On December 5, 1961, JFK attended the National Football Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. After having met with the National Security Council, the President flew to NYC where he went to the Carlyle Hotel (pictured above....more about the Carlyle follows.) He gave a speech at the dinner as did entertainer Bob Hope. The President was presented with the Foundation's gold medal.
If JFK was attending the dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria, why didn't he stay there you might ask. Well, JFK owned a 2 bedroom duplex "penthouse" suite on the 34th floor at the Carlyle at 35 E. 76th Street. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., had also owned a suite there. JFK owned his suite in the 10 years before his death.
There have been rumors regarding some of the activities that went on there. One is that an affair with Marilyn Monroe took place there. It has been written that the famous actress was "spirited" into the hotel via underground tunnels.
The JFK suite was purchased for $12.5 million by the heiress to the Hyatt Hotel fortune. Today, a room at the Carlyle has a rate of about $500 a night.
Following is a photograph of one of JFK's rockers that he used in his suite at the Carlyle.
