Valuetainment - Joseph P. Kennedy Sr - The Man Who Almost Ruled the World

00:00:00.000 Any family that builds a last thing that the world knows about, you'll typically find somebody

00:00:04.200 all the way at the top that's got a few screws missing. A little bit crazy, wired, maybe a bit

00:00:08.300 of a temper, maybe ambitious, maybe they think very highly of themselves. And Joseph Kennedy

00:00:12.380 qualifies as one of those people. And when you hear about what this man did, let me just give

00:00:16.040 you an example. At 25 years old, this guy decides to nominate himself to be the bank president,

00:00:20.280 youngest ever to do it because they didn't want him to become one of those powerful bankers

00:00:23.820 because he was a Catholic. He did it himself. He ends up becoming friends with FDR. They become

00:00:27.400 so close to each other that eventually he convinces FDR to make him the ambassador to

00:00:31.940 UK. I remember when I'm getting my Series 7 license in LA, they told me, you know who

00:00:35.960 was the founder of SEC? A man named Joseph Kennedy. He convinced FDR that if I help you get the

00:00:40.520 new deal done, you announce that I'm the commissioner of SEC moving forward. Boom, gets done. He's

00:00:45.220 the first SEC. By the way, when they allowed for alcohol to be sold in America, you know

00:00:50.420 who got the first license to sell liquor? Who do you think? Joseph Kennedy. And aside from

00:00:54.500 that, you know how you judge a great last name, a great family legacy? When you duplicate

00:00:58.920 the most people who move up in rankings in politics, business, media. Watch how many people

00:01:04.420 with the last name Kennedy moved up to the highest ranks of politics. Ready? John F. Kennedy,

00:01:08.400 youngest son, becomes a president. Robert F. Kennedy, his son, becomes the attorney general.

00:01:12.700 And if it wasn't for him getting assassinated, he would have also been a president. Teddy Kennedy,

00:01:16.840 his other son, becomes a senator for nearly 46 years. One of his grandsons, the son of RFK

00:01:22.200 senior, Joseph Kennedy II, becomes a congressman. And Joseph Kennedy II has a son called Joseph

00:01:28.120 Kennedy III that also becomes a congressman. Patrick Kennedy, the son of Ted Kennedy, also

00:01:33.180 ends up becoming a congressman. And by the way, I can say a million other things about

00:01:36.160 him. We're going to talk about him here today. This guy was worth $500 million in the 1950s

00:01:40.000 and decided to become one of the most powerful last names ever. Some will say the most famous

00:01:44.180 last name America's ever had. Today, we're going to learn about Joseph Kennedy.

00:01:48.960 If you get value out of this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel. To learn

00:02:00.780 who Joseph Kennedy is, you have to learn about his grandparents. So, Joseph Kennedy's grandparents

00:02:06.080 immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland during the potato famine. They traveled here on what was called

00:02:10.740 a coffin ship because of how many people died during the trip. It was said that sharks were constantly

00:02:16.000 following these boats because of how many dead bodies were thrown overboard. Joseph's grandfather

00:02:21.460 got a job as a dock worker at the Boston Harbor. They have two daughters and one son named PJ. Shortly

00:02:27.620 after the father dies from illness, and the Kennedy name is held by one male who is an infant to a poor

00:02:32.780 single mother and the youngest of three children. So, the Kennedy last name could have been like this

00:02:37.560 close from never existing because imagine a single mother, three kids, he's got a son named PJ, father

00:02:42.260 dies. What do you do here? This is when everything turns around because the mother takes out a loan

00:02:47.660 to start a small grocery shop and is able to make a decent living. Meanwhile, PJ works on the docks from

00:02:53.140 a young age and works at the local saloon. By working at the saloons, he starts to become friends with

00:02:57.560 local politicians and realizes these are great places to network with influential people. When PJ turns

00:03:03.040 18, he asks his mother for a loan to start his own saloon. PJ achieves major inroads with the Boston

00:03:08.060 politicians and eventually gets elected to Massachusetts House of Representatives. PJ

00:03:12.220 obtains an upper middle class living and has four children. His only son is called Joseph Kennedy.

00:03:17.720 Few things we need to know about Joseph Kennedy that, you know, if you haven't read about him, he

00:03:20.920 would be always angry if people claim that he came from a wealthy family. You are where you are because

00:03:26.240 your family last name, PJ, and what they did and all this stuff, he always wanted to kind of be like,

00:03:30.020 no, I did it myself. I'm self-made. No one helped me out. It was all me. He didn't want to do that,

00:03:33.480 right? At the young age, especially when coming up. He was determined to make a name for

00:03:36.680 himself and get out from underneath his father's shadow. So Joe gets into Harvard with poor grades

00:03:41.160 because of his father's connection. Didn't like it. After graduating, Joe decides to go into banking.

