According to "dad" Joe Kennedy and Hitler were bosom buddies!

[devilgrrl]

My step-dad is looking through this book of automotive history when he came a across a picture of Adolph Hitler all giddy like a little boy over a toy Volkswagen. My little niece didn't know who Hitler was and my s-dad told her. Of course I had to make a crack that Hitler was a real good buddy of the pResident's Grandpa. Then s-dad states that Joe Kennedy and Adolph were even closer! Now, I've heard of all the bootlegging stuff but never anything between Hitler. Is there any truth to that or is it more Kennedy bashing bullshit?

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Old Joe was pretty much pro-Hitler, tried to keep the US out of

the war.

That was a typical position among the more rabid wing of the Sinn Feiners. Hitler was kicking the shit out of the Brits, & the Irish were applauding. The Irish rebels also supported Franco because of his hardline Catholicism & ties to the Vatican.

[devilgrrl]

2. That's for the info...

I did not know that.

:blush:

[Cleita]

20. I knew a German man years ago, whose father was a Lufftewaffe.

(I hope I spelled that right). He was shot down in the Irish sea and rescued by Irish fisherman. The Irish, who were neutral in WWII, let him stay there until the end of the war. He was allowed to attend Trinity College and graduated from there. He thought highly of the Irish and passed that along to his son. Also, it seems that many German POWs were shipped to Ireland by the British because they didn't want to deal with the problem (Geneva and all).

[Cleita]

21. ....

[Jackpine Radical]

28. (My Arte Johnson voice): Verrry interesting.

Luftwaffe, BTW.

[Cleita]

29. danke shoon.

I know I didn't spell that right either. :-)

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

3. Also Ford sold vehicles to them. Had plants there.

[nealmhughes]

4. Let's just say I doubt Claude Pepper got invited to dine with Joe very often...

Joe Kennedy was part of the Lords Halifax and Beaverbrook crowd pre-war.

Remember the Easter Rebellion 1916? The Irish Nationalists chose the timing due to the war against Germany going on then. Ireland maintained a strict neutrality (on paper) during WWII, along with the Swiss and Portugal and Turkey and Sweden.

Charles Lindberg, Henry Ford, Edward VIII and a lot of other folks were Hitler fans in the 30s.

[theHandpuppet]

5. Old Joe's anti-semitism isn't a secret

For a short overview, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy,_Sr.

[Turbineguy]

6. Hitler had a lot of admirers

to many, what he did in Germany was nothing short of a miracle. At least before 1939. Of course having Joseph Goebels in charge of putting out the "facts" helped.

[sarge43]

7. Hitler was also admired and supported because his anti-

communist stance. Many, especially capitalists, saw him as bulwark between them and the Red Menace. Old Joe might not have been tight with Hitler, but he certainly wasn't anti-Hitler.

[Straight Shooter]

8. Did Joe Kennedy make as much money from Hitler's crimes as the BFEE made?

Just curious. Maybe your stepdad can answer that, after a little research. :)

[Poiuyt]

24. I thought Joe Kennedy made his money as a bootlegger

[Straight Shooter]

26. He did. He made a fortune at it. I'm asking if he also made money from Hitler.

And, if so, how much? Also, was it less or more than the BFEE made?

[dailykoff]

37. The family fortune comes from the Chicago Merchandise Mart.

which Joe bought into in the late 1930s I believe. He also invested in motion pictures (RKO) in the early '30s. I'll see if I can find some links.

[Straight Shooter]

38. Where did the capital come from to purchase the Chicago Merchanidse Mart?

Just curious. A friend of a friend (seriously) is well respected for his savvy real estate holdings. Don't ask where he got the start-up money many years ago to invest in real estate. *cough*

I didn't know Joe K. invested in RKO. That's the one with the cool logo, the "waves" coming from the transmission tower?

[Bitwit1234]

9. SO how could Joe Kennedy and Hilter be buddies.

Remember Kennedy made his money - so they say - by bringing in liquor. How would he have been that much of a millionaire to be buddies with Hitler in the thirties...and in the fourties we were at war.

You are correct history shows that Prescott Bush was the one who was Hitler's buddy, raising money and funding Nazi projects with his bank. That is why the government siezed his bank and it's assets.Then he went into oil and started to suck up to the Saudi's.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. He was US Ambassador to Britain IIRC

and the Prohibition era, when he made the big bux, was the 1920's.

[jwirr]

16. I think it was Joe's father or father-in-law who was the bootlegger.

[dailykoff]

34. They always pull this "Kennedy did it too" crap, and it's horseshit.

Joe Kennedy advised FDR against US involvement in the war and in that he was totally in step with a majority of the American populace who thought it was not our fight, and for that matter, it wasn't. Kennedy paid a huge price politically and never held another government job.

Claiming that Joe made his money illegally (doubtful), stole the 1960 election for JFK (false), etc. is just their filthy way of justifiying their crimes of treason and conspiracy, and the stupid deluded Rushbots eat it up.

[greenman3610]

10. Prescott Bush was indicted under the Trading with Enemies act

that indicates a little more than a cheerleading
relationship

[WinkyDink]

11. Tell him here's the difference: Prescott's grandson is STILL A FASCIST.

[Frances]

13. And Kennedy's oldest son died in that war

[jwirr]

17. Bingo.

[jaysunb]

14. Louis Farrakahn once said

"Hitler was considered a great man by many people. "

This factual statement, taken out of context has been his albatross every since.

