The forgotten Kennedy: JFK's older brother

Joe Kennedy had been groomed to become president by his father Joseph Sr., but tragic events led to Mr. Kennedy turning his presidential hopes on his younger son, John.
Sources:
www.newyorker....
www.historynet...
• American Experience: J...
/ john-f-kennedy-recordi...
• American Experience: J...

[@ub1953]

Never forgotten as a WW2 casualty and member of the GREATEST GENERATION ...

[@johnwagner409]

Joe, Jr. was warned by the plane's mechanic the day before the flight was to happen that there were electrical problems and there was a big chance the plane would explode. The mechanic told him not to go. A previous pilot trying the same mission had already been killed. Unfortunately, Joe, Jr. did not take the mechanic's advice.

[@gordonovenshine6968]

I do find it baffling why Joe took such a serious risk, beyond his duty. He had flown 30 combat mission, including D-Day. He had such a sense of bravado and determination to be the best he couldn't hold back regardless of risk. Then again, I suppose that was the ethic of the Greatest Generation, courage despite consequences. My own take is Joe didn't want to be his father's puppet, his younger brother's inferior and he had fallen in love with a married English woman knowing it was an impossible romance. His Navy colleagues commented later that Joe had a death wish. It sounds to me like it was pretty close to a suicide. @johncollins7062

[@Just990upladingstuff57]

@@gordonovenshine6968 I do find it baffling too. To be honest, I think Joe Jr really didn't give a crap about wanting to be a future president, like you said, it was more so his father trying to puppeteer his life to do so because I think he would rather care more about trying to survive the war rather than dying in some pointless mission which he chose to do, you can't exactly become president when you're dead, can you?

[@gordonovenshine6968]

@@Just990upladingstuff57 His last flight was a do-or-die mission and my take is Joe expected to be killed. He had a death wish. He knew he wasn't up for the political life his father demanded. Plus, Joe knew Jack was smarter and more congenial than him. Joe was of the Bobby mold -- intense, competitive, moralistic, a bit of a bully. Like Bobby, not everyone liked Joe, though he was perhaps the best looking. Even Joe Senior said none of his other sons had Jack's universal appeal. Interestedly, Jack didn't want to be the family politician either. The father controlled all their lives.

[@mikehiggins946]

I wish my Dad had controlled me all the way to the White House and immortality.

[@jamesedmond3351]

The plane was supposed to be flown into a target in germany. Someone in the other bomber remotely detonated the explosives, on the bomber, joe junior was flying.

[@carmeng2106]

Please make longer videos!! Love history💕

[@TheCleric42]

You have a real talent for finding interesting stories to tell, and of hunting down remarkable details to relate along the way.

[@RickW-HGWT]

JFK shoud not have been anywhere near combat, his health issues would have eliminated any other man. Daddy issues cost mens lives, not just the kennedys. JFK acted bravely , but had he not been in command his boat would not have been run over.

[@mikeym1479]

He saved the lives of eleven men

[@gordonovenshine6968]

JFK was largely a fraud. Yes, he had the looks, the money and the charm but he had plenty of screws up too. PT-109 was a f up. The goal is war is never to get your boat cut in half and lose two men. He acted bravely in the aftermath but he might have been courtmartialed if he hadn't been the ambassador's son. He only entered politics because he had too, as a surrogate for brother Joe.

[@mariaevans5793]

Correct ,he was handsome yes but had no moral compass what so ever , please check his medical record he was constantly infected with VD fact not fiction.

[@mikehiggins946]

Dave Powers, one of JFK's closest staff members said of Kennedy's Congressional run in 1946, "you couldn't be elected dog catcher in 1946 if you didn't serve in the military during WW2."

[@gordonovenshine6968]

@@mariaevans5793 JFK was a predator. He behavior was so reckless one could argue that he was unfit for the presidency.

[@sandraatkins2539]

In his youth John Kennedy looked like Howdy Doody.

[@alfredfreedomjones5105]

Disagree, Chelsea Clinton is a more accurate match to Howdy Doody

[@jimdellavecchia4594]

PRIDE GOETH BEFORE THE FALL

[@JadeBoston]

Thanks!

