>>>http://nationalinterest.org/bookreview/the-peculiar-life-joseph-kennedy-7630
>>>
>>>Thought it might interest you - I believe you're a student of that era.
>>
>>Very interesting, and I am tempted to read Nasaw's book if only to see the details of "Nasaw also disposes of the malicious canard that Kennedy was a bootlegger during Prohibition. But like many others, Kennedy foresaw the end of the Prohibition folly, which effectively delivered one of the country’s greatest industries into the hands of organized crime. He secured large stocks of premium Scotch and exclusive importing arrangements, founded Somerset Importers and collected huge profits." It is my understanding that in partnership with Frank Costello and Zwingy Longman a good deal of that "importing" from Canada took place before 1933 <g>
>
>You clearly have more interest in that timeframe in the US than me -
>I had noted your clear assuredness of "clear, somewhat active association"
>of Ken. senior to shady side of prohibition.
>
>My take on that topic was that he may have bankrolled some people or operations,
>but taking care to be as innocent as any Goldman exec is today after selling
>remixed junk, betting against their customers or doing other stuff where
>legality largely depends on who is judging after being talked to.
>
>Somewhere in between the article and your take on things
>
>Not researched or studied - mostly soaked up talking to US citizens,
>somewhat corrected for estimated knowledge/interest,
>early seventies till middle eighties, myself being less cynical than today,
>but more than my age group back then.

I don't think he unloaded boats or used a Tommy gun on his rivals <bg> The analogy to Goldman execs is probably pretty good ( Obama's largest contributors in 2008 )

Joe Kennedy had business dealing with the people you had to deal with in the movie business if you didn't want labor strife etc. and he bought the Merchandise Mart in Chicago where you didn't buy gum without kicking up to those who got a taste of everything. In all this he was in no way unique in his profession and class.

But remember when Joe Kennedy married Rose her father, Honey Fitz was mayor of Boston and it was prohibition and Frank Costello was running booze in Boston and funding the mayor. Joe Kennedy got a bank as a start. According to Gore Vidal - a nasty gossip but Jackie Kennedy's cousin and somebody who had known the Kennedys all his life - Joe and Frank were still having dinner together at Joe's apartment on Central Park West after Costello retired and while JFK was in the White House. And the connection with the Chicago mob - notably Sam Giancana - is pretty much public record.

This is kind of fun. Jerry Brown interviewing Gore Vidal in 1996

http://www.wtp.org/archive/transcripts/gore_vidal.html

but this is hardly single source. The Judith Cambell Exner thing is old news and the story of the West Virginia primary etc was known by Nixon's people in the early 70s.

Like all gossip depending on the author or source it goes off to salacious and even lunatic extremes. But muck-rakers like Seymour Hersch have been publicising Kennedy stuff for decades. Dark Side of Camelot is a flawed mess, but there are nuggets among the gossip that ring true, especially when the source is not the infamous "Marilyn Papers" that were probably forgeries.

More interesting - and telling in light of later events - are the stories of Ellen Rometsch - very likely an East German spy - and Mary Pinchot Meyer - ex wife of Cord Meyer of CIA. The later was murdered on the towpath trail in DC in 64 and the next day both Ben Bradlee and James Jesus Angleton were searching her apartment for her diary ( I believe Bradlee got it ) .

There is a lot of that history that is really quite fascinating and while not a Unified Field Theory of Reality <g> does make some things make more sense.