FOR DR. TRAVELL WHO MADE THE SMILE POSSIBLE

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2201

DR. JANET TRAVELL,  JFK'S PERSONAL PHYSICIAN

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-six years ago, January 26, 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Dr. Janet G. Travell as his personal physician.  Dr. Travell became the first woman to hold this position as well as the first civilian since the Harding administration.

The doctor had established a reputation in the treatment of chronic muscular pain and began treating JFK in May 1955.  Back pain had forced Senator Kennedy to use crutches.  According to Dr. Travell's daughter Virginia, the Senator "could barely navigate the...steps...to the front door."

Dr. Travell prescribed medications and varieties of treatment including the use of orthopedic shoes, a back brace and a rocking chair.  These were so successful that JFK's speechwriter Ted Soreson said that they gave the President...

"new hope for a life free from crutches, if not from backache."

JFK must have agreed because he autographed a picture which sat on her desk at the White House as follows...

"For Dr. Travell -- who made the smile possible."

*Jane Graeme Travell, M.D. (1901-1997) daughter of Dr. Willard Travell, general practitioner.  JGT graduated from Wellesley College & was named a Durant Scholar.  

She received her M.D. at Cornell University Medical College where she taught for 30 years.  After JFK's death, JGT served LBJ but after a year and a half she returned to private practice.

SOURCE

"Janet G. Travell, M.D., A Daughter's Recollection," by Virginia P. Wilson, Texas Heart Institute Journal, 2003, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Dr. Janet Travell & JFK

Oval Office

The White House