Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. (September 6, 1888 - November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician known for his high-profile positions in United States politics. Kennedy was married to Rose Kennedy, and three of their nine children attained distinguished political positions: President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968), and longtime Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy (1932-2009). He was a leading member of the Democratic Party and of the Irish Catholic community.

After Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1912 with an A.B. in economics, he took his first job as a state-employed bank examiner; this allowed him to learn a great deal about the banking industry. In 1913, the Columbia Trust Bank, in which his father held a significant share, was under threat of takeover. Kennedy borrowed $45,000 ($1,114,242 today) from family and friends and bought back control. At age 25, he was rewarded by being elected the bank's president. Kennedy told the press he was "the youngest" bank president in America.  Kennedy emerged as a highly successful entrepreneur who had an eye for value. For example, he was real estate investor who turned a handsome profit from ownership of Old Colony Realty Associates, Inc., which bought distressed real estate.  During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson asked the Intercontinental Rubber Company--owned by Bernard Baruch, J. P. Morgan and Kennedy--to grow guayule. Guayule is a plant that produces latex that can be used to make rubber. Many feared the German navy might blockade rubber shipments from Asia. As a result, Intercontinental established the Continental Farm and the little town of Continental in southeastern Arizona in 1916. The guayule growing operations didn't last and in 1922 the Continental Farm was sold to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who rented the fields to cotton farmers for several years.  Although he was skeptical of American involvement in the war, Kennedy sought to participate in war-time production as an assistant general manager of a major Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. There he oversaw the production of transports and warships. Through this job, he became acquainted with Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

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