1900-1929: Joseph P. Kennedy

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The Kennedy family has long been a political force in United States history. Through a series of well-publicized tragedies, the family has often been the subject of books, magazines, and movies. The family's political activities and success have in no small measure been helped by the vast fortune behind the name. Today the combined Kennedy fortune is over $1 billion and is primarily held in dozens of trusts managed by Joseph Patrick Kennedy Enterprises, with assets stretching back to 1927. The proceeds earned by these accounts have taken good care of Joseph P. Kennedy's heirs in the decades since his passing. While Kennedy famously grew his financial fortunes during the Great Depression, the years before the crash served as the bedrock for his wealth. 

Joseph P. Kennedy was born and raised in East Boston, a financially depressed area home to a large immigrant community. The son of a ward boss and businessman, his family was well-respected in the large Irish immigrant community. Kennedy was a popular and active student-athlete with mediocre grades. Kennedy demonstrated an interest in banking from an early age, and while still in high school, he ran errands in one of his father's banks. Despite the lack of impressive marks, Kennedy was able to gain admittance to Harvard University in the Fall of 1908. While attending university, his entrepreneurial spirit began to show itself as Kennedy, and a group of friends pooled their finances to purchase a former sightseeing bus that they used to escort summer tourists around the city monuments. The $300 investment paid great dividends for the young businessman as he made $5,000 in just three years. But Joseph P. Kennedy earned far more on the investment than just money. When learning that the city of Boston controlled the bus routes, he went straight to the mayor to demand that his fledgling business be allowed access to pick up passengers at the railroad station, the premium spot in the city. The experience taught him that taking bold action and excluding confidence paid off. 

After graduation, he briefly worked in the family bank, but after three short months, he took and passed the state civil service exam, becoming a state bank examiner. The position came with a modest salary, but it provided him with valuable experience and knowledge of the inner workings of the banking and finance industry. Reflecting on the experience, Kennedy remarked that "the most important lesson he learned was we make a mistake when we call money hard cash. It's lively and fluid - the blood of business."

At the age of 25, he rose to president of the small local bank he helped rescue. Columbia Trust, a small independent bank, was on the verge of selling out the much larger East Boston Bank, but Kennedy wanted it to remain independent. Through his efforts, he garnered stock, loans from friends, family, and Merchants National that the bank was saved. These efforts catapulted him to head of the bank, where he was able to nurture community and business relationships that would prove fruitful long term. 

When WWI was underway, Kennedy was recommended to steel magnate and Bethlehem Steel Executive Charles M. Schwab for assistant general manager at the Fore River Shipyard. The business was booming at Fore River due to the uptick in defense contracts now that the United States had entered the war. The experience put Kennedy in contact with the then Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt. This relationship would eventually earn him an ambassadorship in the United Kingdom. However, the time at Fore River was daunting work and reignited a desire to return to the world of finance, which he did when the war ended. 

Kennedy found work and a mentor at Hayden, Stone, and Company, a major securities firm where they learned the ins and outs of investing and the stock market. Never one to miss out on an intriguing business opportunity, Kennedy became keenly interested in movie making as requests for financial backing made their way to his desk at Hayden, Stone, and Company. He saw an opportunity for massive profits if the financial hurdles of production financing could be overcome through the merger and acquisition of smaller companies. Beginning by investing some of his personal funds in Robertson-Cole/Film Booking Offices, he eventually was named to their board of directors, and by 1925 he made his offer to buy the company. As the new owner, he brought in partners and sold stock to establish the lines of credit necessary to give F.B.O. a steady financial footing.

The movie industry was big business by the mid-1920s. Under his management, Kennedy brought incorporate partners, like General Electric, and big profits, grossing over $9 million in his first year of ownership. As the industry introduced talkies into the market, profits grew even more substantial. In 1926, Kennedy relocated to Hollywood and continued to develop his holdings in the industry. He would soon find himself running a theater chain, several different studios, and amassing a fortune.

Kennedy had a knack for timing. He sold his interest in the studios like he did his stock market holdings before the Great Depression brought a drop in movie ticket sales and studio reorganization. This fortune equated to approximately $60 million in today's dollars by 1929. This wealth would serve the Kennedy family for decades to come and make them a mainstay in both cultural and political history.

  “Honorable Joseph Patrick ‘Joe’ Kennedy Sr.. Irish, Catholic, Ireland, Entrepreneur, Movie Executive, U.S. Ambassador.” Americans All. Accessed April 8, 2022. https://americansall.org/legacy-story-individual/joseph-kennedy.

     “Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.: Family Patriarch (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed April 8, 2022. https://www.nps.gov/people/joseph-p-kennedy-patriarch-of-the-kennedys.htm.

     Beauchamp, Cari. Joseph P. Kennedy Presents His Hollywood Years. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 2010.

     Schriftgiesser, Karl. “Mr. Ambassador Kennedy.” The North American Review 246 (1938). http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fmagazines%2Fmr-ambassador-kennedy%2Fdocview%2F1296788395%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D12085.

     Whalen, Richard J. “Joseph P. Kennedy: A Portrait of the Founder (Fortune Classics, 1963).” Fortune. Fortune, June 25, 2014. https://fortune.com/2011/04/10/joseph-p-kennedy-a-portrait-of-the-founder-fortune-classics-1963/.

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