The youngest man ever elected to the office of President of the United States, John F. Kennedy was only 43 years old when he was sworn in as the 35th President on January 20, 1961.  Born into a wealthy, and politically active, family in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29, 1917, Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1940 before joining the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded a series of PT boats in the Pacific theatre and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his service. After the war, Kennedy represented the 11th Congressional district of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate and served as the junior Senator from Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book “Profiles in Courage,” which won a Pulitzer Prize. In the 1960 presidential election, he narrowly defeated his Republican opponent, Richard Nixon, who was the incumbent vice president.

Kennedy's presidency included high tensions with Russia, North Vietnam and Cuba during in the Cold War. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba; the resulting period of tensions, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly resulted in the breakout of a global thermonuclear conflict. Kennedy presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps and the continuation of the Apollo space program, and supported the Civil Rights movement, but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies. On November 22, 1963, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Presented is a John F. Kennedy signature on a typewritten letter on White House stationary. Kennedy has signed his name in black pen below the text of a January 14, 1963 letter to author and historian Davis Newton Lott. The 7 x 9-inch white sheet has “The White House Washington” in blue type across the top.  Kennedy’s letter acknowledges receipt of the book, “The Presidents Speak” from Lott, who edited the 1961 collection of all inaugural speeches delivered by U.S. Presidents including Kennedy.  Lott’s book provides readers with a capsule biography of each president, an overview of what was happening in the U.S. and the world at the time of the election and the inauguration, statistical insight into the election results, and a portrait of each president at the time he took office. Lott has provided annotations of the speeches.

Kennedy’s letter to Lott is accompanied by a 4¾ x 7¼-inch white enveloped on White House letterhead with Lott’s mailing address typed in black, and two U.S. Post Office stamps cancelled in Washington, D.C. on January 15, 1963. The letter and envelope are slightly yellowed with age, while the letter was originally folded in half for mailing. There are no defects, tears or stains on the front of either item; there are small brown glue stains on the reverse of the letter. This comes with a LOA from JSA (BB36698) for Kennedy's signature.

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