The Kennedy family represents the closest thing America has to a royal family. They are attractive, intelligent, eloquent public speakers, and wealthy. Their public image, however, is only that, an image. Behind all the glamour, there exists some real mental issues that this family has refused to deal with. The nine children of Joseph and Rose Kennedy grew up with a domineering father who demanded perfection from his boys, sometimes just ignoring the girls altogether. Joe Sr. wanted power, and if he could not have power personally, then he would put his boys into positions of power. He would achieve his own personal goals through his children, he would live his life through them.
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In this family, failure was not an option. Joe had already mapped out the future for his sons, so they were never really able to find out who they were as individuals. This is a family who wanted power for power's sake, they were not all that interested in helping others. "Kennedyism" not patriotism defined this family. Joe Jr. was the chosen son, the favored son, the son who was going to occupy the White House, but his death in World War 2 meant that Jack would have to assume the role that Joe Sr. had created for Joe Jr., that of "future president".
The review of this Book prepared by Nathaniel Ford
