The Kennedy Men

by Laurence Leamer

16 “Three Cs and …”: A. M. Schlesinger Jr., “Harvard Today,” Harvard Advocate, September 1936, KUA.

  16 “Our friendships …”: H. E. P., “The Importance of Being a Sport,” Harvard Advocate, May 1908, HUA.

  17 About two-thirds: Ronald Story, Harvard and the Boston Upper Class: The Forging of an Aristocracy, 1800-1870 (1980), p. 173.

  17 young men largely dominated: Morrison I. Swift wrote in the Harvard Illustrated in May 1911: “The irreducible fact [is] that the rich men’s sons, whether confessedly or not, are the central figures of the college,” KUA.

  17 almost all Irish immigrant: James Joseph Kenneally, The History of American Catholic Women (1990), p. 113.

  17 One of them: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Barrett Wendell and His Letters (1924), p. 47.

  17 “over-civilized man …”: Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life (1904), P.7.

  18 “When the students entered …”: Harvard Crimson, October 19, 1908, KUA.

  18 “Our ancestors have bred …”: William James, The Moral Equivalent of War and Other Essays (1971), pp. 5-7. 18 finance committee of the Freshman: Harvard Crimson, February 20, 1909, KUA.

  18 one of the fifteen ushers: ibid., March 12, 1909, KUA.

  19 “the private school …”: ibid., April 10, 1912, KUA. 19 in one typical …: ibid., December 6, 1911, KUA.

  19 “the most magnificent sight …”: Thomas Goddard Bergin, The Game: The Harvard-Yale Football Rivalry, 1875-1983 (1984), p. 100.

  19 graduate of Worcester: Harvard Crimson, December 6, 1911, KUA.

  20 Fisher was class: Harvard class alumni bulletin, 1912, p. 101, KUA.

  20 “Important fall baseball …”: Harvard Crimson, October 1, 1908, KUA.

  20 “We’re the two …”: TFB, p. 283.

  21 “For a short while …”: Joseph F. Dinneen, The Kennedy Family (1959), p. 14, and Whalen, p. 30.

  21 in a typical year: Weston, “The Problem in Democracy …”

  22 The tap on Joe’s door: Doris Kearns Goodwin, p. 215.

  22 “Everywhere was to be seen …”: Harvard Crimson, February 25, 1911, KUA.

  23 “a peculiar kind …”: Winfield Scott Hall, A Manual of Sex Hygiene (1913), pp. 75-76.

  23 “He talked himself …”: interview, Arthur Goldsmith, RWP.

  23 first professional baseball coach: Joe Bertagna, Crimson in Triumph (1986), p. 151.

  24 thrown our his arm: Whalen, p. 27.

  24 he did as well: Joe Kennedy batted .285, getting two hits in seven times at bat. Harvard Crimson, September 26, 1911, KUA. 24 “No year and no …”: ibid., May 13, 1909.

  24 “carrying in his …”: Henry James, Charles W. Eliot: President of Harvard University, vol. 2 (1930), p. 60.

  24 On the football: ibid., p. 69.

  25 “a rather hysterical …”: Harvard Crimson, May 6, 1909, KUA. 25 “Baseball is on trial …”: ibid., May 4, 1912, KUA.

  25 At the beginning of : John A. Blanchard, ed., The H Book of Harvard Athletics: 1852-1922 (1923), p. 148.

  26 “rather crude material”: Harvard Alumni Bulletin, 1911, KUA.

  27 The game stayed close: Boston Globe, June 24, 1911.

  28 “My father and I …”: TR, p. 61.

  27 did not even mention Joe: Harvard Crimson, June 22, 1911, KUA.

  27 one of only 36: At the end of the football season, the H men at the university doubled to seventy. ibid., December 6, 1911.

  27 “2,262 undergraduates …”: ibid., December 15, 1911, KUA.

  27 petitioned to graduate: Joseph P. Kennedy to P. J. Kennedy, September 30, 1911, Joseph P. Kennedy Records, HUA.

  27 during his four years: Joseph P. Kennedy records, HUA.

  3. Manly Pursuits

  28 “If you’re going …”: interview, Joe Kane, KP.

  28 With the barest hint: LL interviews with Mary Lou McCarthy and Kerry McCarthy.

  29 “I had read …”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  29 seventy-five guests: Gail Cameron, Rose: A Biography of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (1971), p. 69.

  29 Honey Fitz began yelling: LL interview with Geraldine Hannon.

  29 “is in a condition …”: Hall, Manual, p. 69.

  30 “the most desperate cases …”: Barnarr A. Macfadden, The Virile Powers of Superb Manhood: How Developed, How Lost, How Regained (1900), p. 38.

