Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.

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Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944) was an American naval aviator who was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He was a member of the Kennedy family and the oldest of the nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. During World War II, Kennedy was killed in action while serving as a land-based patrol bomber pilot, and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. Kennedy's father had aspirations for him to become President of the United States. Kennedy was a delegate to the 1940 Democratic National Convention and planned to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after his military service as the first stepping stone on the path to the presidency. Kennedy's death while participating in Operation Aphrodite in August 1944 caused his father to transfer his aspirations to his next-oldest son, John F. Kennedy, who followed the path first planned for his older brother by advancing from the House to the U.S. Senate and then to the presidency.

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