than the habitual family spinmeisters and hagiographers." –Axel Madsen, author of Gloria and Joe: The Star-Crossed Love Affair of Gloria Swanson and Joe Kennedy What price glory? He is best known as the patriarch of America’s most loved, hated, and talked-about family. Long before the Kennedy name became synonymous with wealth, political idealism, and agonizing tragedy, however, Joe Kennedy was on the move. This unflinching portrait of the man who sired three major twentieth-century political figures introduces copious new information about Joseph Kennedy’s questionable financial practices, his Hollywood exploits, his tenure as ambassador to Great Britain, and his relationship with organized crime. Drawing on previously untapped sources, author Ted Schwarz provides a rare peek into Joseph Kennedy’s secret activities and public accomplishments, including: Baseball scams that Kennedy concocted as an adolescent Kennedy’s cynical manipulation of Franklin Roosevelt’s son His business dealings with Al Capone Kennedy’s very public affair with actress Gloria Swanson How he transformed Hollywood studios into product manufacturers His dismal performance as ambassador to Great Britain And much, much more

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