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The Hyannisport neighbors, mostly Pittsburgh millionaires, sniffed at the Kennedys as "moneyed Boston Irish," and the clan drew closer together. In the community sailing races on Nantucket Sound the Kennedy boys were savage contestants, and an annual softball game between the "Barefoot Boys" (the Kennedys and allies) and the "Pansies" (the neighbors) was fought out each Labor Day on the Kennedy lawn. Jack usually pitched, Bobby and Teddy sometimes pouted when their homemade rules were not observed, and celebrated house guests were occasionally dragooned into the game. Once the late Senator Joe McCarthy made four errors playing shortstop for the Barefoot Boys, was retired in disgrace.
Ambassadors at Large. The Wall Street crash unnerved Joe Kennedy and persuaded him to put aside his innate conservatism and become an ardent supporter and a lavish financial backer of Franklin Roosevelt. As SECommissioner and chief of the Maritime Commission, where he performed a notable service to his country by salvaging and reorganizing the bankrupt U.S. merchant marine, Joe lived in Washington for long stretches, frequently brought the family down to meet President Roosevelt and the top dogs of the New Deal. When Roosevelt appointed Joe Kennedy as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's—the first Irish-American to hold the job—the clan moved into the embassy residence on Prince's Gate and immersed themselves in international problems. Summer vacations were spent exploring Europe. Joe Jr. toured the Franco front in Spain; Jack visited Moscow and Berlin on the eve of World War II. Some times the entire tribe would swarm over to Paris for a weekend with Ambassador William Bullitt ("People didn't seem to mind," explains Rose, "and we didn't care where we slept").
As the threat of World War II began to grow in Europe, Ambassador Kennedy's isolationism and his respect for Nazi Germany's military might led him to speak up bluntly and pungently against U.S. involvement on Britain's behalf. Although he remained in London until the Battle of Britain, his break with the Administration was irrevocable. Roosevelt accepted his resignation, and Joe Kennedy's political career came to an abrupt and embittered end.
Advantages & Obligations. With his million-dollar trust funds. Joe assured his children of financial independence. "I put them in a position where each one of them could spit in my eye and tell me where to go," he has said, "and there was nothing to prevent them from becoming rich, idle bums if they wanted to." There was the implicit assumption, however, that each Kennedy, freed of the necessity of earning a living, had a duty to make his life worthwhile. Says Rose: "Joe told the children that they had plenty of advantages, but that these advantages carry with them certain obligations." Like the English gentry of the 18th century, the Kennedys expected each son to excel in a different career. There was no question that young Joe, a bright, confident boy and a natural leader, would go into politics and in due course become President of the U.S. As a 25-year-old member of the Massachusetts delegation to the Democratic Convention of 1940, Joe Jr. footnoted political history by being the last holdout for James Farley, against Roosevelt's third term.