00:03:46.020 He said banking can take a man anywhere because it's involved in all things. Initially, Joe has a

00:03:51.680 difficult time finding employment at a bank because Irish Catholics were discriminated against. But by 1912,

00:03:58.000 Joe decides to become a state bank examiner instead and figures that it will allow him to meet bank

00:04:03.340 managers and impress them with his knowledge. During this time, Joe extensively learns how banks

00:04:08.020 and everything related to finances work. Roughly a year after he started the job, he learned that a

00:04:12.560 small bank that his father was a major shareholder in was about to undergo a hostile takeover called

00:04:18.120 Columbia Trust Bank. Joe contacts all of his friends and family members asking him for a loan to help

00:04:23.060 him buy back the bank. The money he borrowed combined with his father's shares was enough to make it

00:04:27.540 happen. So by 1914, at the age of 25, Joe Kennedy names himself the president of Columbia Trust Bank,

00:04:35.620 declaring himself the youngest bank president alive to the local newspaper. Within just a few months, Joe

00:04:41.220 increases the bank profitability by 20%. Now that Joe had a bank, he was able to loan himself money to buy

00:04:46.180 stocks and real estate. He does very well at first, but lost all of his gains when the Lusitania was sunk and war became

00:04:52.120 imminent for the U.S. This made Joe much more cautious in his investing strategy. Joseph becomes

00:04:57.420 manager of Hayden Stone Investment Bank. He was making good money, but quickly realized that the

00:05:01.660 way to make real good money was to become an expert in an industry, start a business, and then sell it. He

00:05:06.480 learned that because his bosses, Hayden and Stone, did that with industries like oil and steel. So Joe was

00:05:11.900 determined to find an industry to follow this business model. So by 1923, he starts a business offering

00:05:17.400 banking services to clients and managing their money. By 1926, Joe makes himself $2 million, largely because

00:05:23.540 he was very good at finding ways to benefit from the highly unregulated stock market. Then comes Hollywood

00:05:28.440 because in 1926, he decides it's time to take his big risk. He puts aside a million dollars for his

00:05:33.980 family and uses $1 million to buy Film Booking Offices of America, FBO. He believed Hollywood was the

00:05:40.820 place to be if you wanted to build a highly profitable movie business. Joe moves to Hollywood and starts

00:05:44.920 rearranging the finances of the company. He cuts costs and puts together a model where FBO would

00:05:49.680 produce cheap Western cowboy movies quickly. This genre was very popular and profitable. He focused

00:05:54.940 on distributing his films to small theaters. After one year, the market becomes oversaturated with this

00:05:59.640 model, and Joe decides the new way to be profitable is to cast a star with a well-known script writer.

00:06:05.340 Joe targets Gloria Swanson, who was the most famous actress in Hollywood at the time. She was in

00:06:10.060 financial trouble, and they made a deal where he would manage her finances if she agreed to be in

00:06:14.820 his movies. Joe has an infamous affair with Swanson. He puts together a company called Gloria Productions

00:06:20.220 and to produce her films, and unbeknownst to her, every time he bought her a gift or he redecorated

00:06:25.660 her studio bungalow, he charged it to her. That's kind of like she would come up and say,

00:06:29.720 babe, you're so sweet. Look what you're doing. This is so amazing. Oh, don't worry. I love you,

00:06:32.940 and all this stuff. But the reality is Gloria was paying for the whole thing the entire time.

00:06:36.540 1928, Joe arranged a merger with the powerhouse Radio Keith Orpheum RKO and sold his FBO stock for

00:06:42.640 $5 million. Joe sold all of his stock in July of 1929 and shorted the market. The Great Depression

00:06:47.780 started two months later. Joe started putting his money into real estate. Joe was very rich at this

00:06:52.660 time, but he was becoming increasingly concerned with the social instability in America and believed

00:06:57.120 FDR was the only presidential candidate who could get the American economy back on track. So he becomes

00:07:02.060 a major donor and personal friend of FDR and is considered a significant player in helping FDR get

00:07:07.160 elected. Joe was under the belief that he would receive a prominent political position for helping

00:07:11.220 FDR win, but gets the cold shoulder for several months. FDR did not want to seem too close with Joe

00:07:16.160 because he had a reputation as a stock manipulator. And by the way, I want you to think about it. You

00:07:19.980 ever seen the movie Wolf of Wall Street with the whole story of Jordan Belfort, right? Imagine Jordan

00:07:23.800 Belfort. He did what he did when regulation was here and it was high. What would a Jordan Belfort look like

00:07:28.600 in the 20s? Think Joseph Kennedy, think Jordan Belfort, but think low regulation. What kind of

