would in force(p) a place at the top of British society and become a duchess in the process. scour though billy was engaged to Sally Norton for a while, bitch was able to use her charm to win nightsticks heart. The only difficulty that seemed to exist was the detail that baton was a member of the Angelican Church of England, which had a news report for being notoriously anti-Catholic. However, belt was a Kennedy and on that pointfore everything would work out in her favor, because thats what happened to Kennedys.Normally the Cavendishs would never expect allowed the marriage, but because of the fact that while the war raged on and taxes were increased and the fortune that was once the inheritance of Billy was slowly trickling away, the Cavendishs were willing to allow the marriage collectible to the fact that tingles father was named the fourth wealthiest man in America. So even though Kick would be able to marry Billy, she would break many Catholic laws, and w ould be condemned to eternal purgatory. Billy made some(prenominal) compromises, such as getting married in a civil ceremony instead of an Angelican Church.However, one of Billys major stipulations was that his children would not be raised Catholic. After they were married on May 6, 1944, Billy offered Kick another compromise regarding the rearing of their children. He said that if Britains rigid mannequin structure survived the war, then their children would have to be part of the Angelican Church but if the differentiate structure was gone then their children could be raised in the Catholic faith. Despite all these agreements, Kicks sinless family except for Joe Jr. condemned her decision, in particular her mother Rose.Shortly after Kick and Billy married, Billy was called off to fight while Kick was left everyplace to her own devices. A fewer months after her wedding she received grim news her favorite brother had been killed in a plane accident. She flew to the U. S. for Joes memorial service and remained in that location for several(prenominal)(prenominal) weeks. Subsequently, she was heretofore in the U. S. when she received news that Billy had been killed in action on September 9, 1944. She immediately flew to England for the memorial service. She remained there even after his service, and was still handsome in British affairs. regular though she was no long-life married to the future Duke of Devonshire, she still had several responsibilities, including planning balls and dances. It was at one of these dances that she depression met Peter Fitzwilliam, a returning war hero and eighth earl. Pretty ofdecade everything Billy had been, but more exciting. For Kick and Peter it was considered love at first sight, although there were several obstacles, such as the ever-present problem of religion, and more importantly the fact that Fitzwilliam was married to Olive Dorothea.Even though Fitzwilliam was in the process of looking a divorce when he first met Kick, he pursued a relationship with her while still being married to Olive. Kicks relationship with Fitzwilliam, deemed a ignominious affair by most prominent people, was violently condemned by her mother. Her mother endanger to cut off Kicks allowance and pretty much beef her out of the family. Kick decided to seek her fathers support and consistent to meet him in Paris. During their trip they ran into several de impersonates, which caused them to run into bad weather.It was on May 13, 1947, that the plane carrying Kick, Peter, and deuce pilots crashed in the French countryside, killing all people on board (The Kennedy Curse page 55). Even though he had lost two children already, Joe Kennedy still harbored aspirations of having one of his sons in the gaberdine House. Since his oldest son had died, the mantel fell on his succeeding(prenominal) oldest son, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. After returning to the get together States, John Kennedy, also cognise as Jack, used his war hero title as a point of departure to get into politics. His first victory was in 1946 when he was elected into the U. S.House of Representatives, into which he was reelected in 1948 and 1950. In 1956 he unsuccessfully es scan for vice president on the re globean ticket, but was successful in lovely the primary for the democratic presidential nominating speech in 1960. In electioneering for the presidency, he used his New Frontier broadcast to garner support. The New Frontier promised an extension phone of economic benefits, an increase in federal official aid for education, better health insurance for the elderly, a new department of urban affairs, an end to recession and a restitution of growth, a tax cut to disturb the economy, and also funding for the space program.Due to the fact that JFK had a narrow victory over Richard Nixon, he often faced enemy in congress, especially from conservative gray democrats (Encarta. msn. com). Even though he is forthwith view ed by many people as an influential figure in American history, JFKs administration was far from ideal. When he first took office he genetical a problematic situation with Cuba and its dictator, Fidel Castro. His failed guarantee to override Castro is known as the verbalize of Pigs fiasco. The Bay of Pigs is actually the place where U. S. acked Cuban exiles unsuccessfully tried to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. The exiles were quickly defeated by Castros forces, resulting in a very public embarrassment for the Kennedy administration.The Bay of Pigs fiasco closely in turn led to the Cuban missile crisis, which was a confrontation surrounded by the then U. S. S. R. and the United States, the closest the area has ever come to seeing atomic war (Encarta. msn. com). The confrontation started when U. S. intelligence learn that the Soviet Union was supplying Cuba with long-range nuclear weapons, capable of hitting several U. S. targets. JFK was able to negotiate with the Soviet president, Khrushchev, and confident(p) him to take back the weapons from Cuba in transmute for the removal of several nuclear weapons situated in Turkey that belonged to the U. S. Even though JFK was able to avoid nuclear war, one of his greatest legacies was his penchant for womanizing. This supposedly left him with chronic venereal disease, which is blamed for the devastation of his infant son, Patrick. JFK was able to cover up all his affairs because he had a close trusting relationship with most members of his secret service.This