Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr.

The founder of the Kennedy political dynasty, an industrialist who used his immense wealth to propel his sons into the political arena. He built a vast fortune through Wall Street investments, the movie industry, and the liquor business, going on to serve as the inaugural SEC Chairman and Ambassador to the UK. Although he stepped back from the political limelight after supporting Britain's appeasement policy toward Germany on the eve of World War II, he ruled strictly as patriarch at home—an indomitable fixer who successfully realized his ambition of "making his son president" through JFK's election.

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