Joe Kennedy | |
|---|---|
 Kennedy circa 1987 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's8th district | |
| In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Tip O'Neill |
| Succeeded by | Mike Capuano |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joseph Patrick Kennedy II (1952-09-24)September 24, 1952 (age 73) Boston,Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, includingJoe |
| Relatives | Robert F. Kennedy (father) Ethel Kennedy (mother) Kennedy family |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley University of Massachusetts, Boston (BA) |
Joseph Patrick Kennedy II (born September 24, 1952) is an American businessman,Democratic politician, and a member of theKennedy family. He is the eldest son of former U.S. SenatorRobert F. Kennedy andEthel Kennedy, and he is a nephew of former U.S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy and former U.S. SenatorTed Kennedy.
Kennedy served as a member of theUnited States House of Representatives from the8th congressional district of Massachusetts from 1987 to 1999. In 1979 he founded and, until he was elected to the U.S. House, ledCitizens Energy Corporation, a non-profit energy company which providesheating oil to low-income and elderly families inMassachusetts.
Kennedy was born in theBrighton section ofBoston, Massachusetts on September 24, 1952. He was the second of 11 children toEthel (née Skakel) andRobert F. Kennedy.[1] He was named after his grandfatherJoseph P. Kennedy Sr., the patriarch of theKennedy family and his uncleJoseph P. Kennedy Jr. who was killed in an airplane crash in 1944 during World War II.[a] Kennedy spent his childhood between the family's homes inMcLean, Virginia andHyannis Port, Massachusetts.[3][4]
Kennedy had a troubled youth and was expelled from severalprivate schools as a result of his quick temper. He regularly got into fights with his younger brothers and male cousins.[1] He was 15 when hisfather was assassinated. The night he was shot at theAmbassador Hotel, Kennedy along with two siblings, Kathleen and Robert Jr., were being flown to Los Angeles aboard one of the planes in the Secret Service's presidential fleet.[5]
Kennedy dropped out ofMilton Academy, a preparatory boarding school inMilton, Massachusetts, when he was not allowed to take time off to work in his UncleTed's1970 Senate campaign and finished his high school studies atManter Hall, a tutoring school inCambridge, Massachusetts, in 1971.[6] During his time at Milton, he was roommate toThomas C. Wales.[7][8]
Kennedy attended theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1972, but dropped out.[9] He returned to school after a major car accident which occurred in 1973 and graduated with aBachelor of Arts degree from theUniversity of Massachusetts Boston in 1976.[10]
While on hiatus from college, he worked for several months as part of a federally funded program to combat and treattuberculosis in theAfrican American community inSan Francisco, California.[9] MayorJoseph Alioto personally praised Kennedy's work in the community.[9] Kennedy resigned from his position in the program and returned toMassachusetts in the summer of 1973.[9]
In 1979, Kennedy foundedCitizens Energy Corporation, anon-profit organization to provide discountedheating oil to low-income and elderly families in Massachusetts.[11] According to authorJ. Randy Taraborrelli, Kennedy started the venture "to alleviate the burden of heating bills for the poor during theoil crisis of that year."[12] By 1984, Citizens Energy helped provide low-cost heat for 250,000 families.[13] In 2010, Kennedy transformed the organization to become a leader inrenewable energy generation while continuing to use profits to provide energy savings to low-income families.[14] (SeeCitizens Energy (since 1979) section below.)
