P. J. Kennedy

Patrick Joseph Kennedy ( born January 14, 1858 in Boston, Massachusetts, † May 18, 1929 ibid ) was an American businessman and local politician.

Life

He was born the son of Irish immigrant Patrick Kennedy and his wife, Bridget Murphy Kennedy in Boston. Since shortly after his birth, his father died and his mother had three more children, he grew up in poverty. At the age of 14 he left school and worked at the Boston docks as longshoremen ( stevedores ) to support his mother and three sisters financially. In addition, he worked as a waitress in port taverns.

Ascent as entrepreneurs

When he was 22, he bought of Money 's savings a bar, a saloon at Haymarket Square to the later was come a pub near the docks. This brought him and his family out of poverty. To beat also from the social life of the Boston Brahmin capital, he purchased a third bar, this time in the Maverick House, an upmarket hotel. He was not yet thirty when he had the means to set up an import company for whiskey, PJKennedy and Co. He became a leading figure in Boston's liquor trade. Last time was Kennedy a partner in a coal factory, a shareholder of a small Boston Bank, the Columbia Trust Company and General Importer of British whiskey Haig & Haig company.

Politician

From 1884 on, he drew political advantage of its economic success and its popularity in Boston. Patrick Joseph Kennedy was a local politician, as a member of the House of Representatives. He was five times elected to the House of Representatives, each for a term of one year. He also was a member of the Massachusetts Senate three times, each for two years. During this time, Kennedy was one of the most important leaders of the Democratic Party in Boston and was invited to hold 1888 on the national party convention in St. Louis a speech to the candidacy of Grover Cleveland as President of the United States. 1895 Kennedy left the Senate and then became part of the unofficial strategy committee of his party. They met in intimate circles and distributed offices, candidates and business patronage.

Private

In 1887 he married Mary Augusta Hickey. From this marriage Joseph Patrick Kennedy and two daughters were born. When Patrick Joseph Kennedy died in 1929, was continued to increase his wealth. With his wealth he could his wife and children offer an elegant house in Jeffries Point in East Boston. This allowed the later patriarch of the Kennedy family, Joseph P. Kennedy, a relatively carefree youth.

Literature

  • Robert Dallek: John F. Kennedy - An Unfinished Life, Munich 2003.
  • Alan Posener: John F. Kennedy, 7th Edition Hamburg 2007.
  • Robert of Rimscha: The Kennedys - gloss and tragedy of the American dream, Frankfurt am Main 2003 ( paperback edition 1st edition ).
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