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Joseph Kennedy, Jr. Biography
Aviator / Political Relative
Joseph Kennedy, Jr. was the eldest son of Joseph Kennedy, Sr. and the older brother of future president John F. Kennedy. Like his brother John, he attended Choate and Harvard College; many people assumed that Joe Jr. would go on to become the family politician. He left Harvard Law School to join the Navy and served as a bomber pilot in World War II. He died when his plane, loaded with explosives for an attack on German V-2 rocket site, exploded shortly after takeoff. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and the Air Medal for heroism. The Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, which supports people with mental disabilities, was founded in his honor by the Kennedy family in 1946.
Extra credit: His sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver became head of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation in 1957; she created the first Special Olympics in 1968.
Kennedy appears with his future brother-in-law Arnold Schwarzenegger in our loop on Clan Kennedy.
Other World War II figures: Audie Murphy, Pappy Boyington and Claus von Stauffenberg.
Four Good Links
The Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation
The mental retardation foundation founded by his family in his name, with a good simple biography
JFK the War Hero
From a photo album about his brother, but with a few good shots of Joe
The U.S.S. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.
Official site of the U.S. Navy destroyer, now a museum
Kennedy Tragedies Timeline
Infoplease offers a rundown of the family's many sad events
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Death
12 August 1944
(wartime plane explosion, age 29)
Best Known As
The older brother of president John Kennedy