  30 Some experts: Hall, Manual, p. 83.

  30 “Now listen, Rosie …”: Doris Kearns Goodwin, p. 392.

  30 11 percent: Bruce A. Phillips, Brookline: The Evolution of an American Jewish Suburb (1990), p. 28.

  32 “by accepting the idea …”: Doris Kearns Goodwin, p. 272.

  32 “natural cynicism”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Lord Max Beaverbrook, October 23, 1944, NHP.

  34 “The strikers …”: Boston Globe, November 1, 1917.

  34 “probably no one …”: David Palmer, “Organizing the Shipyards, Unionization at the New York, Federal Ship and Fore River, 1898-1945,” Brandeis University Ph.D. diss., 1989, p. 19, NHP.

  34 “The female sex … “: Charles G. Herbermann, et al., The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), p. 687.

  35 suffered from an ulcer: TR, p. 80.

  35 “Tommy, it’s so easy …”: interview, Oscar Haussermann, RWP. 35 close to seven hundred thousand dollars: Ronald Kessler, The Sins of the Father (1996), p. 31.

  35 high-stakes game: ibid.

  36 In January 1920: Doris Kearns Goodwin, p. 305. 36 “If you need more …”: quoted in ibid., p. 307.

  36 “I don’t know how …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Vera Murray, August 15, 1921, JPKP, HTF, p.29.

  37 “I hope you have …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Arthur Houghton, September 19, 1921, HTF, p. 31.

  37 There were 125 beds: Doris Kearns Goodwin, p. 310.

  37 half his wealth: Boston Globe, May 23, 1963.

  38 forward-looking men: Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s (1995), p. 233.

  38 In 1926 the Canadian: A&E documentary, Prohibition, based on the book by Edward Behr, Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America (1996), an LL interview with Edward Behr.

  39 “there was a …”: interview with Cartha DeLoach.

  39 “Joe brought the …”: LL interview with Patty McGinty Gallagher. 39 He founded the famous: Hank Messick, The Silent Syndicate (1967), p. 163.

  39 Fitzgerald says: LL interview with Benedict Fitzgerald. 39 confirmed by Q. Byrum Hurst: LL interview with Q. Byrum Hurst. 39 vowed he did not commit: Graham Nown, The English Godfather (1987), p. 47.

  39 George Raft in his screen: ibid., p. 76.

  39 greased with ample payoffs: ibid.

  40 “everybody knew …”: LL interview with George Smathers.

  40 “Joe was having …”: LL interview with Zel Davis.

  40 “When I worked …”: videotaped oral history, Mel Shoemaker, courtesy Gus Russo.

  41 “About ten years …”: LL interview with Christopher Kennedy.

  41 $302: Joseph P. Kennedy to Robert Potter, August 17, 1920, HTF, p. 24.

  42 “It’s all right …”: Doris Kearns Goodwin, pp. 324-25.

  42 Were the good gentlemen: Joseph P. Kennedy was not the only observer of this hypocrisy. The late Thomas “Tip” O’Neill wrote in his autobiography of working as a groundskeeper at Harvard during the 1927 Harvard commencement: “They were … drinking champagne, which was illegal…. I remember that scene like it was yesterday, and I can still feel the anger I felt then…. Who the hell do these people think they are, I said to myself, that the law means nothing to them?” It was a question that Kennedy and O’Neill, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, answered in different ways. Tip O’Neill, with William Novak, Man of the House (1987), p. 6.

  4. “Two Young ‘Micks’ Who Need Discipline”

  43 “Gee, you’re a great mother …”: TR, p. 93.

  43 four or five weeks: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  43 “better take it in stride …”: Doris Kearns Goodwin, p. 353.

 
44 “a more distant figure”: interview, John F. Kennedy, JMBP.

  44 eaten by lions: Time file, June 1, 1960, NHP.

  44 “at exactly the same …”: L. Emmett Holt, M.D., The Care and Feeding of Children: A Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children’s Nurses (1923), p. 88.

  44 “gentle shaking”: quoted in Christina Hardyment, Dream Babies: Three Centuries of Good Advice on Child Care (1983), p. 127.

  44 “twice as much food …”: ibid., p. 126.

  45 she purchased approved books: Rose Kennedy, NPSOH.

  45 “I wouldn’t have …”: TR, p. 111.

  45 “Lack of precision in the mother …”: Mrs. Burton Chance, The Care of the Child (1909), p. 20-21.

  45 Kikoo Convoy: TFB, p. 195.

  46 “I didn’t think …”: interview, Rose Kennedy, Time file, 1960-61, RWP.

  46 “He told me once …”: interview, Henry Luce, RWP.