Your Step Dad is correct about Kennedy, and there are/were many that felt that way at the time. As someone said up thread, " it didn't hurt to have Goebels in charge of " getting the facts out, " so many people changed their mind about him after a while....and their reasons didn't always have to do w/ the plight of the Jewish people. After all , they WERE capitalist. :sarcasm:

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. He wasn't exactly anti-Hitler, but I kinda think the admiration

soured when Joe Jr got shot down. He was the one being groomed for politics - Jack Kennedy was an afterthought.

Of course, before the war, even with the official anti-semitism, a lot of people liked Hitler for being anti-communist - and there were fewer people, to population percentages, in all of Hitlers concentration camps before the war than we have in our prison system today - and death camps didn't open until '42, and didn't become public knowledge, for most, until the war was nearly over. To the best of my knowledge he did not have any business dealings with Nazi Germany after the war started, unlike the grandfather of our current president.

As a side note, I have wondered if Poppy was assigned to the Pacific theater because his daddy didn't want him bombing his buddies in Germany.

[Hippo_Tron]

25. The SA was attacking Jews in Germany long before 1942

And the Einsatzgruppen were eliminating Jews from conquered Eastern Europe before 1942 as well. As far as when the United States and Britain actually knew what was going on, they intercepted communications of the Einsatzgruppen's actions in 1941. Releasing the information to the public was another story.

[Cleita]

30. I remember that this information was given to the public after

WWII. I was friends with a little Jewish girl in the neighborhood and remember being in her house playing while the adults talked about the horrors. They too had no idea until after the war. I don't think they lost any relatives because they were second generation descendents of Russian immigrants.

[and-justice-for-all]

18. Yeah, ok..

..If thats true then Bush Sr, was getting it in the ass from Stalin.

[Oilwellian]

19. When America entered the war....

Kennedy ended his relationship with Germany....Prescott Bush did not. Prescott financed the metals out of Poland used to build Hitler's war machine. But ole' Prescott was an equal opportunity war profiteer...he also sold oil to Russia at the same time.

[Cleita]

22. Bossom buddies?

This is the problem when you don't examine the whole situation. At the time Hitler seemed like an okay guy to the old money in many places especially the Irish who would join with anyone who opposed the British. It's like today you have to argue with people that socialism isn't so bad if you stop thinking in terms of totalitarianism.

It seems the Kennedys have severed that relationship, but the Bushes haven't.

[Lipton64]

23. The guy was also a member of the Irish mob - so what?

He bootlegged and everything. The English have screwed so many people that it's not hard to find somebody around the world who would put their initial reservations aside to support Hitler out of their vile hatred of Britain's imperialism at the time.

[Bombtrack]

32. delete

[Puregonzo1188]

27. I've heard that too, and its come on once before on DU.

I believe though, from what I read the last time, that he was just a supporter of apeasement.

Although, the section in wikipedia.org on Joe Kennedy's anti-semitism says otherwise.

"As fiercely anti-Communist as they were anti-Semitic, Kennedy and Astor looked upon Adolf Hitler as a welcome solution to both of these "world problems" (Nancy's phrase). No member of the so-called "Cliveden Set" (the informal cabal of appeasers who met frequently at Nancy Astor's palatial home) seemed much concerned with the dilemma faced by Jews under the Reich. Astor wrote Kennedy that Hitler would have to do more than just "give a rough time" to "the killers of Christ" before she'd be in favor of launching "Armageddon to save them. The wheel of history swings round as the Lord would have it. Who are we to stand in the way of the future?" Kennedy replied that he expected the "Jew media" in the United States to become a problem, that "Jewish pundits in New York and Los Angeles" were already making noises contrived to "set a match to the fuse of the world."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy%2C_Sr.#Anti-Semitism

[JVS]

31. Don't believe that the ruling class is as divided as the ruled class

Fuck Bush, but Fuck Kennedy too!

[Bombtrack]

33. It just seems like bullshit that stems from Joes opposition to the US joining world War II

he didn't want any of his sons to die in it. And one of them, his first born and the one he bred to lead his families legacy ended up doing just that, with his next born coming within an inch (or atleast a few feet) of it in that war.

He was probably a bigot, but you can't declare every person who was a bigot then to have been "bosom buddies" with Hitler.

[dailykoff]

35. Bushbots always pull this "Kennedy did it too" crap

and it's pure horseshit IMHO. From #34 (accidentally posted above):

Joe Kennedy advised FDR against US involvement in the war and in that he was totally in step with a majority of the American populace who thought it was not our fight, and for that matter, it wasn't. Kennedy paid a huge price politically and never held another government job.

Claiming that Joe made his money illegally (doubtful), stole the 1960 election for JFK (false), etc. is just their filthy way of justifiying their crimes of treason and conspiracy, and the stupid deluded Rushbots eat it up.

[fujiyama]

36. Joe Kennedy was a scummy guy

There is little doubt about it. He was friends with the likes of Father Caughlin, the notoriously anti-semitic Catholic priest, as well as Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh. At one point Kennedy claimed that Roosevelt would fall because the party's policies were controlled by Jews. Roosevelt triumphed overwhelmingly and Kennedy was forced to resigned his ambassadorship.

As for whether they were "bossom buddies", I haven't seen any evidence of Kennedy and Hitler having a personal relationship of any sort. Though, I have yet to see evidence that Prescott was good buddies with Hitler either.

But his sons were not their father. Especially Bobby - he was a tireless and vocal advocate against racism...and possibly killed for his support of Israel.