5. Democratic Party politics brought Kennedy together with James Roosevelt, FDR’s son
During the 1932 presidential campaign, James Roosevelt served as FDR’s deputy in Massachusetts, where he had established a successful business in Boston. James became a protégé of Kennedy’s who helped guide him through the maze of Democratic alliances, and the Irish politics of Boston. James made more than 200 campaign appearances in Massachusetts on behalf of his father, who had lost the Democratic Primary in the state when the Irish Catholic vote largely went for Alfred E. Smith. Kennedy’s backing, both with money and in appearances, helped FDR appear more attractive to the Irish Catholic vote, and FDR carried the state in November.
Joe Kennedy and James Roosevelt then went to the United Kingdom, having formed a corporation called Somerset Importers. They carried with them licenses to import alcohol in limited quantities for medicinal purposes, legal under prohibition. In the UK they negotiated exclusive US distribution rights for several UK brands of scotch and gin, which began to be shipped into the United States when Prohibition ended in 1933 (the amendment was ratified before Kennedy returned). Kennedy again used information and connections to corner a large portion of the legal liquor market after Prohibition was no longer the law of the land.