JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2196
FIRST DAY FOR JFK & HIS SECRETARY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Today, Saturday, January 21, 2017, marks the first full day for President Donald J. Trump and his staff. Both John F. Kennedy and Mr. Trump were inaugurated on a Friday.
Fifty-six years ago, Saturday, January 21, 1961, President Kennedy's personal secretary Mrs. Evelyn Lincoln arrived at the White House for her first day on the job.
Although the guard at the gate entrance to the West Wing did not know her, he took Mrs. Lincoln's word that she was the new President's secretary and that it was her husband, Abe, who was driving their 1951 red car.
She was escorted down the hall to her office which overlooked the Rose Garden. A door opened into the Oval Office and she stepped inside. Mrs. Lincoln was "somewhat disappointed" that most everything in the room, including the wall, was green.
JFK suddenly appeared and said,
"Good Morning Mrs Lincoln. Is there any mail?"
Later the President noticed a reading copy of his Inaugural Address. He said that he had read where a former POTUS had been offered $75,000 for his Inaugural Address and then asked Mrs. Lincoln for a pen.
JFK signed the copy, handed it back to his secretary, and said...
"Here, keep this $75,000 for me."
*Evelyn Maurine Norton Lincoln (1909-1995) was born in Nebraska. Her father, John Norton, was a U.S. Congressman. She graduated from George Washington University & studied law for 2 years. EMNL went to work for Senator John F. Kennedy in 1953.
The NY Times describes their relationship as "a bond forged in political heaven" as she was "efficient, savvy and devoted." After JFK's death she wrote two books & returned to Capitol Hill as a secretary from 1967 to 1973.
SOURCES
"Evelyn Lincoln, Secretary to Kennedy, Is Dead at 85," New York Times, May 13, 1995.
"My Twelve Years with John F. Kennedy," by Evelyn Lincoln, Personal Secretary to the President, David McKay Co.,Inc., New York, 1965.
FIRST DAY FOR JFK & HIS SECRETARY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Today, Saturday, January 21, 2017, marks the first full day for President Donald J. Trump and his staff. Both John F. Kennedy and Mr. Trump were inaugurated on a Friday.
Fifty-six years ago, Saturday, January 21, 1961, President Kennedy's personal secretary Mrs. Evelyn Lincoln arrived at the White House for her first day on the job.
Although the guard at the gate entrance to the West Wing did not know her, he took Mrs. Lincoln's word that she was the new President's secretary and that it was her husband, Abe, who was driving their 1951 red car.
She was escorted down the hall to her office which overlooked the Rose Garden. A door opened into the Oval Office and she stepped inside. Mrs. Lincoln was "somewhat disappointed" that most everything in the room, including the wall, was green.
JFK suddenly appeared and said,
"Good Morning Mrs Lincoln. Is there any mail?"
Later the President noticed a reading copy of his Inaugural Address. He said that he had read where a former POTUS had been offered $75,000 for his Inaugural Address and then asked Mrs. Lincoln for a pen.
JFK signed the copy, handed it back to his secretary, and said...
"Here, keep this $75,000 for me."
*Evelyn Maurine Norton Lincoln (1909-1995) was born in Nebraska. Her father, John Norton, was a U.S. Congressman. She graduated from George Washington University & studied law for 2 years. EMNL went to work for Senator John F. Kennedy in 1953.
The NY Times describes their relationship as "a bond forged in political heaven" as she was "efficient, savvy and devoted." After JFK's death she wrote two books & returned to Capitol Hill as a secretary from 1967 to 1973.
SOURCES
"Evelyn Lincoln, Secretary to Kennedy, Is Dead at 85," New York Times, May 13, 1995.
"My Twelve Years with John F. Kennedy," by Evelyn Lincoln, Personal Secretary to the President, David McKay Co.,Inc., New York, 1965.
Evelyn Lincoln
JFK's Personal Secretary
White House West Wing
April 28, 1961
Photo by Robert L. Knudsen
JFK Library Image
