The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty he Founded

I have read a lot books about Joe the last few years. This is by far the best, in that it provided a lot details not mentioned in other books. Joe exercised regularly, and never drank, which is no revelation. So much so he looked younger than his age for many years.Although the book might sound critical of Joe, it is clear Joe was no angel. His relationship with F.D.R. is always of interest to me, and this book goes into great detail. I think this book questions Joe's ethics,but makes it clear he had none basically. He manipulated stocks before heading the S.E.C. and after most likely. Joe liked the ladies: young women, movie starlets, and the wives of business associates, all which he chased women aggressively. One business associate went on the record that Joe asked for his wife during a golf game. Joe's business exploits were just as ruthless. He created artificial shortages in his alcohol business, to create more profits. He took advantage of his position as a Ambassador to England to procure shipping space on the Trans-Atlantic ships to ship his alcohol and reap war time profits. Procuring shipping space was difficult at the time as the war in Europe was heating up. He made huge money in the stock market manipulating stocks. During the war, when air transportation was tight, he frequently bumped soldiers traveling on orders; and he if he did not get his way he called the White House and got them to make it happen. When prohibition started he made huge money in illegal booze. When the stock market crashed he just happened to be in cash. He used the movie business to make money no doubt, but it was also a conveniant ploy to meet starlets most likely. When the depression hit he was buying real estate, the place in Florida, and the big place at Cape Cod, all at bargain prices. At the end of the war, he started buying commercial real estate, like that mall area in Chicago, at bargain prices, which only recently the family sold. He guessed right that business and real estate would recover after the war. Business wise everything Joe touched turned to gold. One person went on the record saying Joe would "cultivated the hell out of anybody useful to him". Joe would be hot or cold to people, as he frequently cut people off once he was done with them, as seen in this book. He was not sentimental about people or relationships. I think F.D.R. Jr said it best of Joe. Joe was a business genius, but a terrible human being. All and all I liked the book. It was an easy read. Personally, I find Joe Kennedy facinating, and how extreme wealth affects people.

This book was a very good read. It gives the reader a detailed and inside look of Joe Kennedy, Sr, one of Americas most influential men in the 20th century. We learn a lot about him as a husband, father, businessman, politician, etc. While I always knew there were negative qualities, this book goes into many details abut how this man would not stop at anything until achieving his ultimate goal: power. By reading this book, I too, learned a couple of valuable lessons. 1. We must know that in life what goes around comes around. After all the torture Kennedy put people through in order to achieve power and influence, at the end of his life, we see he got it right back to him. He suffered in a wheelchair with limited power due to his stroke. In addition, he buried four children and caused one to be vegetated in a home her whole life. 2. We must never take things for granted and appreciate what we have. I think if Kennedy appreciated his family and his fortune, he would not have acted so wrecklessly. Overall, I found this book to be very interesting and informative. There were certain areas that were repetitious and some that were a little boring. That's why I refrained from giving it five stars. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in modern American history. You won't be disappointed.

This is a good detailed book, sometimes it is too lengthy in making a point about Joe Kennedy but it is well written and a good for late night reading. You will be surprised or not at the type of scheming and lying that this ol patriarch does to get over on the public and to do whatever it takes to get what he wants, either for himself or his family. Joe Kennedy was controlling, manipulative and demanding. Far from the image of the 1960's of this great father figure. His children never waivered from his rule. Rose Kennedy was a "trip"!!! She comes across in this book as a doped up self-righteous narcissistic clothes-driven absentee mother. What a combination of her and Joe. Oh and she hated sex, with nine kids. I grew up hearing about the wonderful Kennedy family, how close-knit they were. What a crock! Back to the book - it will tell you some things, bring some things to light and confirm all the rumors. Well written.

This book started out quite interesting, but as I continued reading I felt many sections got so bogged down with minutiae that I started skimming the pages; I got the point. Joseph Kennedy was a scoundrel, an opportunist and a womanizer of the worst kind; of course having a strict Catholic wife who only believed in sex for procreation might create issues in many marriages. The values he gave to his male children are obvious, though they turned out to be much more society oriented than he was. He was the alpha in the pack, making every decision when it came to the family. His wife Rose was a distant mother both affectionately and physically. His political shenanigans were outrageous. Thank goodness Pres. Roosevelt had his number. I would say that the book was a good read as long as you don't give equal weight to every section and get bogged down..

Kessler's,"The Sins of the Father," is a page turner, not merely for the colorful and bombastic life of Joseph P. Kennedy. But, a gut check for those fraught with extreme ambition and a thirst for power. Joseph Kennedy answered the age old question, "How far would you go to achieve ultimate power?" His life's response was, "To the ends of the earth." That he did and more. In addition, Kennedy is an excellent case study on a small percentile of individuals steeped in an insatiable desire to achieve great success at all costs. The statement,"Men do not differ an any respect from other animals, but survive, according to their aptitudes, by adapting themselves to exterior conditions which prevail at the moment of their birth,"(P. 102). The gene pool, environment, and conditions that create a Joseph Kennedy is more prevalent in contemporary times than they ever were. "The Sins of the Father" is the potential for greatness and vile we all have within us. The ending words speak volumes to our best and worst--"...He did not care about his reputation. What he cared most about was having power. Through the political dynasty that he founded, Joseph P. Kennedy achieved that for generations to come. If he hurt and corrupted others in the process, it was because no one had the courage to challenge him. For that, they only have themselves to blame" (p. 428). Edward Brown Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute

This was, of course, a hatchet job, but it was also decently researched and it was certainly a very necessary corrective to the hagiography written by the Kennedy flacks and the tame press hacks they supported and controlled. In any case, no many how skeptically you read this, it is impossible for anyone but a Kennedy fanboy or girl to come away with with an opinion other than that Joseph Kennedy was a awful human being. It took way too long for the country to finally realize how truly flawed the whole family was, and it is quite clear that their problems were a very direct result of the manner in which Joe Kennedy conducted his personal and business lives. Camelot indeed! :-)

Excellent book! Granted, Kennedy was shot about 7 years before I was born, but I have done a lot of reading about JFK and his family. JFK sounds like he was a great president. (I once asked my dad how he liked JFK as president. He said, "He was okay. He had his own money and didn't want mine!") However, the patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy, was an evil, womanizing, SOB. How did he get his money?: Bootlegging, and insider trading, ultimately leading to the rules we have now against insider trading. I really see a lot of karma in this book. There were great things about this family, but for all the good, there was some karma to pay for that. This is a very truthful book, according to everything else I have learned about this family. It's a very good read!

I'm a life long Massachusetts resident, and have lived with the Kennedy mystique and "legend" most of my life. The first book that exposed some of the fallacies concerning the royal family was Bishop's book about the day Kennedy was killed. I was in high school when it happened, and this state went insane with anger and grief. I found the book fascinating not simply because of the truths it exposed, but of the picture it paints of Joe Kennedy. What a vicious, cowardly human being. But, the press, for the most part protected them for years and so the legend continued. What brought much of it to a head here was the Chappaquiddick incident. And with that, the veil was finally pulled away. I really enjoyed this book.