Elson Lecture: David Nasaw, The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy

Joe Kennedy, father of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert and Edward Kennedy, was an indomitable and elusive figure, whose dreams of advancement for his nine children were matched only by his extraordinary personal ambition and shrewd financial skills. A banker by trade, Kennedy was also a Hollywood mogul, stock exchange savant, shipyard manager, founding chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and ambassador to London during the Battle of Britain. David Nasaw was granted unprecedented access to exclusive family archives and drawing on never-before-published material.  He unearths a man far more complicated than the popular portrait. 

David Nasaw is an author, biographer and historian who specializes in the cultural and social history of early-twentieth-century America. He is on the faculty of the Graduate Center at CUNY where he is the Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Professor of History. His previous books include The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst and Andrew Carnegie.

Reservations required.