"HE LOOKED SKINNY, BEDRAGGLED & EXHAUSTED"

JFK FAILS IN ATTEMPT TO FLAG DOWN RESCUE SHIP

Solomon Islands (JFK+50) On August 3, 1943, the survivors of PT 109 waited for rescue after having been struck by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri in the early morning hours of August 2nd.

Australian coast watcher Reginald Evans reported sighting the sinking of PT109 and there was little hope that any of the crew were still alive.

Having failed in an attempt to flag down a rescue ship, 109's commander, Lt. j.g. John F. Kennedy, swam back to the island where his surviving crew waited.

When JFK arrived...

"he looked skinny, bedraggled and exhausted.  He had a beard.  His hair was matted over his forehead.  His circled eyes were bloodshot."

 SOURCE

 "PT109, JFK in WWII," by Robert J. Donovan*, McGraw-Hill, 1961.

*Bob Donovan was with President and Mrs. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 covering the trip as a political story.  Ironically, he had previously written a book on presidential assassins.

 PT Officers 1943

Jim Reed, JFK, Barney Ross, Red Fay

JFK Library Photo

"THINK OF THE VITRIOL BOOTH HEARD POURED UPON LINCOLN'S NAME"

PRESIDENT DIES FROM PISTOL SHOT IN THE BRAIN

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On the morning of April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died at the Petersen Rooming House* here in the Nation's Capital.  The President was pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. as the result of a pistol shot to back of the head as he sat in his box with his wife at Ford's Theater the evening of the 14th.

Attending physician Dr. Charles A. Leale** determined that Mr. Lincoln would not survive a trip back to the Executive Mansion and so ordered that he be taken to the nearest bed.  The Petersen Rooming House, now called "The House Where Lincoln Died," is located across the street from the theater.

In his book, "The Assassins," Robert Donovan wrote...

"Think of the vitriol (John Wilkes) Booth must have heard poured upon Lincoln's name year after year.  It can only be a matter of conjecture to what extent...violent, inflammatory, vicious, unthinking, uncharitable criticism of the men who carry the world's heaviest burden has had upon the dark minds of the fanatics who have murdered or tried to murder them."

Mr. Donovan closes his book with a call for us to temper our criticism of the POTUS "regardless of who occupies the office with less hatred and meanness and a little more maturity, logic and forbearance." 

*Petersen Rooming House is located at 516 10th Street across from Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.  It was the home of William & Anna Petersen in April 1865 when the mortally wounded POTUS was carried inside & placed on a bed in a back bedroom.  

**Dr. Charles Augustus Leale (1842-1932) was born in New York City & was a 23 year old US Army surgeon at the time of Lincoln's assassination.  CAL was seated 40 ft. from Lincoln's box when the shot was fired.  Dr. Leale left the army in 1866 & established a private practice specializing in charitable cases in NYC.

SOURCES

"The Assassination: Death of the President," by Champ Clark, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA, 1987.

"The Assassins," by Robert J. Donovan, Harper Brothers Publishers, New York, 1952.

"The Death of President Lincoln, 1865," www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

"The Petersen House", National Park Service, www.nps.gov/

The House Where Lincoln Died

10th Street, Washington, D.C.

Photo by John White (2007)

"HE PINKED ME, HARRY!"

TR SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN MILWAUKEE

Milwaukee, Wisconsin (JFK+50)  On October 14, 1912, Progressive or "Bull Moose" Party nominee & former POTUS Theodore Roosevelt* was shot while greeting the public in front of the Gilpatrick Hotel here in Milwaukee.

At 8 p.m. local time, TR was shot in the chest from a distance of five feet as he stood in his open car waving his hat to the crowd.   A 32-caliber bullet passed through his glasses case and his 50 page folded-up speech which were in his breast pocket. 

When asked by his aide if he had been hit, TR answered..."He pinked me, Harry."

TR refused to be taken to a hospital until he completed his scheduled speech.

With worried aides standing by ready to catch him if he passed out, TR told the astonished crowd...

"Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible.  I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot."

Despite the wound, Roosevelt went on to speak for an hour and at one point pulled the bloody manuscript from his pocket, held it up for the audience to see, and said..."It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose."

After finishing his speech, TR was taken to Johnston Emergency Hospital "suffering from shock and loss of blood."  Although he recovered, doctors determined it was best not to attempt to remove the bullet.  TR would later say...

