J.F.K. II

New Money, Dirty Money:  People like to make a distinction between old and new money. Old money people are classy, disciplined, and somehow more moral. New Money people are shallow, crass, and materialistic. Such distinctions are rather useless. Old money people like the Roosevelts are virtually irrelevent now. Old money is simply money that was made from trains, oil, steel... more or less natural resources. The Bushes are an old money family from Connecticut and they are virtually idiots. That is because they are completely out of touch with current culture. There are Old Money families that are politically relevant. The Koches are a conservatively libertarian old money family and they are a powerful and positive force on society. Anyway, the Kennedys were new money. Joe Kennedy made his money on an illegal natural resource, alcohol, during the Prohibition Era. It was during this time, he established his connections to the Italian Mafia and Hollywood. Joe Kennedy's belief was that his family had to have its own morals. There was the Kennedy Way and the Way that other people did it. The Kennedy Way was All or Nothing, Either be Captain or don't play the Game, WIn at all costs. But there was one political mistake that Joe Kennedy made that almost ruined his family's future. Joe Kennedy sided with the German Fascists against the English during the 1940's. I think it was basically the slowness of the British political system that frustrated him and also the racism of the English toward the Irish. Of course, that did not mean that the Germans were the better choice. At the same time, one must ask, "What if there was no extermination of the Jews or weaker races?" "What if Hitler simply streamlined humanity into ideal types with the ideal types ruling?" Now, which enemies did Joe Kennedy make by siding with the Germans? He certainly alienated the WASPS. Probably the Jews. But Jews and WASPS are forgiving. Especially with initial mistakes. I don't think that any great harm was done. How about in his bootlegging days? He was probably hated by the Old Money people, but Old Money people had no reason to hire a killer to kill his sons. But what Joe Kennedy was a part of was a movement toward a change in the "culture" that could affect the balance of power and the distribution of wealth in America that was very disturbing to the old order.