JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 2002
P. J. KENNEDY IS DELEGATE TO 1900 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
Kansas City, Missouri (JFK+50) President John F. Kennedy's paternal grandfather, Patrick Joseph Kennedy*, representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, arrived here in Kansas City as delegate of the Democratic National Convention 116 years ago today, July 6, 1900.
This marked the third time Mr. Kennedy had served as a delegate at a national convention. P.J. Kennedy was known as a politician who was always willing to help constituents in need.
"Everyone who ran for political office would get $50 or $75 from P.J...."
Unfortunately, PJ's generosity did not do him any favors when he ran for Street Commissioner in 1908. His defeat hit him and particularly his son, Joe, JFK's father, very hard.
Doris Kearns Goodwin writes that the lesson young Joe Kennedy learned from this experience was to "stay out of politics."
William Jennings Bryan and Adali E. Stevenson were selected as the Democratic Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominees of 1900.
*Patrick Joseph Kennedy (1858-1929) was the 5th child of Patrick and Bridget Murphy Kennedy, immigrants from New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland. PJ attended Boston College and by the age of 30 established a successful liquor-importing business.
SOURCE
"The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, An American Saga," by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1987.
P.J. Kennedy
P. J. KENNEDY IS DELEGATE TO 1900 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
Kansas City, Missouri (JFK+50) President John F. Kennedy's paternal grandfather, Patrick Joseph Kennedy*, representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, arrived here in Kansas City as delegate of the Democratic National Convention 116 years ago today, July 6, 1900.
This marked the third time Mr. Kennedy had served as a delegate at a national convention. P.J. Kennedy was known as a politician who was always willing to help constituents in need.
"Everyone who ran for political office would get $50 or $75 from P.J...."
Unfortunately, PJ's generosity did not do him any favors when he ran for Street Commissioner in 1908. His defeat hit him and particularly his son, Joe, JFK's father, very hard.
Doris Kearns Goodwin writes that the lesson young Joe Kennedy learned from this experience was to "stay out of politics."
William Jennings Bryan and Adali E. Stevenson were selected as the Democratic Presidential and Vice-Presidential nominees of 1900.
*Patrick Joseph Kennedy (1858-1929) was the 5th child of Patrick and Bridget Murphy Kennedy, immigrants from New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland. PJ attended Boston College and by the age of 30 established a successful liquor-importing business.
PJ served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1884-1889) and the State Senate (1889-1895).
SOURCE
"The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, An American Saga," by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1987.
P.J. Kennedy
JFK Library Photo
