John F. Fitzgerald

For the American author John Fitzgerald, see John D. Fitzgerald. For the footballer, see John Fitzgerald.

John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (February 11, 1863–October 2, 1950) was a politician and the grandfather of President John F. Kennedy.

Fitzgerald was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Irish immigrants. He was educated at Boston Latin School. He enrolled at Harvard Medical School for one year, but withdrew following the death of his father in 1881. He became a clerk at the Customs House in Boston and was active in the local Democratic Party. In 1892 he became a member of the Massachusetts Senate and in 1894 he would be elected to Congress, serving from 1895 to 1901. In 1906 Fitzgerald was elected mayor of Boston, becoming the first Irish-Catholic to be elected to that office. (The first Irish-Catholic to hold the office of Mayor of Boston was Fitzgerald's predecessor Daniel Aloysius Whelton.) He was the most prominent political figure in the city of Boston along with Patrick J. Kennedy. Fitzgerald served as mayor of Boston from 1906 to 1907 and again from 1910 to 1914.

In 1914 these two powerful political families (Kennedy and Fitzgerald) were united when Patrick Kennedy's son Joe married Fitzgerald's daughter Rose.

Fitzgerald was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in 1916 and Governor of Massachusetts in 1922.