The Kennedys and Antisemitism: A Thread.

It has been a long, hush-hush, swept under the rug, and more often than not, forgotten, truth when it comes to the Kennedys, but it’s time to face it. Especially as Rep. Joe Kennedy III challenged Sen. Ed Markey in Massachusetts. (1/14)

The antisemitism starts off with the original patriarch of the Kennedy family: Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. — father of most famously President John F. Kennedy, Sen. AG Robert “Bobby” Kennedy, and Sen. Ted Kennedy.

In 1937, Joe Sr. was appointed US ambassador to Britain. (2/14)

While in Britain, Joe Sr. became friends with Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, who was notorious for her anti-Catholicism rhetoric. However, she told Joe Sr. not to be put off by it, and he wasn’t, apparently.

In May 1938, Joe Sr. met with the German ambassador, where (3/14)

he (Kennedy) & the ambassador - Herbert von Dirksen - would engage one extensive conversations, held without the US State Dept.’s approval. During one of these conversations, Joe Sr., told von Dirksen that Roosevelt was a “victim of Jewish influence” (HNN) & went on to say (4/14)

that the US President was “poorly informed as to the philosophy, ambitions and ideals of Hitler's regime” (HNN) which lead to the very troubling statement in which von Dirksen told his bosses that Joe Sr. Kennedy was “Germany’s best friend” in London. In 1938. (5/14)

Newspaper columnists condemned Kennedy for his conversations with the Germans, to which Joe Sr. dismissed it, saying “a number of Jewish publishers and writers. ... Some of them in their zeal did not hesitate to resort to slander and falsehood to achieve their aims.” (6/14)

Joe Sr. later complained his son, Joe Kennedy Jr. that he didn’t like having to deal with these “Jewish columnists” who were criticizing him with “no good reason.” (HNN)

Oh and speaking of Joe Jr., he also shared the same antisemitic rhetorics if his father. (7/14)

Joe Kennedy Jr, admired Adolf Hitler. After studying in Germany in 1934, he came away impressed with their Nazi rhetoric and even went on to applaud Hitler for his insight in realizing that the German people needed, saying “a common enemy, someone of whom to make the goat” (8/14)

Joe Jr. continued on, saying “it was too bad that it had to be done to the Jews. The dislike of the Jews, however, was well-founded” Joe Jr. concluded with this: “As far as the brutality is concerned, it must have been necessary to use some ...” (HNN) (9/14)

With all of these quotes from Joe Sr. and Joe Jr., I’ll mention a couple things: First: Joe Jr. died serving as a fighter pilot in WWII. Second: Robert Kennedy is Joe Kennedy III’s grandfather, and there are no public records of any antisemitic or Nazi rhetoric (10/14)

However, no one in the Kennedy family, including Robert, has ever condemned the Nazism of their family members.

It has also been revealed the President Kennedy expressed antisemitic/Nazi rhetoric in his diaries in 1945, calling Hitler the “stuff of legends” (image: BBC) (11/14)

JFK also, in earlier diary entries, predicted that, “"Hitler [would] emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived.” JFK of all this in the summer of 1945, after Hitler’s suicide, & when the camps were being liberated (12/14)

Lastly, my fourth point in the conclusion of all of this: with the Kennedys long and horrible history of Nazi sympathizing and antisemisitism, how has any of this ever flown under the radar?

None of this has ever been okay. (13/14)

Bobby Kennedy, when confronted with this, denied it all - saying Joe. Jr’s death showed that it proved their antisemitism impossible.

Well the proof is right here.

(14/14)

see next tweet for sources.

Sources:
https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/697 
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-bobby-kennedy-cemented-his-relationship-with-u-s-jews-1.5411743
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-39371715