Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.

Junior officer in the United States Navy and elder brother of John F. Kennedy

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Lived 1915–1944, aged 29United States

United States Historical Figures

Wikipedia
26 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1915–1944
Aged 29
Awards
4
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-14

He was supposed to be president. The oldest Kennedy son, groomed for the White House by a father who never stopped planning—until a bomber mission in 1944 erased the blueprint and passed the destiny to his younger brother John.

Biography

About

Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. was born July 25, 1915, the first of nine children to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and from the start his father had mapped a route to the Oval Office. By 1940 he was already a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, positioning himself for a run at the U.S. House of Representatives after the war—first rung on the ladder. But World War II put him in a Navy cockpit as a lieutenant flying land-based patrol bombers. On August 12, 1944, during Operation Aphrodite, he was killed in action and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. The father's…

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