at the home of Lady Astor and form an instant friendship. Lindbergh is a Nazi sympathizer, and friendly with Hitler. Regarding the brewing war in Europe, Joe declares, “For the life of me I cannot see anything involved which could be remotely considered worth shedding blood for,” and blames the Jews for instigating the Nazi persecution, bluntly stating to his aide Harvey Klemmer, “They brought it on themselves.”
The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, also favors appeasement, and in September 1938 signs the Munich Agreement, which paves the way for Hitler to invade Czechoslovakia. “I believe it is peace for our time,” Chamberlain optimistically declares.
But peace ends on September 3, 1939, when Hitler marches into Poland and England declares war on Germany.
When Joe calls FDR with the news, his voice is trembling. “It’s the end of the world. The end of everything,” he says, and asks to come back to Washington. Roosevelt forbids any such acknowledgment of American fear.
Nevertheless, Joe surreptitiously sends his family home immediately—taking precaution to book them on separate travel accommodations. Rose, Kick (age nineteen), Eunice (eighteen), and Bobby (thirteen), set out on September 12, 1939, aboard the SS Washington, crowded with nearly fifteen hundred Americans fleeing Europe. Patricia (fifteen), Jean (eleven), and Ted (seven), board a second vessel, and Joe Jr. (twenty-four), a third. Jack (twenty-two), crosses the Atlantic by plane. Only Rosemary, who turns twenty-one that September 13, stays “out of duty to remain behind with [her] father” at a convent school in rural Hertfordshire.
With the bombing of London still a year off, and America’s entrance into the war uncertain, Joe takes bold, even reckless, action. Without consulting the State Department, he arranges a meeting with Hitler to “bring about a better understanding between the United States and Germany.” The attempt fails, effectively ending his ambassadorship, and perhaps his political career.
Yet a letter to a friend reveals how quickly Joe is able to redirect his ambitions: “I find myself more interested in what young Joe is going to do than in what I am going to do with the rest of my life.”
On the eve of the 1940 presidential election, Joe returns home, his ties to FDR severely diminished. He leans away from the president in favor of the inexperienced Republican candidate Wendell Willkie, who’d been a Democrat until 1939. But Roosevelt, who is running for an extraordinary (then constitutional) third term, needs Joe to secure the Catholic vote.
With the election set for November 5, FDR extends Joe and Rose an invitation. “Come to the White House tonight for a little family dinner,” he offers, feeding Joe’s lust for presidential power, and the promises of future endorsements.
Joe falls in line, agreeing to appear on a national radio broadcast in support of Roosevelt’s candidacy. He writes the speech in secret, revealing his words to no one.
On October 29, 1940, Joe goes on the radio and speaks of America, of politics, and, finally, of his family. “After all, I have a great deal at stake in this country. My wife and I have given nine hostages to fortune. Our children and your children are more important than anything else in the world.”
His popular ideas turn out the vote. Roosevelt is elected for a third term. At age fifty-six, Joe will see the president win a fourth term, too.
Nine hostages to fortune. How darkly prophetic a father’s words would prove for his children.
PART TWO
The Two Roses
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy and
Rose Marie “Rosemary” Kennedy
Chapter 5
Public life starts early for the woman who will become the matriarch of the Kennedy political dynasty.
With her long black hair, petite figure, and perfect posture, Rose Elizabeth is a familiar sight at campaign events for her father, John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald. Young Rose has lost count how many times she’s accompanied her gregarious father on the piano. At weddings, wakes, or before the first pitch at the new Fenway Park, “Honey Fitz” plays to the crowds with his signature song, “Sweet Adeline.” By the time he is elected the first Irish American mayor of Boston in 1906, the year after Rose graduates from Dorchester High School, he has already served three terms in the US Congress.
Though devoutly Catholic, Rose rejects the domesticity of her shy mother, Mary Josephine, or “Josie.” “I was crazy about traveling,” Rose recalls. (Her son Jack will grow to deeply resent her frequent absences, though his youthful anger—“Gee, you’re a great mother to go away and leave your children alone”—morphs into adult bitterness: “She was on her knees in churches all over