I AM READING MORE & ENJOYING IT LESS

JFK HAS NO COMPLAINTS ABOUT HIS TREATMENT BY THE PRESS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) At his afternoon news conference at the State Department on May 9, 1962, President John F. Kennedy responded to a couple of questions from reporters with customary humor.

One reporter asked JFK to comment on the treatment of his administration by the press.

JFK said...

"I am reading more & enjoying it less*...and so on, but I have not complained nor do I plan to make any general complaints.  I think (the press) is doing their task as a critical branch and I am attempting to do mine...

We are going to live together for a period and then go our separate ways."

Another newsman asked the President to comment on his remark during the steel crisis in which he quoted his father's derogatory view of businessmen.

JFK replied...

"The statement (in the newspapers) quotes my father as having expressed himself strongly to me.  I quoted what he said and indicated that he had not been....wholly wrong.  

But that's past.  Now we are working together, I hope."

Both answers were followed with laughter from the press corps.

*JFK's comment was a take on a frequently seen television cigarette commercial which asked the question, "Are you smoking more, but enjoying it less?"

JFK Jokes with the Press

I MERELY GIVE MY VIEW AS AN INTERESTED CITIZEN

JFK'S FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On January 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy held his first press conference as President of the United States at the State Department Auditorium here in the Nation's Capital.

Breaking with tradition, President Kennedy allowed his meetings with the press to be televised live.  Previously, conferences were held in private, usually in the oval office.  

Sixty-five million Americans in 21.5 million homes tuned in for the first Kennedy press conference and JFK posted an average television audience of 18 million viewers for all conferences.

While JFK's conferences would be known for the President's wit, Walter Shapiro points out that it was a half-hour into that first one before it was unleashed.  JFK expressed the hope that a "small group of men" would not bottle up his proposed legislation in Congress.  He then added...

"I merely give my view as an interested citizen."

The press corps broke into laughter and JFK smiled.  It would not be the last time that happened.

SOURCES

"Kennedy and the Press:  The News Conferences", Edited and Annotated by Harold W. Chase and Allen H. Lerman, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1965.

"The Kennedy Press Conference, Always Good for a Laugh", New England Historical Society, www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/

JFK at Press Conference

State Dept. Auditorium

January 24, 1962

Photo by Cecil W. Stoughton

JFK Library Image