Article is a side-slapper. I grew up near Boston. My family knew a lot more than we wanted to about the Boston Irish, and Joe Kennedy in particular. Joe’s father was a saloon-keeper with fingers deep in the liquor import trade, and a political lowlife. Joe himself didn’t actually drive the boats during Prohibition, but he received their cargoes with alacrity, and had close ties with the likes of Al Capone. But he made his real fortune by insider trading in the stock market, profiting hugely from the 1929 crash. In 1934 FDR inexplicably appointed him as the first Chairman of the new Securities and Exchange Commission, which was putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. Then he was posted as ambassador to the Court of St. James, during which time he vociferously advocated that the USA abandon Great Britain to Hitler. (Thankfully his hatred for Protestants was eventually ignored, and FDR was belatedly induced to sign the Lend-Lease act.)
“Boston businessman” indeed. Makes him sound like a grocer or a haberdasher.
“Boston businessman” indeed. Makes him sound like a grocer or a haberdasher.
Thanks for the info. It confirms other stories i've heard about the Kennedys and their crime empire. It also implies that widespread government corruption has long been practiced in the United States. I think this was why the "Deep State" is so filled with Ivy league people. It's effectively a Mafia.
FDR said Joe Kennedy knew all the tricks, so he'd be able to spot them when other people pulled them.
The progressives of the time were all pro-fascist and pro-Nazi, or at least anti-anti-Nazi. They morphed into anti-anti-Communists (or worse.)