00:07:34.520 money can be made in an environment like that? Think about that. That's the era he was a part of

00:07:39.340 so he can get away with murder when he comes out to finances. In 1933, to appease Joe, FDR allowed

00:07:45.260 Joe to be the first in line to be granted a liquor import license. When the prohibition was lifted,

00:07:50.460 Joe started a company called Somerset Importers, which was the exclusive importer for Hague Scotch

00:07:55.500 whiskey and served as a cash cow for decades. But Joe was not satisfied. He wanted to be the

00:08:00.140 chairman of the newly formed SEC. At first, FDR laughed at the idea, but FDR was having a difficult

00:08:05.060 time getting his New Deal legislation passed. FDR was put in a position where he needed Joe's help

00:08:09.460 to persuade the Republicans that the legislation would not destroy business. Joe was a Democrat,

00:08:13.980 but he was widely respected as somebody who deeply understood business and the market kind of like

00:08:18.280 a modern day Jamie Dimon. FDR and Joe came to an understanding where Joe would get the position

00:08:22.700 if the New Deal was passed. By 1934, the New Deal passed, and guess what happened to Joseph

00:08:27.500 Kennedy? He was officially the first SEC chairman. The media freaked out, saying it was like setting

00:08:32.240 a wolf to guard a flock of sheep. And FDR said, it takes a thief to catch a thief. It's kind of like

00:08:38.360 the movie Catch Me If You Can with Frank Abigail. Remember how he was able to manipulate and steal

00:08:42.160 money and eventually ended up getting a job to catch the bad guys because he's like, nobody knows how

00:08:45.520 to do this better than me. That's kind of what he's saying. It takes a thief to catch a thief.

00:08:49.020 Joe outlawed all of the practices he used to make money in the stock market.

00:08:52.540 Many of these laws are in place today. So think about it. Everything he did to make all his money

00:08:56.880 officially was illegal, but he had the advantage to make it. And then he says, hey, everybody wants

00:09:01.940 to compete with me. You can no longer do this. By 1936, Joe is so powerful that FDR needs his help

00:09:07.420 to get reelected. And by this time, Joe had massive influence over the media because he has the most

00:09:11.600 powerful journalist in America on his payroll, Arthur Kroc, and was close with William Randolph Hearst.

00:09:16.480 Joe helps FDR win again with his financial and media influence, but in return wants to be either

00:09:21.280 treasury secretary or ambassador to the UK, a position that several former presidents held.

00:09:26.220 Prior to giving Joe the position he wanted, FDR assigned him to a position that he needed him

00:09:30.680 to win. Joe was made the chair of the United States Maritime Commission with the assignment

00:09:35.280 of increasing the fortune of the United States shipping industry. The biggest problem was the

00:09:38.880 uncomplined union members on these ships, but Joe tells the ship captain to have them arrested.

00:09:42.680 So Joe succeeds in making the industry profitable and getting the unions under control. By 1937, he becomes the

00:09:49.100 ambassador to the UK instantaneously as Joe takes his position and moves to the UK. Germany starts

00:09:54.640 taking over territories. Joe is extremely anti-interventionist and constantly speaks on the

00:09:59.140 behalf of the US saying that it would not intervene. Joe puts a lot of effort into persuading Chamberlain

00:10:03.940 to stay out of the conflict and he openly stated that Berlin would fall and Germany was likely to win

00:10:08.800 the war. He thought that America should withdraw support to Britain. Joe even attempted to backchannel

00:10:13.880 with the Nazis behind FDR's back trying to make a deal where they stopped pushing forward after taking a 0.51

00:10:19.420 certain amount of territory. After Chamberlain resigned and the US entered the war, Joe was

00:10:23.820 forced to resign. Joe was widely considered a front-runner to be the next president of the

00:10:28.520 United States, but this miscalculation destroyed his political career. Joe's biggest fear later

00:10:33.440 came true when his two oldest sons joined the army eager to fight in the war. John was the commander of

00:10:38.840 torpedo boat PT-109. The boat sank after being ran by a Japanese ship and blanket straight in North

00:10:44.940 Solomon Islands. JFK was awarded a Purple Heart for his bravery in saving crew members. Joe made sure

00:10:50.680 was widely covered in the media and had a movie made about it. Now Joe's oldest son, Joe Jr., was now

00:10:56.780 used to being outshined by John, his youngest brother, and started accepting the riskiest missions

00:11:02.260 possible to try to regain the spotlight. This eventually led him to being killed when he was flying a plane

00:11:07.900 loaded with explosive where the mission was to eject from the plane and let it fly into German

00:11:12.640 bunkers. The explosive were not wired properly and detonated prematurely. This crushed Joe because

