Voting Station

Joseph P. Kennedy

Please vote to return to collections.

Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (September 6, 1888-November 18, 1969)
    Manager of Hayden, Stone and Company (1919-1924)
    Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission (1934-1935)
    U.S. Ambassador to Britain (1938-1940)
    Patriarch of the famous Kennedy family
    Father of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Edward Kennedy

Why he might be annoying:

    There are numerous rumors and stories about things he did to promote and further his family's interests (such as buying 40,000 copies of his son's book to make it a best seller).
    Many biographies portray him as being greedy, manipulative, conniving, deceitful, and cruel.
    He had nine children.
    He made his daughter Rosemary undergo a prefrontal lobotomy, which failed and resulted in her being institutionalized for the rest of her life.
    He was a notorious adulterer (maybe that's where his sons got it from).
    Part of his fortune came from manipulating the stock-exchange, a legal practice that contributed to the stock market crash in 1929.
    It is alleged that he illegally imported and sold liquor during prohibition.
    He supported appeasement with Adolf Hitler and American isolationism as the only way to avoid Nazi conquest. These views helped end his political career.
    He was quoted as saying: 'Roosevelt is run by the Jews and all the anti-fascist sentiment in the United States is largely created by the Jews who run the press.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He graduated from Harvard University.
    Because of prejudice in college against his Irish Catholic background, he was driven to succeed and show-up his WASP rivals.
    He was a bank president by age 25 and a multimillionaire by age 30.
    He created million-dollar trust funds for all of his children.
    He was a skilled and shrewd businessman, venturing into ship construction, banking, investments, real estate, alcohol importing, and film production.
    When he became chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, he outlawed the same stock-exchange loopholes that helped him become rich.
    Four of his children died under tragic circumstances.
    He suffered from a series of strokes that left him disabled and unable to speak.
    He once said: 'Whenever you're sitting across from some important person, always picture him sitting there in a suit of long red underwear. That's the way I've always operated in business.'

Credit: Call me Calvin


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 799 Votes: 28.54% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 284 Votes: 44.37% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 134 Votes: 48.51% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 155 Votes: 45.16% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 563 Votes: 55.42% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 145 Votes: 61.38% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 136 Votes: 69.85% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 18 Votes: 61.11% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 66 Votes: 51.52% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 115 Votes: 55.65% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 82 Votes: 67.07% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 285 Votes: 81.05% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 515 Votes: 84.47% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 134 Votes: 70.15% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 290 Votes: 74.48% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 519 Votes: 77.26% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 1017 Votes: 80.63% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 382 Votes: 73.56% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 397 Votes: 67.51% Annoying