Blog 12/22/2024 - JFK & The Andrew Jackson
President John F. Kennedy & the USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619)
by Bill McCulloch & John Chaffey
On November 16, 1963, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy traveled onboard Air Force One (a US Air Force Boeing VC-137C) from the Kennedy compound La Guerdia in Palm Beach, FL to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Cape Canaveral, FL on this Saturday morning. The President toured the Cape by car with MajGen Leighton I. Davis, Commander Air Force Missile Test Center & James Webb, a NASA Administrator, & Launch Operations Center Director Kurt Debus.
He was briefed on the Gemini Program by Astronauts Majors L. Gordon “Gordo” Cooper & Major Virgil “Gus” Grissom, USAF in civilian clothes.
Then the president visited Pad B at Complex 37 to view the medium-lift Saturn I & was briefed by Dr. Wernher Von Braun, the lead German scientist who had spearheaded the Mercury & Gemini Manned-Space Programs on the future rocket boosters that would lift the Apollo capsules on their way to the moon.
[See MHT’s Blog Rocket Ramblings to see Von Braun work on the German V-1 & V-2 rockets.]
Five days later, he would note at the dedication of the USAF Aerospace Medical Division at Brooks Air Force Base (AFB) in San Antonio, TX the Saturn I SA-5 launch coming in January would be the point where US lift capability would surpass the Soviets, after having been behind since Sputnik initiated the Space Race. The speech at Brooks AFB was on the day before his fateful visit to Dallas on 22 November.
Here at Cape Canaveral (that would soon be renamed in his honor) is seen (L-R) NASA Associated Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr., Florida Senator George Smathers, NASA Administrator James E. Webb, Dr. Wernher Von Braun (partially hidden), NASA Deputy Administrator Hugh L. Dryden, & military aide to the President Chester V. Clinton.
President Kennedy boarded a United States Marine Corps (USMC) VH-3A helicopter that takes off & flies to the USS Observation Island (EAG-154.)
Upon arrival, Kennedy the old Navy man having just had the winning movie of his WWII service in the Pacific onboard PT-109 released the previous July, removed his suit jacket. He donned a Navy windbreaker with patches from both the Observation Island & the ship he had come to view the Fleet Ballistic Nuclear Submarine USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619.)
Kennedy was onboard to observe an A-2 Polaris missile launch from the submerged USS Andrew Jackson at sea off the coast of Florida.
The USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619) was a Lafayette-class submarine, commissioned on 3 July 1963. The contract to build the sub was awarded to Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, CA on 23 July 1960 and her keel was laid down on 26 April 1961.
She was launched on 15 September 1962 & christened by Nancy Kefauver, wife of Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver accompanied by RADM E.J. Fahy, USN CDR Mare Island Shipyard. The Jackson was 425 feet long, 33 feet wide, & had a draft of 32 feet. She displaced 7,250 tons when surfaced, & 8,250 tons when submerged. Her top speed was above 20 knots (23 mph), & she had a maximum depth of 1,300 feet. She had a crew of approximately 120 men, & was armed with 16 Polaris missiles plus four 21-inch torpedo tubes. She served her country & the US Navy for 26 years, 1 month & 28 days, until decommissioned on 31 August 1989.
After passing through the Panama Canal, she launched Polaris A-2 missiles on 1 & 11 October during a shakedown cruise out of Cape Canaveral plus on 26 October & 11 November sent the new A-3X Polaris missiles into space in the first submerged launching of this type. Just six days before his assassination in Dallas President Kennedy embarked on the USS Observation Island observed the launch of another A-2 Polaris off Cape Canaveral.
He congratulated CDR James Wilson, USN & his crew for "impressive teamwork" via a radio/telephone link to the sub.
Two videos of the visit (Below):
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https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=JFK+observes+Polaris+missile+firing+from+USS+Andrew+Jackson&mid=90F58D58F414F5619A9290F58D58F414F5619A92&FORM=VIRE
Before he departed the Observation Island the President was presented a ship plague of the event.
The President’s final visit to the fleet is recalled hauntingly by CAPT Herbert E. Hetu in the following excerpt from his U.S. Naval Institute oral history. The death of President Kennedy shocked the nation but the grief & profound sense of loss was felt particularly strong among the Sea Services.
CAPT Hetu: “It was exhilarating for me to be as close as I am to you to Kennedy, who I thought was a really incredible guy. Kennedy had extraordinary charisma; I mean, he lit up a room. I’ve been around several Presidents, & I just never had that same feeling. He was magic; he just had that electricity around him, an aura.
And the sailors loved him, boy, yes. You know, the PT boat hero & all that. He was interesting—you know, he was aloof but not aloof. It was kind of a strange thing. When I shook his hand, I was speechless. I mean, really, I was just in awe, I just couldn’t believe I was really shaking John Kennedy’s hand. He was that imposing.
