Wilkinson’s Joe Sr. fondles his secretary in his office at the ambassador’s residence in London in 1938. As he dictates a note to the president, Joe “fondles her breasts” and “nuzzles her neck.” When sons Joe Jr. and Jack enter his office, Joe Sr. continues his fondling as his sons look on, “amused.” The note he’s dictating? It suggests that in order to keep the peace in Europe, certain concessions be made to Hitler. (It’s a viewpoint later parroted by son Joe Jr. even after the annexation of Czechoslovakia.) A comment made about Jack’s shabby clothes results in him telling his father, “Girls figure I need help dressing. Once I get ‘em in the closet…”
oe Sr. was a fiercely ambitious businessman who thrived on competition. Feeling himself an outsider because of his immigrant Irish roots, he was fixated on joining the ranks of America’s upper class establishment. After graduating Harvard University in 1912, Joe Sr. turned to a career in finance, and quickly made a large fortune in the stock and commodity markets, real estate and in a wide range of industries. During World War I, he was an assistant general-manager of Bethlehem Steel and developed a friendship with Franklin D. Roosevelt, then assistant secretary of the Navy. In another career move, Joe Sr. moved to Hollywood and made huge profits from reorganizing and refinancing several Hollywood studios and also was a film producer. After Prohibition ended in 1933, Joe Sr. made an even larger fortune as the exclusive American agent for Gordon’s Gin and Dewar’s Scotch. Soon he owned the largest office building in the country, Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, giving his family an important base in that city and an alliance with the Irish-American political leadership.
He became a leading member of the Democratic Party and was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be the inaugural chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He later directed the Maritime Commission. In 1938 he became Ambassador to Great Britain, a post he greatly enjoyed and one, he thought, would lead him to the White House. But Joe Sr. believed in appeasing Adolf Hitler and urged the United States to stay out of the war, even while bombs fell on London. He made speeches contrary to American foreign policy and so he was fired as Ambassador in November 1940, ending his personal political ambitions.
But he continued to build the financial and political fortunes of the Kennedy family. Joe Sr. strategically constructed his family’s image towards the public. He believed that “image is reality,” and that the ultimate prize for a Kennedy was the American Presidency. He wanted this job for his first son, Joseph Kennedy Jr., but when Joseph Jr. died in the war, Joe Sr. turned his attention and ambitions to his second-born, John F. Kennedy.
From behind the scenes, Joe Sr. drove John’s campaign for Congress, Senate and then for President. He planned strategy, fundraising, and built coalitions and alliances. He worked the phones tirelessly, cajoling local and state party leaders, newsmen, and business leaders to help get the votes out. Joe Sr.’s connections and influence were turned directly into political capital for the senatorial and presidential campaigns of John, Robert and later Edward (Ted).
Throughout the years he expanded the Kennedy Compound at Hyannis Port, which was the major center of family get-togethers. After a disabling stroke in 1961 at the age of 73, Joe Sr. lost all power of speech, used a wheelchair but remained mentally intact. He died in 1969 at the age of 81.
“People talk about the curse that seems to echo down the generations of the Kennedys and in a certain sense it’s true,” says Tom Wilkinson. “And if you are going to see it in the kind of Greek tragedy sense, there isn’t a better sort of patriarchal figure than Joe Kennedy because his world view was extreme. His world view was: ambition, money and family. It’s almost medieval in its simplicity … but almost everything else went by the boards.”
“Joe and Rose were not your modern, touchy-feely, caring and sharing-parenthood-type of parents. He was distant and domineering. And Rose was rigidly and extremely Catholic… They were the boss and whatever they said you did and if you didn’t do it you got punished. They were axioms of parenthood in that era. And there is a sense in our story that Joe continued to bully both Jack and Bobby as adults,” says Wilkinson.
“I think Joe’s biggest flaw was that he pushed his children into positions they really didn’t want to be in. His other flaw was the attitude that there were the Kennedys and the rest…and the rest weren’t worth anything,” Wilkinson says.
"Pictures of Sheen's "erect penis" that Richards says he used for his profile on sex sites are also included, which Richards claims he e-mailed to "approximately 30 women."
"I'd love to give it to you any time," Sheen wrote to one woman under the screen name "mrjonze55."
Richards says Sheen even visited gay pornography sites - "which I found even more disturbing because I felt that the boys looked underage.
Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards are in the middle of a heated custody battle. Denise recently filed some documents regarding Charlie’s behavior which Page Six got their hands on
just watched the "60 Minutes" expose on Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea. It felt like a punch in the gut, even if it's of the too familiar heroes-come-crashing-down variety.