  46 “The mood of …”: Alfred Adler, The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: A Systematic Presentation in Selections from His Writings, edited and annotated by Heinz L. Ansbacher and Rowena R. Ansbacher (1956), pp. 380-81.

  46 “… Physically we used to have …”: interview, John F. Kennedy, JMBP.

  46 the two boys kicked: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  46 “Remember that Jack …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., July 28, 1926, HTF, p. 48.

  47 “When his sister was …”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  47 “man of broad hips …”: Joseph Collins, The Doctor Looks at Love and Life (1929), pp. 68, 74.

  47 “they are the most …”: ibid., p. 74.

  47 not allowed to play: LL interview with Robert Bunshaft.

  47 “The boys have …”: TR, p. 93.

  48 English chauffeur: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  48 “because the more …”: Ralph LaRossa, The Modernization of Fatherhood: A Social and Political History (1997), p. 180.

  48 “once children are …”: Chester T. Cromwell, American Mercury, October 1924.

  49 “The old man …”: LL interview with Tom Finneran.

  49 “Good Luck”: Joseph P. Kennedy to John F. Kennedy, May 19, 1926, HTF, p. 7.

  49 “This is a shrine!”: Hank Searls, The Lost Prince: Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy (1969), p. 44.

  49 “When they’d shoot …”: LL interview with Holton Wood.

  50 “very pugnacious …”: LL interview with Augustus Soule Jr. 50 “Well, coach, you’re …”: Willard K. Rice, KLOH.

  50 “a wonderful idea”: ibid.

  51 As a back, Joe Jr.’s greatest: Searls, p. 44.

  51 Jack, a wiry: undated clipping, Dexter archives.

  51 “At that time”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  52 “As long as they”: ibid.

  53 “sexual affection for men”: James M. O’Toole, Militant and Triumphant: William Henry O’Connell and the Catholic Church in Boston, 1859-1944 (1992), p. 191.

  53 “the screen’s … leading family man”: Terry Ramsaye, “Intimate Visits to the Homes of Famous Film Magnates,” Photoplay, September 1927.

  53 “spendthrift clause …”: Kessler, p. 41.

  53 “spit in his eye”: ibid., p. 44.

  5. Moving On

  54 “I felt it was no place …”: Joe McCarthy, The Remarkable Kennedys (1960), p. 42.

  54 “It is not a pleasant …”: Boston Globe, April 17, 1945.

  55 her check bounced: LL interviews with Mary Lou McCarthy and Kerry McCarthy.

  55 Eunice was suffering: Doris Kearns Goodwin, p. 368.

  56 “He moved so quickly …”: Gloria Swanson, Swanson on Swanson (1980), p. 369.

  57 catered food: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  57 “Well, he felt sorry …”: ibid.

  58 the next occupant of Gloria’s: Betty Lasky, RKO The Biggest Little Major of Them All (1984), pp. 55-57. See also Roland Flamini, Scarlett, Rhett, and a Cast of Thousands (1975), p. 146.

  58 “Would you please …”: Kathleen Kennedy to “Dear Daddy,” January 31, 1930, Eunice Kennedy Shriver letters. 58 “How is little Gloria?”: ibid., March 23, 1930.

  58 “he would have seen …”: LL interview with Kerry McCarthy.

  59 between $200,000 and: interview, James Landis, RWP.

  59 “Who are you?”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  59 “The story got around …”: ibid.

  60 “Forty is a …”: LL interview with Harvey Klemmer.

  60 “was always the first …”: TFB, p. 194.

  60 “Daddy did not …”: Kathleen Kennedy to “Dear Mother,” February 13, 1932, Eunice Kennedy Shriver letters.

  60 “They were considered …”: LL interview with David Wilson.

  61 Some of the teenagers: LL interview with Paul Morgan.

  61 “People said, ‘Why do you …’”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  61 “After that we became …”: LL interview with Manuel Angulo.

  62 “Perhaps Joe …”: ibid.

  62 Jack was so shy: ibid.

  62 “I’m going to be …”: LL interview with Alan Gage.

  62 “As a mother …”: interview, Rose Kennedy, Laura Berquist papers, Boston University.

  63 could not remember: K, p. 34.

  63 jumping again and again: Paul Healy, “Investigator in a Hurry,” Sign, August 1957.

  63 into a glass door: RKHT, p. 22.

  63 A half-hour later: New York Herald Tribune, September 13, 1961.

  63 Jack won a commencement prize: Riverdale School archives.

  63 “Bobby looked …”: interview, Lem Billings, ASP.

  64 “Bobby got along …”: interview, Jean Kennedy Smith, ASP.

  64 “I put an end …”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  64 “might have a religious vocation”: Sister M. Ambrose to Robert F. Kennedy, September 29, 1957, RFK preadministrative working files, JFKPL.

