ABSTRACT
John F. Kennedy personified the Democrats’ campaign against the supposedly old, tired, and muddled Eisenhower Republicans. Kennedy was young, vigorous, and glamorous. While Eisenhower golfed, Kennedy and his people played touch football. While Eisenhower was balding, Kennedy had a great shock of hair. While Eisenhower seemed to stumble through his answers at press conferences, Kennedy responded sharply with grace, wit, and a touch of irony. When Kennedy and his beautiful wife Jacqueline returned from France, where she had made a hit by speaking French on public occasions, the president wryly introduced himself as the man who had accompanied Jackie to Paris. Asked how he enjoyed being president, he replied, “I have a nice home, the office is close by and the pay is good.” What surprised him most, he said, on taking office was that things were just as bad as he and the Democrats had been saying they were.
