The first president born in the 20th century was the son of Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy. Joseph Kennedy was a millionaire and ambassador to England during the build-up to World War Two. He was also considered an appeaser in the growing showdown between Hitler and Churchill. Kennedy later commanded a patrol torpedo boat, a PT-109, in the Solomon Islands campaign where Allies were retaking a string of islands occupied by the Japanese that began with the invasion of Guadalcanal and its airfield being built to threaten supply lines between Australia and the United States. After the war, he entered politics and was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1952. At age 43, he defeated Republican Richard Nixon for the presidency in 1960. Kennedy became the youngest elected US president. Here are some trivia items you may not be aware of:
Among the many actors who have portrayed JFK, both the president and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy have been played by Martin Sheen. Actor Cliff Robertson was hand-chosen by Kennedy to play the Kennedy in the film PT-109, although Mrs. Kennedy favored Warren Beatty. Also considered for the role in that film were Peter Fonda, Roger Smith, and Ed “Kookie” Byrnes, the latter two then starring in the TV show, 77 Sunset Strip.
The PT-109 heroics were depicted in a number of books including the one the movie PT-109 is based on, comic books, TV specials, in scale models, and as a GI Joe figure.
A cocoanut shell on which Kennedy scratched a message telling where his shipwrecked PT-109 crew was and given to Solomon Island scouts was turned into a paperweight and kept on his desk in the White House.
Over the course of the TV series McHale’s Navy, a comedy starring Ernest Borgnine about a former island trader commanding a PT boat crewed by a bunch of misfits, Kennedy’s boat number, PT-109, was more than once mentioned but not Kennedy’s name.
Known to friends as Jack, father Joseph P. Kennedy called him Johnny.
Kennedy’s favorite film was Spartacus and he reportedly urged Kirk Douglas to take the role of Colonel Jiggs Casey in the anti-nuclear thriller, Seven Days in May. His favroite genre were Westerns and the Civil War. A movie fan, he would unhesitantly walk out of a movie that he found uninteresting. He gave a huge boost to a little-noticed spy series later to become a huge film franchise when he indicated he enjoyed James Bond spy thrillers by Ian Fleming.
Like President Theodore Roosevelt, Kennedy was a speed-reader who regularly read four newspapers cover to cover in 15 minutes. (TR read a book each morning before breakfast. Several more in the evening if he had free time.) Kennedy read in the neighborhood of 2,000 words per minute with 95% comprehension
In 1940, Kennedy wrote the best-seller, “Why England Slept.” In 1955, he wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Profiles in Courage,” about courageous stands by eight US Senators. In his autobiography, Kennedy adviser and speechwriter Ted Sorenson confirmed rumors that he had co-authored “Profiles in Courage.”
Although he presented a healthy, vigorous image, Kennedy in fact had Addison’s disease and hypothyroidism and suffered from other debilitating ailments. He had several spinal surgeries in the 1950’s and during his life had been given last rights four times. A bad back required the wearing of a brace which, unfortuantely, made him vulnerable to an assassin’s bullet as the president sat propped up in a limousine in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
Kennedy usually swam twice a day in the White House swimming pool. Notwithstanding health difficulties, he also enjoyed sailing, golf and touch football. He exercised daily.
Kennedy was very clothes conscious and routinely changed completely twice a day. He changed shirts up to four times. He disliked wearing a hat and never allowed himself to be photographed wearing one. The dislike extended even to being presented a cowboy hat in Texas or a feathered Indian headdress.
Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, an avid photographer, once sent one of his photos of the president to Kennedy with a request that he sign it. Kennedy did: “For Barry Goldwater, whom I urge to follow the career for which he has shown so much talent — photography. From his friend, John Kennedy.”
Kennedy liked a daiquiri or bloody Mary, but not more than one in an evening.
Kennedy was noted for his sense of humor which set a standard for later presidents.
An author of a book on older brother Joseph, killed in World War II, noted that the older brother was the one expected to go into politics, although he lacked the common touch that served John Kennedy so well. After Joseph died, Jack became the politician.
Kennedy was the first former Boy Scout to become U.S. president.
Despite the respect for Kennedy, his presidency was marked by a lack of major legislative changes until succeeding President Lyndon Johnson pushed much of the Kennedy proposals through after the assassination. Hosting a 1962 dinner for Nobel Prize laureates, Kennedy said “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” Asked how he became a hero, Kennedy replied, “It was involuntary. They sank my boat.”
