May 2, 2012
"JOHNNY WE HARDLY KNEW YE": Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, The End of the Beginning VI
Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) Today we conclude our report on Chapter 1 of the book by Kenneth P. O'Donnell & David F. Powers with Joe McCarthy. It is published by Little, Brown & Company.
The title of Chapter 1 is "The End of the Beginning".
Kenneth O'Donnell continues to describe the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy.
He writes:
"That night, while Jackie was waiting at Bethesda Naval Hospital for (JFK's) autopsy to be completed, Dave (Powers), Larry (O'Brien) & I went with Muggsey O'Leary*, to Gawler's Funeral Home to select another casket for the burial.**"
*O'Leary was JFK's longtime driver & bodyguard.
**The Dallas casket was damaged when it was loaded on AF1 at Love Field.
Dave Powers commented that in Charlestown your prestige was measured by the importance of the people who came to your funeral & he believed his own would be enhanced by JFK's attendance, but now he was picking out JFK's casket.
When the autopsy was over & the President's body was returned to the White House, Dave Powers went home to change clothes while Mrs. Kennedy invited Kenny & Larry O'Brien to spend the night at the White House.
He writes:
"That night, while Jackie was waiting at Bethesda Naval Hospital for (JFK's) autopsy to be completed, Dave (Powers), Larry (O'Brien) & I went with Muggsey O'Leary*, to Gawler's Funeral Home to select another casket for the burial.**"
*O'Leary was JFK's longtime driver & bodyguard.
**The Dallas casket was damaged when it was loaded on AF1 at Love Field.
Dave Powers commented that in Charlestown your prestige was measured by the importance of the people who came to your funeral & he believed his own would be enhanced by JFK's attendance, but now he was picking out JFK's casket.
When the autopsy was over & the President's body was returned to the White House, Dave Powers went home to change clothes while Mrs. Kennedy invited Kenny & Larry O'Brien to spend the night at the White House.
