Memories JFK, 1961-1963

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy's friend and military aide, General Chester V. (Ted) Clifton, assigned Captain Cecil Stoughton of the Army Signal Corps to the full-time job of keeping a photographic record of President Kennedy's days in the White House. Captain Stoughton had extraordinary opportunities to photograph JFK as president, as father, as husband, in moments of crisis and tension, of joy and relaxation, of stern responsibility and of love. Hugh Sidey, the Time-Life correspondent, himself a friend and close observer of the Kennedys, writes: "It remains a curiosity of these times how many people were touched in a special way by John F. Kennedy. The young people reserve a special joy for him, something they salvaged in a way we barely understand when they were seared by his death while they were still younger. Those of us who lived in the Kennedy years find the memories come back stronger than ever with even the slightest encouragement. The unusual human dimensions of the man propelled him through politics and gave his presidency its flavor and lasting meaning." This book is not a deliberate assessment of his stewardship. It is a collection of memories, a compendium of emotion captured on film in Kennedy's thousand days."