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In 1986, incumbent Democrat andSpeaker of the HouseThomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr., who had heldMassachusetts' 8th congressional district (a Democratic stronghold in Boston andCambridge, Massachusetts)[15] seat since 1953, announced his retirement. Kennedy decided to run for the seat, which his uncle, former presidentJohn F. Kennedy, had held from 1947 to 1953. The Democratic nomination was contested by a number of well-known Democrats including state senatorGeorge Bachrach and state representativeMel King.[16] However, Kennedy garneredendorsements fromThe Boston Globe and the retiring O'Neill. Kennedy won the primary with 53%.[17] He won the general election with 72% of the vote.[18] He won re-election in 1988 (80%), 1990 (72%), 1992 (83%), 1994 (99%), and 1996 (84%).[19]
Kennedy's legislative efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives included[20]
In 1988 Kennedy traveled to Northern Ireland.[36] During his stay theDemocratic Unionist Party called him a "Republican parrot".[36] He also had a well publicized encounter with a British soldier who suggested that Kennedy return home.[36] In 1991 Kennedyboycotted a speech to theU.S. Congress by theUnited Kingdom'sQueen Elizabeth II "in protest to the British occupation inNorthern Ireland."[37]
In March 1998, following a year of family troubles that included theskiing death of his brotherMichael LeMoyne Kennedy, he announced that he planned to retire from the U.S. House, citing "a new recognition of our own vulnerabilities and the vagaries of life."[38] An editorial inThe Boston Globe observed that "Kennedy has remained steadfast in his political life to issues and constituencies no poll would have led him to: the poor, the homeless, disadvantaged children, and others swamped in the current tide of prosperity." He served in the U.S. House for six terms, until January 1999. In his final speech on the U.S. House floor, Kennedy delivered "an impassioned plea for unity and forgiveness"[39] in the midst of Congressional debate regarding the proposed articles ofimpeachment of PresidentBill Clinton.[40]
Throughout his career in the U.S. House, Kennedy served on theHouse Banking Committee,[41] where he played an active role in the federalsaving-and-loan bailout,[42] credit-reporting reform, the overhaul of theGlass–Steagall Act of 1933 and financial modernization. Kennedy also served on theHouse Veterans' Affairs Committee, passing legislation to strengthen theveterans' health-care system,[43] to investigate the causes ofGulf War syndrome, and to provide medical treatment for veterans of thePersian Gulf War.[44][45]
After leaving the House of Representatives, Kennedy returned to Citizens Energy. (During Kennedy's terms in the House, it had been run by his brother Michael.) Citizens Energy pursues commercial ventures aimed at generatingrevenues that, in turn, are used to generate funds that could assist those in need in the U.S. and abroad.[46] It grew to encompass seven separate companies, including one of the largestenergy-conservation firms in the U.S. Citizens Energy became one of the U.S.'s first energy firms to move large volumes ofnatural gas to more than 30 states.[47] As a precursor to market changes under electricityderegulation in the late 1990s, Citizens Energy was a pioneer in moving and marketing electrical power over thepower grid.[48][49] In recent years, Kennedy has led the company into the renewable-energy industry, building solar farms along the East Coast[50] and transmission lines[51] to support charitable programs like one giving free solar panels to low-income families in California.[52] In 2019, Citizens Energy announced the completion of one of the largest Low-Income Community Shared Solar projects in the country, funded by its investment in the Sunrise PowerLink Transmission line.[53] Totaling 30 megawatts, the record-breaking California project will provide $500 in energy savings to 12,000 low-income families each year.[54]
Since returning to Citizens Energy, Kennedy also has sought to influence energy-related public policy, challenging the Bush administration to invest in energy conservation and efficiency and renewable energy,[55] encouraging Congress to fully fund federal heating assistance programs,[56] proposing that oil-consuming countries work together to balance oil prices againstOrganization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) manipulation,[57] and calling for the federal government and major oil companies to use portions of royalties from oil and gas extracted from federal lands and waters to help low-income families with the high price of energy.[58] Kennedy has been criticized for the salaries paid to himself and his wife.[59] In 2012, as CEO of Citizens Energy and related organizations, Kennedy was paid a total of $796,000 in compensation, and his wife was paid an additional $344,000 as Director of Marketing.[60]
Beginning in 2005,Citgo Petroleum Company (Citgo), a wholly ownedsubsidiary ofPetróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA)—theVenezuelanstate-owned oil company—has been the primarydonor of heating oil to Citizens Energy.The Wall Street Journal and others criticized Citizens Energy for continuing its relationship with theVenezuelan government andVenezuelan presidentHugo Chávez, a harsh critic of the United States.[61][62][63] In response, Kennedy and others[64][65] have argued that it is hypocritical to criticize a non-profit organization for accepting oil from Venezuela while numerous other American businesses are profiting from robust trade with Venezuela and at a time when the U.S. government has cut low-income fuel assistance.[66]
Although Citgo donations reportedly dried up in 2015 owing to Venezuela's economic turmoil,[67] the company was reported in 2009 to have donated 83 million gallons of oil over the two previous years, which was used to provide heating assistance to an estimated 200,000 families a year in 23 states.[68]
Kennedy has since turned into a critic of Venezuelan presidentNicolás Maduro, the handpicked successor of Chávez,[69] accusing him of "stealing democracy from the people" and calling for Maduro's removal.[70]
In 1993, aBoston Globe poll showed Kennedy within one percentage point of popular incumbentWilliam Weld in a hypothetical gubernatorial match-up, prompting prominent state Democrats to try and recruit him for the race.[71] Though no other Democrat was polling near Weld, Kennedy decided to forgo the race and remain in Congress.Mark Roosevelt won the nomination andlost to Governor Weld by over 40 points.
