"How far would the brash and ambitious young son of an Irish Catholic saloonkeeper go to prove himself the equal of Boston's disdainful Protestant elite? Joe Kennedy's ruthless and relentless quest for money, power, and above all, social status, began in his early childhood and continued through the final days of his life. This portrait of the man who sired three of America's most important twentieth-century political figures introduces a wealth of new information about Kennedy's questionable financial practices, his Hollywood exploits, his tenure as ambassador to Great Britain, and his very risky relationship with organized crime."--BOOK JACKET.