Word: clan
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Cable-Stitched. The Kennedy clan is as handsome and spirited as a meadow full of Irish thoroughbreds, as tough as a blackthorn shillelagh, as ruthless as Cuchulain, the mythical hero who cast up the hills of Ireland with his sword. The tribal laws permit extremes of individualism, though most Kennedys look alike when they smile. When they are together, the family foofaraws are noisy and the discussions continuous, but when they are apart, their need for constant communication strains the facilities of the telephone company and the U.S. postal service. No matter where they happen to be, the Kennedys...
Though intramural competition is intense, the clan swarm like bees around a queen when one member makes a louder hum than the others. Thus, when Teddy was a brawny end at Harvard, every Kennedy became an expert football coach and traveled in T-formation to Cambridge on autumn Saturdays to watch him play. In Bobby's heyday as the grand inquisitor of the Senate McClellan committee, when he was making Jimmy Hoffa squirm, the clan became totally absorbed in the investigation, discussed it over every dinner table and every long-distance telephone call and beat a path...
Belle of Boston. The clan came by its political instincts easily. The Kennedys and Mother Rose's family, the Fitzgeralds, came to Boston more than a century ago, in the great avalanche of immigration that followed the Irish potato famine. The families prospered, and both grandfathers, John F. ("Honey Fitz") Fitzgerald and Patrick J. Kennedy, went into Democratic politics-Pat as a backstage oligarch, Honey Fitz as a frock-coated ham who could weep at will at a stranger's wake, made Sweet Adeline his theme song, served three terms in Congress and was a memorable mayor...
...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...
...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...