"I do not mind it (the bullet) any more than if it were in my...pocket."

The shooter was an unemployed 36 year-old New York saloon-keeper named John N. Schrank**.  

*Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, assumed the presidency upon the death of William McKinley in 1901 & was elected to a term of his own in 1904.  He was succeeded by William H. Taft in 1909 but soon became disillusioned with Taft's policies.  TR (P) ran as a 3rd party candidate against Taft (R) & Wilson (D) in the Election of 1912.

 **John Nepomuk Schrank (1876-1943) was born in Erding, Bavaria & came to America at age 9.  He became a Biblical scholar & saloonkeeper in New York City.  He sold the saloon after 2 years in 1906.

  JFS claimed that he saw the ghost of President William McKinley who wanted him to avenge his death & also expressed the view that no POTUS should have a third term. (This was written in a note found in Schrank's pocket dated Sept. 15, 1912.)

 After the attempt on the life of TR, JFS was declared insane and committed to a hospital for the criminally insane in Wisconsin.

JFK+50 NOTE

Robert J. Donovan, author of "The Assassins", writes that while TR was the first POTUS "to receive the formal protection of the Secret Service," as a former president (at that time) he did not have SS protection.

SOURCES

"Shot in the Chest 100 Years Ago, Teddy Roosevelt Kept on Talking," by Christopher Klein, October 12, 2012, History, www.history.com/

"The Assassins", by Robert J.Donovan, Harper and Brothers Publishers, New York, 1955.

TR X-Ray (1912)

 Library of Congress Image

PT109 SURVIVORS WAIT FOR RESCUE

PT109 SURVIVORS WAITED FOR RESCUE 71 YEARS AGO TODAY

Solomon Islands (JFK+50) The survivors of the PT 109 waited for rescue seventy one years ago today, August 3, 1943, after having been struck by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri in the early morning hours of August 2nd.

Australian coast watcher Reginald Evans reported sighting the sinking of PT109 and there was little hope that any of the crew were still alive.

Having failed in an attempt to flag down a rescue ship, 109's commander, Lt. j.g. John F. Kennedy, swam back to the island where his surviving crew waited.

When JFK arrived...

"he looked skinny, bedraggled and exhausted.  He had a beard.  His hair was matted over his forehead.  His circled eyes were bloodshot."

                   

PT Officers 1943

Jim Reed, JFK, Barney Ross, Red Fay

JFK Library Photo

SOURCE

 "PT109, JFK in WWII," by Robert J. Donovan*, McGraw-Hill, 1961.

*Bob Donovan was with President and Mrs. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 covering the trip as a political story.  Ironically, he had previously written a book on presidential assassins. 

"On the coast of Kolombangara, 
   looking through his telescope
  Australia's Evans saw the battle
   For the crew had little hope
  
  Two were dead and some were wounded
  All were clinging to the bow
  Fighting fire and fighting water,
  trying to save their lives somehow."

"PT109"
recorded by Jimmy Dean (1961)
lyrics by Fred Burch & Marijohn Wilkin

COOLIDGE SWORN IN BY DAD

Plymouth Notch, Vermont (JFK+50) 91 years ago this morning, August 3, 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge, visiting his family home here at Plymouth Notch, was awakened by a knock on his bedroom door.

The Vice President's father, John Coolidge, had some bad news.  President Warren G. Harding, he told his son, had died.

From that point on, things happened quickly.  A special telephone line had to be set up so that the new president could speak with Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes.

Hughes told Coolidge that his swearing-in ceremony must be witnessed by a notary^.

Calvin's father, a notary public, would do the job.

^A Notary serves the public in matters of estate, deed, power-of-attorney and foreign and international business.  Most in the U.S. are lay people who are required to have brief training.

Amity Shlaes writes...

"By kerosene lamplight, before a small group that included his wife and Porter Dale, a congressman...a new United States president was sworn in by his father."

SOURCE

"Coolidge," by Amity Shlaes, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2013.

Calvin Coolidge 

Sworn in by John Coolidge

Portrait by Arthur I. Keller 

Coolidge appeared on the front porch of his house at 7:20 a.m. prepared for travel.  He first paid a visit to his mother's (Victoria Josephine Moor Coolidge, 1846-1885) grave, and then took the regularly scheduled 9:35 train out of town.