It must have felt like a punch to many. None of us like to give our hard-earned pennies or dollars or peace prize money to someone who betrays our confidence.
I felt it in my gut, too, because Mortenson and I have a lot in common. We've both published two memoirs about our experiences and work for education in the developing world, he in Afghanistan and I in Haiti. We both travel to speak about our work -- albeit he on a much grander, best-selling-er scale than I. Once I stood for half an hour in a book line to talk with him for two minutes and he seemed touchingly humble and friendly.
But he's been accused of fabricating key stories in his books, lacking organizational/financial transparency and effectiveness, and receiving "excessive" personal benefits from his organization.
The accusers don't deny that he's done some worthwhile work. But right now, even with hisposted responses, too much is murky. I deeply hope the truth proves less damning than the accusations, but meanwhile, three thoughts:
First Cup -- Hero Worship Fails
Still a little bitter so many swigs later. We need inspiration to be better people. But someone told me once you should never be the hero of your own stories. By the same logic, it's wise to be wary of anyone else who is.
And while he was the hero, one of the things I liked about Mortenson was his self-deprecating posture in his book and speaking. I found his clumsiness inspiring since at times I feel clumsy myself in this work. But you can't make up dramatic, untrue stories. That's fiction. To me, it's in a nobler cause but a worse betrayal than James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Frey had literary/personal ambition. Mortenson has made himself the centerpiece of education for tens of thousands of children and solicited money from people, while asking for a lot of trust in his story and work.
If he did what he's accused of, he undercut these children's education (though, of course, they likely wouldn't have received education at all otherwise). While doing a lot of good, he would also have been undercutting the way people engage with "true" stories and giving. Whether he's innocent, guilty, or somewhere in between, we do well to check our anointing of saints.
Second Cup -- Are We Partly To Blame?
No. That's the short and final answer. Whatever he did or didn't do, it's all on him. But I find the story more interesting if it leads to insight about our systems, lives, and culture.
The system rewards dramatic stories and cult of personality, which helps cut through the busy noise of so many stories, needs, tragedies, invitations to give.
As co-director of a nonprofit, seeing how generous people are is one of the great gifts of my life. I also see how important it is to care for the trust of these relationships. Those of us working in nonprofits get to be a bridge between people who are giving and people who have needs -- say, children who otherwise would have no chance for education (only about half of children in Haiti get to attend elementary school).
Knowing this, in our organization we keep a check on ourselves through: weekly progressvideos from Haiti, Google maps withlocations of our seven schools, photos, reports, manyvisitors to our work, Haitian colleagues at our presentations in the U.S. whenever possible, annual audited financials, a board of directors of which neither my co-director nor I are part of, 100% of my book proceeds and honorariums going to our organization -- all these things are vital to what we're doing.
We're far from perfect, but if our work is important and committed to ongoing change, there better be checks and balances. That and a wariness of hero-worship are both unpleasant to swallow -- because we need inspiration and the heart is rewarded by being able to give generously. But there are better ways.
Third Cup -- Truth Must Be Marrried To Justice
Robin Hood is an archetype who breaks moral norms to achieve a greater justice. It's an appealing story, of course. You get to be the bad guy and the good guy all at once. And there are real life examples worth holding up of breaking laws to help others or to transform unjust society.
One good check on the Robin Hood archetype is to ask how much the bender-of-the-morals will personally benefit. Another check is to remember that, ultimately, for justice to work it has to be inseparably married to truth.
Mortenson needs to provide clearer answers, and he says they're coming. He also needs to increase transparency all around. As givers or as people leading a charity, our hearts constantly need to be in concert with our heads -- that is, with what is true. Transparency, accountability, and sharing power are crucial for making this happen.
And for all of us who are charitable givers, well, Mortenson's story is not an excuse for a lack of generosity to help, for example, educating girls in Afghanistan or Haiti or elsewhere. To use this as an excuse would be flimsy and cheats justice. But to blame the media or not to insist on clearer answers short-changes the need for truth.
The right position is to be in mutual service to justice and truth -- and to keep being humbled by this posture.
Rather than an excuse, this story should just be another reminder to stumble forwardhonestly to change the world for better. It's a lesson worth drinking over and over -- and most of us need far more than three cups. The measurement of success isn't the New York Times bestseller list or our salaries or outside praise, but the effectiveness of our service and the orientation of our souls as we continuously repent and strive toward justice, truth, and love.
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