[@kiandrah8517]

He had a battleship named after him.....

[@ynp1978]

Actually it was a Destroyer.....

[@ladyanne8139]

What was with this family and knowing danger. Possible death and NOT CARING! SOMETHING MENTALLY WAS WRONG W.THEM .

[@user-xh1yc2ox2o]

His brother would be told, not to go to Dallas by several people!He did and was killed!

[@larry1824]

He got killed so hevwas no longer any.use to the dirty old man

[@raytaylor3077]

Joe Jr was murdered, imho

[@fatimaaparecida3994]

Dizem que Joe Kennedy junior estava com inveja de jek porque ele foi herói de guerra

[@robertrock8778]

JFK never authored While England Slept. He and his crew were asleep when it was sliced in half

[@lizadivine3785]

How do you know this? Were you there?

[@lizadivine3785]

@johncollins7062ted said he did. That doesn’t make it true. In my line of work I have seen countless people take credit for work someone else did.

[@lizadivine3785]

@johncollins7062 were you there? Is that how you know?

[@lizadivine3785]

@johncollins7062 so you weren't there. So you don't know.

[@lizadivine3785]

Sorenson said. His name is Ted too

[@davidbrothers3788]

Joe Kennedy Jr. Beacame shark bait

[@davidbrothers3788]

@johncollins7062 im guessing being atomized isnt good

[@mikehiggins946]

His plane exploded over the English countryside, which is not know for its shark infestation.

[@jamesedmond3351]

Chum.

[@gordonovenshine6968]

Is that Joe's plane shown exploding?

[@Joe_Peroni]

What was it with so many guys back then that they so enthusiastically threw themselves into the "meat grinder" wartime military? Including my father, who was Scottish & served in the British Army, 1939- 45. He was in action at the battle of El Alamein, then in France, among other places. His 19year-old brother was killed by a landmine. My dad survived the war with shrapnel wounds to his back. I said to him numerous times (over a few beers, usually): "Why the hell did you GO? You & your brother? I'd have told them to stuff their war up their brain holes." But he would just shrug. He certainly had PTSD.

[@gothia1715]

It was the mentality of men during these times. Fathers and grandfathers told their sons that they must serve or otherwise they re worthless cowards and the families name would be harmed. The authorities stired this up over generations as they needed soldiers during the times of mass armies. Patriotism, the will to do great adventurous things and make yourself a name was the perfect bait for eager young men who challenged their brothers and friends to also take part. This group pressure often did the final tip. My grandfathers were lucky as they were too young to serve in the army. But the nazi authorities send my paternal grandfather and his Hitler youth boys on the roof of Stuttgarts university after the city was heavily bombed in September 1944 to throw down firebombs when he was only 12 years old. He was only a tool for them, like all the others who got exploited for war. I hope future generations will still learn from those times for the good. Sadly this sickness war still exists...

[@Joe_Peroni]

@johncollins7062 Are you a jew? Or a commie-greenie keyboard anti-Nazi? I'd like to see it If they handed YOU a gun & said: off you go, murder as many young boys as you can before THEY kill YOU.

[@mikehiggins946]

Guys committed suicide when they were rejected for military service. They weren't pussies then. They wanted to serve, wanted to be a part of something greater than themselves. Hard to understand for today's safe space seeking snowflakes.

[@TayDays1128]

Im glad that you werent the caliber of man that existed back then with that attitude. Otherwise half the world would be speaking German & the other half japanese.

[@Joe_Peroni]

@@TayDays1128 A survey carried out in "Britainistan" recently found that VERY FEW males would go to war. The popular consensus was: "Fight for what THIS country has become? No way."

[@irenehartlmayr8369]

Disgusting programming of children.

[@PretendBreadBoy]

We are all programmed and play a part in programming. I would say the nonsense, neglect, and lies of today's parents are far worse. This generation couldn't stand what that one stood.

[@irenehartlmayr8369]

@@PretendBreadBoy I guess you are right.

[@user-iz5ue7xd4o]

God bless the Kennedys Celtics Americans

[@frederickwise5238]

I think it happened differently for Joe.!!!!!!!!!!!