The Patriarch (103 page)

Kennedy remained in London as ambassador through the early stages of the blitz, thoroughly discredited as an appeaser and an opponent of American aid to the British war effort. Roosevelt should have recalled him, but was afraid of angering a still influential Irish Catholic whose support he needed in his campaign for a third term. In October 1940, Kennedy returned to Washington, where to the surprise of many, he endorsed Roosevelt for reelection. He is pictured here two months after the election delivering a radio address on lend-lease, the administration’s plan to assist the British war effort, in which he confused and angered both sides of the debate by refusing to take an unequivocal stand for or against the legislation.

April 1946: One of the rare photos of Kennedy with his son Jack during Jack’s first campaign for Congress. Once his son decided to run for office, Kennedy retreated from public view, fearful that his decidedly unpopular views might damage Jack’s chances for election. This photo was originally taken for a
Look
magazine feature. Kennedy might have felt obliged to be in it rather than leave the spotlight to his father-in-law, Honey Fitz (at left), the former mayor. As was so often the case, Honey Fitz, is saying something that Jack finds amusing but his father does not.

1948: On the porch of the Hyannis Port house with Eunice and Bobby in either the late summer or early fall of 1948. Bobby, age twenty-three, would that September begin law school at the University of Virginia; Eunice, twenty-seven, was working for the government in Washington

Christmas, 1947: The family gathers for Christmas in Palm Beach. There are two Kennedy children missing: Rosemary, who never returned home after her unsuccessful lobotomy in 1941, and Joe Jr., who, less than three years later, in 1944, was killed when his navy bomber crashed and burned. Kick, to the far left, is leaning into the frame of the photo over Jack. This would be her last Christmas. She would die in a plane crash the following spring.

September 12, 1953: Kissing the bride, with a smiling groom looking on. Kennedy was fond of all his children’s spouses, but if he had a favorite, it might very well have been Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, who adored him as well.

With granddaughter Caroline on November 18, 1960, ten days after her father had been elected president. Kennedy enjoyed nothing more than riding early in the morning with his children when they were young, then with his grandchildren.

When the children were young, Jean overheard a conversation in which her father was referred to as a “bear” because he believed stock prices would fall. From that moment on, “beware of bear” became a family joke among the Kennedys. This photo is probably from 1958, around the time of Kennedy’s seventieth birthday.

January 21, 1961: The president and his father on the reviewing stand during the inaugural parade.

Kennedy suffered a debilitating, near fatal stroke in December 1961. For the first time in more than four decades, he and Rose would spend more time together than apart.

September 7, 1963: An early celebration of Kennedy’s seventy-fifth birthday in Hyannis Port. Jacqueline Kennedy sits next to Kennedy. Standing, from left to right, are Sargent Shriver, Stephen Smith, Ethel Kennedy, John Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith, Rose Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Pat Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and Joan Kennedy.

August 1963: The president and his father at Hyannis Port. No matter how busy the president and the attorney general might be, they found time to fly from Washington to Hyannis Port or Palm Beach to spend time with their father. President Kennedy would be assassinated in November.