The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys Before 1960 Quiz

Answer: Patrick Kennedy I

Patrick Kennedy came to America to escape poverty in Ireland. PJ Kennedy was his son.

Answer: Joseph Patrick Kennedy

PJ and Mary Augustus named their son Joseph Patrick Kennedy. It was Joe that became the father of John, Bobby, and Ted Kennedy.

Answer: Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald

John Frances Fitzgerald and Mary Josephine Hannon Fitzgerald named their little daughter Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald.

Answer: Mayor of the City of Boston

Rose's father, John Francis Fitzgerald, was Mayor of the City of Boston between 1906 and 1908, and then again between 1910 and 1914. It was an office that no Irish Catholic had ever held before him.

Answer: Honey Fitz

Robert Dallek wrote: "He was a natural politician-a charming, impish, affable lover of people. His warmth of character earned him the nickname, "Honey Fitz".
He also gained the name because of the sweetness of his singing voice. "Sweet Adeline" was his favorite song to sing.
PJ Kennedy called him Fitzzie.

Answer: Manhattanville

Rose attended Manhattanville College, which was called Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in her time, because her father refused to allow her to attend Wellesley College. Wellesley was known as a center of female socialist ferment, and the Cardinal of Boston felt that Catholic children should attend Catholic schools where they could be properly brought up in the Catholic faith.

The Cardinal made life hard on Honey Fitz after he found out that Rose was scheduled to go to Wellesley College, even threatening to have him excommunicated from the Catholic Church. So Honey Fitz decided that Rose would attend Manhattanville instead, to save his own political neck. It is well known that Bobby and Ethel as well as Ted and Joan met through Manhattanville as a result of the Kennedy sisters introducing them.

It was Jackie Kennedy who attended Vassar.

Answer: Become a bank president

Joe took his first job in business as a bank examiner. By doing so he learned everything there was to know about the banking business. Joe's father had invested in a bank, Columbia Trust. In 1913, the bank was in trouble. Joe borrowed money from family and friends to get the bank back on its feet.

As a result, at 25, Joe was elected the president of Columbia Trust. He was the youngest man in America to ever do so at the time.

Answer: Because Honey Fitz didn't approve of Joe

Honey Fitz didn't approve of Joe at first and told several friends he thought Joe was not an appropriate match for Rose. However, Rose loved Joe and sneaked around to see him. She finally told Honey Fitz that she would marry Joe with or without his approval. He finally agreed to the marriage.

Answer: Queen Kelly (aka The Swamp)

Joe Kennedy thought that Hollywood would be the new financial frontier, so he bought FBO (Film Booking Offices)and KAO (Keith-Albee-Orpheum Theaters Corporation) and merged them so they became the renowned RKO,(Radio-Keith-Orpheum). While in Hollywood, Joe Kennedy met and started an affair with screen legend Gloria Swanson. Joe decided he wanted to make a great film for her and Stroheim came to them with Queen Kelly.

After spending outrageous amounts of money, (Stroheim once ordered a million flies for one scene), taking too much time, endlessly pestering Gloria Swanson about her performance, causing her nervous breakdown, and adding risqué scenes to the film, Stroheim was fired by Joe Kennedy, and Queen Kelly was never completed.

In 1987, the film was restored by adding stills and some found film.

Answer: started a liquor importing business

Joe Kennedy was supposedly an importer of alcoholic drinks from Canada into the USA during Prohibition, which was never proven. However, he saw the end of Prohibition coming and imported a huge inventory of liquor stock, which he sold for a giant profit when Prohibition was repealed in 1933.

Answer: 1932

Joe helped Franklin D Roosevelt to secure the finances that allowed him to win the 1932 election. For his work, Roosevelt made him the head of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission).

Answer: Ambassador to the Court of St. James in Great Britain

Joseph P. Kennedy was appointed to be the Ambassador to the Court of St. James in Great Britain. Since World War II started the following year, this turned out to be a particularly important post.

Answer: Joe Jr., John, Kathleen

Joe and Rose felt that their first four children were special. However, Joe, Jack, and Kathleen were nicknamed the "Golden Trio" because, if Joe had his way, their futures were very bright.