I’ve thought about this many times since: There were a bunch of Secret Service guys on board, shooting the breeze & drinking coffee in the wardroom. We started talking about assassinations, “How do you guys do this,” & “How do you know that somebody’s going jump out of the crowd,” & stuff like that. I remember vividly this guy saying, “You know, our greatest fear is that if somebody really wants to kill the President & doesn’t care about his own safety, he could do it any time. We can’t stop something like that. We’re a deterrence, & we would take the bullet if we had to, but you know.”
And I remember not too long thereafter hearing that the President had been shot. I remember somebody coming in & saying, “Kennedy has been shot in Dallas.” And it popped into my mind about talking with these guys. I didn’t know who shot him then yet, but I thought, well, somebody didn’t care. Terrible story.”
He flew back from Observation Island aboard Marine One before boarded Air Force One at Cape Canaveral & returned to Ambassador Joe Kennedy’s home in Palm Beach.
JFK spent the afternoon swimming & watching the Navy-Duke football game on television as Roger Staubach led the Midshipmen offense in beating the Blue Devils 38-25 to get the Naval Academy to 8-1. He was with Dave Powers (the presidential assistant who was the alleged "facilitator" of Kennedy's affinity for extramarital relations, discreetly arranging the time & places for trysts with a variety of women) & Congressman Torbert Macdonald (his old Harvard roommate) giving them 10 points in a bet. Navy’s win forced both to go upstairs to get their wallets to pay off JFK. Sitting around with his guests after dinner, Kennedy gave a “better than usual” rendition of September Song most famously performed by Frank Sinatra.
The Kennedy Presidential Limousines - Lincoln Continentals 1961 (Black - X-100) & 1963 (White – Limo One)
The Black ’61 was built by Ford Motor Company & modified by Hess & Eisenhardt of Cincinnati, OH. They customized the car to function as a presidential parade limousine by cutting it in half, reinforcing it due to extending it 3½ feet in length to add an additional seating row plus making numerous other modifications. Ford Motor Company & Hess & Eisenhardt collaborated on engineering & styling. It debuted at the White House in June 1961. This Lincoln Continental was used by President Kennedy after arriving at Dallas Love Field on 22 November 1963 & was fired on in Dealey Plaza from the Texas School Book Depository by Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was a juvenile delinquent who followed his brother into the USMC but was court-martialed twice & jailed. He defected to Russia before returning to Dallas & becoming a sniper assassin.
In Berlin President Kennedy, is accompanied in X-100 by the then Mayor of West Berlin, Willy Brandt, & the German Federal Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, being greeted by a jubilant crowd.
After the tragedy in Dallas, Project D-2 was initiated to totally revamp the vehicle. The major reconstruction items included: Complete re-armoring of the rear passenger compartment; addition of a permanent non-removable top of transparent armor; a more powerful engine replacement. Work was completed 1 May 1964 & extensive testing began in Cincinnati & Dearborn, MI before the car was delivered back to the White House in June. Costs have been estimated to exceed $500,000.
Although other presidential parade cars were built in 1968 & 1972, the X-100 was used occasionally by Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford & Carter. The X-100 remained in service until early 1977. The car remained the property of the Ford Motor Company, which leased it to the Secret Service & is now exhibited to the public at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.
The White 1963 Lincoln Continental, used to transport the Kennedys in Fort Worth prior to their arrival in Dallas on that fateful morning has been known as “Limo One” or the “Fort Worth Limo” for the Kennedys' visit to the city. Built on 3 November 1963, it was on loan from Lincoln dealer Bill Golightly & served as an official vehicle for use on the 21st & 22nd. Following a breakfast & speech at the Hotel Texas Ballroom on the 22nd President Kennedy, his wife Jackie, & former Texas Governor John Connally rode the historic vehicle through the streets of Fort Worth to Carswell Air Force Base where they boarded Air Force One for their 40-mile flight to Dallas Love Field. It is powered by a 430-cubic-inch V-8 engine & remained in Golighty’s private ownership where it has been auctioned at least twice (the last for $375,000.)
In a historical coincidence, Nancy Kefauver who christened the USS Andrew Jackson was named by President Kennedy to be the first head of the new “Art in Embassies” Program it was to be Kennedy's last presidential appointment before his assassination in November 1963. Art in Embassies, an office within the U.S. Department of State, promotes cultural diplomacy through art exhibitions & permanent collections in more than 200 U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world.
Epilogue: I was amazed by the sheer vitality & number of appearances by JFK & the crowds rampant Kennedy-mania not seen since recent Trump-mania particularly when you compare it with the current vacuous Presidency. The one constant over 50-years was media cover-ups, for Kennedy it was his extramarital affairs. For Biden, it was his mental decline as Special Counsel Hur referred numerous times to Biden’s memory as “limited,” claiming the 81-year-old did not remember the dates of his vice presidency or unbelievably when his son Beau died. Maybe the Hur transcript is dubious but we don’t know as Biden has asserted executive privilege over the audio recordings of his interviews with Hur.