A very different TEA PARTY…

9 years before the presidency JFK was running for the US Senate in the state of Massachusetts and his mother Rose was one of his biggest backers. She decided to host a series of teas in and around the Boston area to introduce John, (or “Jack“, as she called him). She felt, and rightly so as it turned out, that she would not only get the women to vote for him but that they would motivate their husbands to do the same.

The year was 1952 and I was in my Junior year at Boston University. I was studying for a Journalism degree and our class received a blanket invitation to attend one of the teas. It was considered quite a coup to be invited so I was thrilled. I was not disappointed. Not only were Rose and John there but most of the rest of the female side of the Kennedy clan as well... serving tea and sweets and extolling the virtues of their brother and son.

John was more than charismatic and the women’s heartbeats were practically palpable as he “played” the room, teacup in hand. I remember thinking that politics might be an exciting career but I’m glad now that I never pursued it.

A side line to all this was that Joe Kennedy, John’s father, chose the advertising agency that my dad worked for to promote his son’s campaign. We all, in my family, voted for Jack but we had little use for his father. He had been the Ambassador to Britain in 1938 and his actions before, during and after that time were often suspect, to say the least.

I remember the night my dad came home after John won the Senatorial campaign. He had a long, slim box wrapped in gold paper and he threw it on the table. “This”, he said “is what we get for spending hours listening to that bastard Joe Kennedy” and he opened the box to reveal a silk tie with a hand painted Kennedy crest on it !

My dad  was the last person in the world to be seen wearing a silk tie so I wasn’t surprised by his anger …but I can’t help wondering what that tie would be worth today !!