Answer: Kathleen

Kathleen's all-American girl persona, her natural outgoing vivaciousness, and her exposure to men and women of means and power, made her comfortable around the blue bloods of English society. She was greatly loved and dated many famous men like David Rockefeller and J Peter Grace, who was heir to the WR Grace Shipping fortune. Kathleen was called "enchanting" by the British papers and named "The Most Exciting Debutante of 1938".

Answer: Rosemary

Rosemary was designated as mentally retarded when she was very young. Her parents tried to raise her in the same way they raised their other children. Rose Kennedy once said, "I always believed she could live as a Kennedy girl, just a little slower." The pressure to perform as a Kennedy led Rosemary to tantrums, frustrations and violent mood swings. Rosemary started sneaking out at night from the convent where she was going to school, and was found wandering the streets in her nightgown. Fearing unplanned pregnancy or rape, Joe Kennedy decided she should undergo the new procedure, lobotomy, believing it was the only safe thing that could be done to help her, since the doctors who performed the surgery had told him she would be able to function normally, just without the violence and sexual feelings she was experiencing.

However, the lobotomy completely incapacitated her, and she was moved to St. Coletta's in Wisconsin to hide her. She eventually died there in 2005. Since then, many doctors who have studied her case think that she was not retarded, but just not quite as smart as her siblings, which led to severe clinical depression.

Answer: William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington & Billy Hartington

Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy met William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, son of the Duke of Devonshire, during the time that her father was Ambassador. She affectionately called the Marquess "Billy". They quickly fell in love and were rumored to be engaged, which both their families were quick to deny. Billy's family was the most Protestant of any English family, for him to marry Catholic Kathleen was unthinkable. Kathleen's marriage to Billy was also unthinkable to Rose Kennedy, since Rose was the devoutest of devout Catholics.

The whole idea of an engagement became mute, since Kathleen was forced to return to the US upon England's entry into WWII. Kathleen begged her father to pull some strings and he was able to get her stationed in London during the war to work for the Red Cross. Though much was done on both sides (even the Pope was brought into the situation) to make it possible for Kathleen to marry Billy and still remain in the Church, it was not to be. Kathleen therefore married Billy in a registry office on, May 6, 1944. Rose is said to have stated that Kathleen was not married in the eyes of God nor in hers either. Kathleen went back home for a visit in 1944, and shortly thereafter a telegram arrived to tell Kathleen that Billy had died during fighting in Belgium. Kathleen is said to have told her mother, "God has settled the matter in His own way".

After the war, Kathleen lived in England and Ireland and became the mistress of Peter Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam. Fitzwilliam decided to divorce his wife and marry Kathleen. When Rose found out about the situation, she threatened to disown her totally.

Answer: Joe Jr., Kathleen, Ted

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. died when his plane, which was full of explosives which were supposed to be dropped on a German weapons warehouse, exploded.
Kathleen died when she and her fiance, Peter Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam were traveling to the South of France for an adulterous weekend, as he was not divorced yet. They were to then meet her father in Paris, where Joe was supposed to meet Fitzwilliam. Fitzwilliam forced the pilot to fly in dangerous weather conditions, and it is believed the plane was hit by lightning and crashed. The Kennedys raced to cover the whole Fitzwilliam episode in the newspapers. She was buried in the Cavendish's family burial plot. Her grave stone read "Joy she gave. Joy she has found."
Ted was injured when his plane crashed while traveling during his second Senate campaign. His wife Joan admirably did all the campaigning for the severaly injured Ted, while conferring with him on everything.

Answer: Bobby

By his marriage to Ethel Skakel on June 17, 1950, Robert Francis Kennedy became the first of Rose and Joe's sons to marry.

Answer: her father John "Black Jack" Bouvier III

Jacqueline's father John "Black Jack" Bouvier III was not present to walk her down the aisle. He was in his hotel room passed out drunk. There is some controversy as to whether friends of Jackie's mother, Janet, might have "helped" him get drunk so he wouldn't be there to embarrass her at the reception.

Answer: Kathleen Hartington Kennedy

Kathleen Hartington Kennedy was born July 4, 1951 to Robert Francis Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. She was the first born grandchild of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy. Named after her Aunt Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish, Rose expressly asked she not be called Kick.