"PRESIDENT BEING SHIELDED FROM PUBLIC VIEW"

JFK RETURNS TO WASHINGTON AFTER FLORIDA VACATION, BACK AILMENT HASN'T CLEARED UP

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On June 12, 1961, Mary McGrory reports in the Evening Star that President John F. Kennedy returned to the Nation's Capital today after a four-day vacation in Florida that "failed to clear up his back ailment."

McGrory writes that the President is being shielded from public view because "he is using his crutches continually."

JFK had to be transported from his plane on a "cherry picker" and then use his crutches to get about.  The crutches were prescribed by the President's personal physician, Dr. Janet Travell, to "lessen the discomfort...when he moves about."

JFK+50 NOTE

JFK had four back operations in his lifetime.  His chronic back pain began when he was in his early 20s.  Despite the pain, he did not like to discuss it.  Dave Powers said after an operation in the 1950s, there was a hole left in JFK's back big enough to put your fist through.

The President wore a brace which kept him upright after being shot in the upper back. He slumped slightly forward but otherwise might have been out of view for the fatal head shot.

SOURCES

"JFK's back:  chronic pain, failed surgeries, and the story of the effects on his life and death," by Glenn Pait & Justin T. Dowdy.  National Library of Medicine, www.pubmed.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/

"Kennedy Gets Special Care," by Mary McGrory, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., June 12, 1961, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

 

 

Simple Crutches

Open Clip Art

www.openclipart.org/ 

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