Joseph P. Kennedy Quotes
If I am called an appeaser because I oppose the country’s entry into the present war, I gladly accept the title.
The elder Kennedy was an admirer of Hitler and Fascism and was convinced that democracy was finished in England. As the U. S. Ambassador to England, his views—see also {610124} and {610122}—destroyed his own political career in the United States, and he thereafter kept a low profile and maintained his political aspirations through his children.
Joseph P. Kennedy, 1888-1969, U. S. Ambassador to Great Britain (Democrat), Chairman, Securities & Exchange Commission, Father of President John F. Kennedy, Press Conference Statement before the U. S. entered WW II
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Kennedy was an apologist for Hitler and reported to the State Department and President Roosevelt that England would quickly fall to the Germans.
Kennedy was an admirer of Hitler and convinced that democracy was finished in England. His views—see also {610121} and {610122}—destroyed his own political career in the United States, and he thereafter maintained his political aspirations through his children.
Precursor to CIA. WWII had begun in Europe and England was under great pressure as Hitler threatened invasion and the German military had been successful everywhere they tried to invade. FDR had received an intelligence report and advice from our Ambassador to England, Joseph P. Kennedy (JFK’s father). He told the military, the State Department, and the President that England was finished—that they would not be able to stave off the coming German invasion. He predicted that Germany would set up a puppet state. Any help America could supply would not only be wasted but if material, would fall into the hands of the Nazis and be used against us. {610109} The military attaches attached to our Embassy in England generally agreed. However, the President knew that not only did Kennedy dislike Winston Churchill {613151}, but he had been an admirer not only of German Fascism, but Hitler in particular. Kennedy ran around with some of the wealthy, aristocratic English Fascists who were advocating a negotiated surrender to prevent English civilian casualties. So FDR sent his friend, Donavan, to make an independent Assessment. Donovan had served as an officer in WWI and had earned the Medal of Honor. This quotation was the summary of Donovan’s recommendation. Based on Donovan’s report, and other information, the president had gathered and his geopolitical judgment, FDR provided aid to England (Lend Lease) and fired Kennedy, who had disliked Roosevelt before and this turned to hate and became a vendetta for Kennedy thereafter, especially when his oldest son Joe volunteered to serve in the war, that the Ambassador had so viciously opposed, {610121} and then was killed while carrying out a very dangerous volunteer mission. {616651}.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Kennedy family.