Kennedy was considered the front runner for thegovernorship of Massachusetts in 1998,[72] but revelations about his personal life led to a tumultuous fall in public opinion polling, and he decided against running.[73]Kennedy explained in a VFW hall in a working-class corner of Boston that he believed he would never be able to focus his candidacy on issues: "The race will focus on personal or family questions. It is not fair to my family, it is not fair to the people of Massachusetts and it is not the right thing to do."[74]
With the death of his uncleTed Kennedy on August 25, 2009, Kennedy's name had been mentioned as a possible candidate for his uncle'sUnited States Senate seat representing Massachusetts. In anAssociated Press article, Democratic strategist Dan Payne said, "He wouldn't be human and he wouldn't be a Kennedy if he didn't give serious consideration to running for what is known as the 'Kennedy seat' in Massachusetts."[75] However, Kennedy released a statement on September 7 explaining that he would not pursue the seat. The seat eventually went by appointment toPaul G. Kirk and later by election to RepublicanScott Brown.
Kennedy endorsed incumbent DemocratJoe Biden'sreelection campaign in the2024 United States presidential election overa third-party/independent challenge by his brother Robert Jr.[76]
On February 22, 1972, Kennedy was onLufthansa Flight 649 when it was hijacked. Shortly after the inflight movie began during the 747's flight from New Delhi to Athens, five gunmen seized the jet and forced it to land atAden International Airport, where all hostages were released the following day.[77][78][79]
In August 1973, aJeep he was driving onNantucket overturned, fracturing a vertebra of his brother David and permanentlyparalyzing David's girlfriend, Pam Kelley.[80] The police cited Kennedy forreckless driving and the judge temporarily suspended his driver's license.[1][80] The Kennedy family paid for Kelley's initial medical treatment and contributed modestly to her care during the years following the accident.[81]
On February 3, 1979, Kennedy married Sheila Brewster Rauch, a daughter of banker Rudolph Stewart "Stew" Rauch Jr.,[82] president and then chairman of thePhiladelphia Savings Fund Society. On October 4, 1980, the couple had fraternal twin sons, Matthew Rauch "Matt" Kennedy andJoseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy III. They were legally divorced in 1991.[83]
In 1993, Kennedy asked theCatholic Archdiocese of Boston for anannulment of his marriage to Rauch, claiming he was mentally incapable of entering into marriage at the time of the wedding. An annulment would have rendered the marriage void in the Church. This would have also allowed Kennedy to marry Anne Elizabeth "Beth" Kelly, a former staff member of his, in a Catholic ceremony, as well as allow him to continue receivingHoly Communion (which is forbidden for a divorced person who remarries outside of the Church).[84][85] Rauch refused to agree to the annulment; Kennedy married Kelly in a non-Catholiccivil ceremony on October 23, 1993.[86]
The Boston Archdiocese initially ruled in favor of the annulment, which Rauch says she discovered only after the fact, in 1996.[84] AnEpiscopalian, she later wrote a book,Shattered Faith: A Woman's Struggle to Stop the Catholic Church from Annulling Her Marriage, explaining that she was opposed to the concept of annulment because it meant in Catholic theology that the marriage had never actually existed. She also claimed that the Kennedy family influence made it possible to unilaterally "cancel" a 12-year marriage.
Catholic canon law at the time required atribunal decision in favor of annulment to be automatically appealed, and the decision was not effective until a second, conforming, sentence was granted. Instead of allowing the appeal to take place in the United States, Rauch appealed directly to theRoman Rota, the highest appellate tribunal of the Catholic Church.[87] The annulment was overturned by the Rota in 2005. Rauch says she was not informed of the decision until 2007, receiving the news from Boston Archdiocese officials.[88] As the first decision was never confirmed, there was no time at which the Church finally declared the marriage to be null or gave Kennedy permission to remarry. Because the Rota was sitting as a second-instance appellate court, Kennedy could appeal against the decision to another Rotal panel.[87][89]
Because of his efforts, banks now have to disclose racial statistics on mortgage borrowers, a tool the Clinton administration has used to enhance services in minority neighborhoods.
Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II (D - Mass.) has introduced legislation to pay for the savings-and-loan bailout by taxing corporations and the nation's wealthiest individuals.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's 8th congressional district 1987–1999 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