00:11:18.320 Joe Jr. was his favorite son and he had intentions of making him the president. By 1946, Joe said to

00:11:24.100 John F. Kennedy, his youngest son, Joe's dad, so you have to run for Congress. Joe went on to channel

00:11:28.660 all of his political ambitions through John F. Kennedy. At the same time, he bought the Chicago

00:11:32.500 Merchant Martin in 1946 to serve as the new cash guy. He bought it for $13 million, which later on in

00:11:37.380 1998 sold for $625 million. Today, it's worth roughly $1.7 billion. He made it instantly profitable

00:11:44.240 by renting the vendor's boots to merchants and hosting big events. In 1947, John F. Kennedy won

00:11:49.640 the Democratic primary for the 11th congressional district in Boston, Massachusetts, where he served

00:11:53.860 until 1953. Joe strategically waited until the popular Eisenhower was out of the office until going

00:11:59.680 for the presidency. In 1960, Joe made a deal with Chicago mobster Sam Giacana that he would get his son,

00:12:05.560 Bobby, to stop prosecuting the mafia if they helped JFK win Illinois. JFK wins and Joe forces JFK to make

00:12:12.420 Bobby the attorney general. Bobby goes after the mafia with the full force of the DOJ and the brothers

00:12:17.120 managed to upset several of the most powerful institutions in the world. Ended up costing both

00:12:23.100 of their lives. So at this point, the Kennedy family may be the most powerful family in the world

00:12:26.920 because the father is, in some estimation, he was the fifth richest man in the world, Joseph Kennedy.

00:12:31.540 His youngest son is a president. His other son, RFK, is the attorney general. They have so much

00:12:36.400 power, so much influence. But then nine months after his son gets elected, he has a stroke. And

00:12:41.720 then all of a sudden, RFK pushes the envelope a little bit too much with the mob. His brother,

00:12:47.180 John F. Kennedy, gets assassinated. Some blame CIA, some blame the mob. There's a lot of,

00:12:50.940 you know, speculation with LBJ being involved, whatever it may be. John F. Kennedy gets assassinated.

00:12:55.160 And then when RFK is running, he gets assassinated. Joseph, the patriarch, witnesses four of his 0.78

00:13:00.660 kids die before he dies in 1969. His oldest son, which he wanted to be president, Joseph. His

00:13:06.020 youngest son, John F. Kennedy. His other son, RFK. His daughter, Kathleen, dies in 1969. His wife ends

00:13:13.100 up living till 104 years old. But the Kennedy last name till today is recognized as being one of the

00:13:19.340 most powerful, if not the most powerful last name in the history of America. So, you know, when somebody

00:13:23.540 listens to this, you know, the average person may say, oh, are you kidding me? I would never want to

00:13:27.200 live that life and never would want to go through. Of course, the average person is going to say that,

00:13:31.180 but do you think he knew that was going to be taking place? This was a man that had plans of

00:13:35.320 having his three sons become presidents back to back to back. When they were kids, they would have

00:13:39.980 dinner. We said, who's going to be the president first? There was a certain feeling and vibe he gave

00:13:43.480 to his kids to believe that they were capable of doing something like this. So imagine, what if the

00:13:47.180 stroke doesn't happen? Is he able to stay in the ears of his kids to help them make better

00:13:50.500 decision? Would he have told Robert to not push as hard, keep your promises, step back a little bit,

00:13:56.760 you're being a little too aggressive? Would that feedback may have changed if he doesn't have the

00:14:00.900 stroke? Is John F. Kennedy able to live a longer life? Is Robert able to live a longer life? What

00:14:05.820 happens to this family? Would the elites and the establishment allow them to have like almost like

00:14:10.480 a nepotism or monarchy family where Kennedys are running America? Would that be good for America?

00:14:15.220 Would it not be? Nobody knows. But this is history. And when somebody in any family you look at,

00:14:20.240 that ends up becoming a family that you read about, we read about, you will always, going back

00:14:24.140 to my first point, find somebody who was super ambitious, super driven, who had a clear vision

00:14:29.060 for the family, who had a drive, maybe a little bit of a chip, couple screws missing, and he was

00:14:33.060 just not willing to slow down. He or she was not willing to slow down and be relentless. And this

00:14:37.000 man definitely qualifies as someone like that. If you got value at this video, give it a thumbs up

00:14:41.060 and subscribe to the channel. And I got another video titled, Why Non-Establishment Presidents Get

00:14:47.460 Killed. If you've never seen this before, click here to watch it. Take care, everybody. Bye-bye,

00:14:50.340 bye-bye.

Valuetainment - March 06, 2024

Joseph P. Kennedy Sr - The Man Who Almost Ruled the World

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