Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.: the eldest Kennedy son and his last mission

Long before John F. Kennedy ran for office, his grandfather predicted that the family's first son, Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr., would become the first Catholic president. The National Park Service's John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site tells his story.

Ensign Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., United States Navy, circa 1942. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

A first son with high expectations

Joe Jr. was born on July 25, 1915 in Hull, Massachusetts, the eldest of nine children of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. Soon after his birth, his grandfather John Fitzgerald, a former mayor of Boston, told local newspapers the boy would grow up to be the first Catholic president. Joe Jr. would not live to meet his family's hopes, but the site describes a short life of ambition, bravery and devotion to family.

He spent his first twelve years in Brookline, Massachusetts, the first five of them at 83 Beals Street, where his brother John and sisters Rosemary and Kathleen were born. His brother John later said Joe acquired "a sense of responsibility towards his brothers and sisters" very early and never forgot it. Joe worked hard at academics and athletics at the Edward Devotion School and the Dexter School, served as an altar boy, and quickly defended his family when it was criticized for being Irish or Catholic. He and John were also mischievous; their mother remembered them changing a restaurant's "No dogs allowed" sign to "No hot dogs allowed" and starting a secret club whose new members were stuck with pins.

Preparing for politics

His parents sent him to the Choate School to prepare for a political career, where he excelled and showed leadership. Before Harvard, his father's school, he spent a year at the London School of Economics studying under Professor Harold Laski, learning economic theory and traveling in Europe. He enrolled at Harvard in 1934, was not a standout student, but joined the student council and several clubs and played football and rugby, and graduated in 1938. He then joined his family in London, where his father was U.S. Ambassador to Britain, and began his own political career. On September 3, 1939 he walked to Parliament with John and Kathleen to hear Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announce that Britain was at war with Germany. In 1940 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. The war put his political plans on hold.

Joe Jr., Kathleen and John Kennedy, children of U.S. Ambassador to England Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., arrive at the House of Parliament in London to hear Prime Minister Chamberlain announce that a state of war existed between England and Germany, September 3, 1939. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Naval aviator

His father wanted to keep his sons out of the war, but Joe Jr. saw the opportunities of service, left Harvard before his last year of law school and entered Navy officer training. He became a naval aviator in 1942 and went to Britain in September 1943, piloting PB4Y Liberator patrol bombers on anti-submarine duty. Over two tours in the winter of 1943-1944 he was regarded as an experienced Patrol Plane Commander, a respected officer and an expert in radio control. He turned down earned leave to volunteer for the most dangerous special assignments; a squadron mate said he had everybody's unlimited admiration for his courage, zeal and willingness to undertake the most dangerous mission.

Lt.(jg) John F. Kennedy and Ensign Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., circa May 1942. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Operation Aphrodite

In the summer of 1944 Joe Jr. volunteered for a secret campaign code-named Operation Aphrodite. He was to fly a radio-controlled B-17 bomber over Normandy toward a German V-2 rocket launching site, arm the explosives on board and then parachute out before the plane blew up over the target.

On the evening of August 12 he and his co-pilot, Lieutenant Wilford John Willy, took off from RAF Fersfield Station near Norwich. As the plane neared the North Sea coast, Kennedy prepared it for detonation and radioed the agreed code, "spade flush," his last words. Two minutes later, before either man could eject, the explosives went off early, killing both. The wreckage landed near Blythburgh in Suffolk, and the cause of the explosion was never determined.

John was recovering from his own war injuries at Chelsea Naval Hospital when he heard. He told a close friend that "now the burden falls on me," and he later compiled a memorial book for the family, We Remember Joe.

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. outdoors in Saint Moritz, Switzerland, in 1939. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Remembering him

Joe Jr. was awarded the Air Medal and the Navy Cross after his death. In December 1946 the Navy named a destroyer, the U.S.S. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (DD850), for him. In 27 years of service she took part in the Korean War and in the naval quarantine of Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis, recovered Gemini 6 and Gemini 7, and was decommissioned in 1973. She is now part of the Battleship Cove Maritime Museum in Fall River, Massachusetts.

His parents created the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation in 1946. It provides leadership in the field of intellectual disabilities and runs practical programs for people with them, their families and communities. His brother Edward M. Kennedy and sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver led it until 2009, and it continues that work.

The USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. at sea, date unknown. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Sources

• National Park Service, John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site, Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr.: A Dream Unfulfilled; rewritten in hubnx's own words.