close relationship with his bodyguards was more of a hindrance than anything else because it prevented the agents from performing at their best. Security was very relaxed during JFKs administration, which whitethorn have been one of the contributing factors to his blackwash in 1963 (The Kennedy Curse page 106). JFK originally went to Dallas in order to secure votes from this pivotal state for his reelection. His approval rate in Texas was at an all measure low, and JFK hoped a visit there would up his public opinion. Preparation work for his collection was marshy very few of the buildings along the parade route were inspected or secured.The night in front his planned parade several of his secret service members went to a club where they drank and didnt come back to the hotel until three or four oclock in the morning (The Kennedy Curse page 112). The neighboring day, November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was fit in the organize by Lee Harvey Oswald as his open car made its way plenty the parade route. The blackwash of JFK has long been dispute as a cabal involving almost all of Washington and even the maffia rather than just a mad act by a unaccompanied gunslinger. Evidence to support the conspiracy surmisal includes the trajectory of Oswalds bullets.Many people scan that the number of bullets and the directions of the wounds inflicted to JFK indicate another zep (How Did It really Happen? page 270). in all t hese conspiracy theories sprang up after the make of Oswald by Jack Ruby, which prevented Oswald from ever being questioned. Even though the family was still reeling from the death of the young president, life went on and there was still the push to have a Kennedy in the white-hot House again. This succession the mantel fell on the next brother, the former attorney full general infra JFK himself, Robert Kennedy, better known as Bobby.Bobby had begun his life story much as his older brothers had, graduating from prestigious colleges including Harvard and the University of Virginia. After completing his education he was made an attorney in the U. S. department of Justice, where he worked for a year sooner leaving his post to become the four-in-hand of his older brothers presidential campaign. After the election was over he was appointed to the position of attorney general where he gained prominence for his determination to twister down on organized crime.He is especially r emembered for his investigation of teamsters David Beck and James Hoffa, as fountainhead as his activism for civil rights (Encarta. msn. com). After the assassination of JFK he resigned his post but remained agile in politics, representing New York in the United States Senate. He continued working on civil equality and trying to mend the lives of the poor. In 1968 he began his campaign to be elected as the democratic expectation for president. His campaign was going healthful and many people thought that he would be the next president and carry on the Kennedy name in the White House.However, when paseo through the pantry in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 1968 he was fatally shot by Sirham Bishara Sirham, an Islamic basal (Encarta. msn. com). He left behind ten children and a pregnant wife. As with the assassination of JFK many people suspected that there was a large complicated conspiracy behind the murder of Bobby Kennedy. Many witnesses say that there were more than one gunman in the pantry at the time that shots went off, and others say that they saw a coupling running out of the hotel yelling, We shot him, we shot him (homepages. com. cp. co. uk/dlewis/crime. htm). However, as with the assassination of his older brother, we may never know the whole rectitude of the murder of Bobby Kennedy. One would think that after so many tragedies, the Kennedys would instal up having their name in the White House. However, they still had one hope that lay in the youngest brother, Edward Kennedy, better known as Ted.Ted followed the same path as his brothers to begin with him, graduating from the best schools and getting straight into politics. His career started off when he became district attorney for Suffolk County, mom in 1960 (Encarta. sn. com). In 1962 he was appointed to the Senate seat vacated by his older brother, JFK. In 1969 after his two older brothers had been assassinated, he made plans to begin campaigning for the d emocratic nomination for president. However, his plans were cut short, not because of another tragedy but because of a scandal that happened at Chappaquiddick Island. Ted Kennedy was control to a rented beach house on the island with a young woman that had worked on Bobbys campaign, Mary Jo Kopechne. The only way to the island was over a bridge that connected Marthas Vineyard and Chappaquiddick Island.No one is sure if he was drunk or just inattentive, but either way he group off the bridge, killing Kopechne in the process. quite of sticking around and waiting for individual he left the scene. Not only did he leave, but he also failed to report the crime until his car was piece in the water several old age later. He was convicted of leaving the scene of an accident, driving without a license, and reckless driving, as well as having to pay $90,000 to Kopechnes family. Many people think that he should have received a harsher punishment, such as manslaughter charges, and that the only reason he was able to avoid these harges was the power and influence of the Kennedy name. Even though his aspirations for president were extinguished, Ted remained in the Senate, representing Massachusetts even to this day. The people discussed are only a small majority of the Kennedy family, and the incidents only a small portion of the numerous scandals and tragedies that plague the Kennedys. Even through so many tragedies, the Kennedy name remains an influential sound in politics, and the remaining members of the family part of a royalty all their own.BibliographyReaders Digest How Did It Really Happen? Copyright 2000 Klein, Edward The Kennedy Curse oSt. Martins Press, NY, copyright 2003 http//www.countrystudies.us/united-states/history-120.htm http//www.sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/jfk.html http//www.jpkf.org/BIOG.HTML http//www.pbs.org/wgbn/amex/kennedys/peopleevents/p_joe.html http//www.who2.com/josephkennedysr.html http//www.encarta.msn.com http//www.homepages.tcp.co.uk/dlewis /crime.htm http//www.wisegeek.com/what-was-the-chappaquiddick-incident.htm