  64 “Bishop Bernard from the Bahama …”: ibid., August 24, 1957.

  64 “where they’d meet …”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  64 “He is a rare youth …”: Frank S. Hackett to George St. John, May 29, 1929, AAML.

  65 “My nose my leg …”: quoted in Nigel Hamilton, JFK: Restless Youth, (1992), p. 86.

  65 “began to get sick …”: John F. Kennedy to Joseph P. Kennedy, 1930-31, JFKPP.

  65 “Joe fainted twice …”: ibid.

  65 “I see things blury”: “Jack” to “Dear Mother,” undated letter on Canterbury School stationery, NHP.

  65 “I smashed into …”: ibid.

  66 “I hope my marks …”: John F. Kennedy to Joseph P. Kennedy, April 15, 1931, NHP.

  67 Joe Jr. took Teddy: AWRJ, p. 59.

  67 never played … again: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  67 “My lord, this is …”: LL interview with Harry Fowler.

  67 “Don’t come in second …”: TR, p. 143.

  68 “He always trusted …”: LL interview with Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

  68 “All children can be de-throned …”: Adler, p. 381.

  68 “I wasn’t supposed to …”: interview, Edward Kennedy, RCP.

  69 “Probably three times …”: ibid.

  69 “I wanted him …”: Boston Globe, December 11, 1937.

  70 “I doubt that …”: interview, Frank Waldrop, BP.

  71 “He, himself …”: C. H. Cramer to John F. Kennedy, undated quoting Roy Howard to Newton D. Baker, Baker Collection, Library of Congress, LC.

  71 “Roosevelt was under …”: ibid.

  71 “You may rest …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to William Randolph Hearst, October 19, 1932, William Hearst papers, Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley.

  71 To them, he appeared: C. H. Cramer to John Kennedy, quoting a letter of July 12, 1932, Roy Howard to Newton D. Baker, found in Baker collection, LC.

  71 “If we live …”: Eddie Dowling, CUOH.

  72 Joe helped Jimmy: Koskoff, p. 51; Whalen, p. 136.

  72 “I didn’t w
ant anything …”: James Warburg, CUOH.

  72 Joe finagled: Koskoff, p. 53.

  73 “Your taste in dumb cruise …”: KR, p. 98.

  73 Roosevelt laughed loudly: ibid.

  6. “Most Likely to Succeed”

  75 “in any part Hebraic”: Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., application, May 1, 1929, AAML.

  75 students voted: Choate yearbooks, AAML.

  76 “friendliness”: Clara St. John to Rose Kennedy, October 7, 1931, ibid.

  76 One of the teachers: Sheldon Stern, JFKPL resident historian, interviewed Harold Taylor for the library. Taylor was afraid of a tape recorder, and this information is based on Stern’s notes.

  76 “some one send to …”: George St. John to Joseph P. Kennedy, October 20, 1932, AAML.

  76 “We’ll try to show …”: ibid., April 22, 1932.

  76 “one of the ‘big boys’ …”: Mrs. George C. St. John to Rose Kennedy, October 7, 1931, AAML.

  77 kept at school: George St. John to Joseph P. Kennedy, December 3, 1929, AAML.

  77 “too easily satisfied …”: Hank Searls, The Lost Prince (1969), p. 64.

  78 “When Joe came home …”: John F. Kennedy to Joseph P. Kennedy, December 9, 1931, family correspondence, JFKPP.

  78 “a lavender bathrobe …”: Mrs. George St. John to Rose Kennedy, January 18, 1932, AAML.

  79 “mumps, and the doctor …”: Rose Kennedy to Mrs. George St. John, n.d., AAML.

  79 “full of pop”: Mrs. George St. John to Earl Leinbach, January 25, 1932, AAML.

  79 Jack had to return: George St. John to John F. Kennedy, July 30, 1932, AAML.

  79 special built-up shoes: Choate secretary to Rose Kennedy, March 10, 1933, AAML.

  79 ten letters from Rose: Seymour St. John, “JFK Fiftieth Reunion of 1,000 Days at School,” June 1985, AAML.

  79 “pink eye”: Choate secretary to Rose Kennedy, February 14, 1933, AAML.

  79 “a little grippy cold”: ibid., February 17, 1933.

  79 Jack’s most distinguished contribution: interview, Earl Leinbach, JMBP.

  80 “The golf is going good …”: John F. Kennedy to Joseph P. Kennedy, n.d. (Sunday), JFKPP.

  80 “rather outstanding”: Lem Billings, KLOH.

  80 “My father did try …”: ibid.

  80 “I think that …”: ibid.

  81 “a very popular hero”: Boston Globe, June 11, 1933.