JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 2046
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY ENDORSES FDR IN 1936The front and back covers of the paperback depict a ballot with the name Franklin D. Roosevelt along with a penciled in "X" next to it. The cover also includes these words...
"Here a financier of national reputation, the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, looks dispassionately at the national balance sheet and gives a forceful answer to numerous business friends who are asking, 'How can you possibly support Roosevelt?' His conclusions, based on facts and statistics...will be a revelation to citizens of every political persuasion."
The title of Chapter 1 is "In Which the Father of Nine Children Explains What He Thinks the Election Means to Them." Joe Kennedy describes FDR as "courageous, clear-headed (and) inspiring" in transforming the Nation from one of despair to one of hope. He also writes that FDR not only saved the country, he also reconditioned it "to ride out the storms of the future."
In the conclusion, Mr. Kennedy adds...
"My faith in Roosevelt and my belief in the ultimate triumph and broad benefit of his principles is much affected by my position as a father of a large family. Out of a chaotic condition...our nation has become...relatively prosperous and harmonious..."
David Wineberg, in his review of Michael Beschloss's "Kennedy and Roosevelt: The Uneasy Alliance," writes...
"Roosevelt was in it for the game. He lived to manipulate people and events. Kennedy was in it to promote his own family...and conserve the fortune he had made...that they could work together so well for such a long stretch was remarkable."
On November 3, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected by an electoral margin of 523-8. The Republican, Alf Landon of Kansas, carried only two states, Maine and Vermont. Democrats corrupted the long standing GOP slogan "As goes Maine, so goes the Nation" to "As goes Maine, so goes Vermont."
SOURCES
"Center For Education and Leadership," http://www.fords.org/home/plan-your-visit/daytime-visits-fords-theatre/center-education-and-leadership
"I'm For Roosevelt," by Joseph P. Kennedy, Reynal and Hitchcock, New York, 1936
"The Overthinker and the Manipulator," by David Wineberg, August 11, 2016, a review of "Kennedy and Roosevelt: The Uneasy Alliance," by Michael R. Beschloss, www.amazon.com/
"I'm for Roosevelt"
JFK+50's personal copy
Photo by John White (2016)
FDR Statue
Center For Education & Leadership
Leadership Gallery
Washington, D.C.
Photo by John White (2016)
