"0, God, Thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small."
Presented to President Kennedy by Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, "Father of the Nuclear Navy."
6. Steuben Glass Etching
The etchings are of a PT boat and the Presidential seal. The item was presented to President Kennedy by an organization of PT Boat veterans known as Peter-Tare, Inc.
7. Gold Inaugural Medal
The medal commemorating his inauguration was presented to President Kennedy by the Inaugural Committee.
8. Ashtray
The ashtray is of Waterford crystal and bears an etching of the Kennedy coat-of-arms. The ashtray was presented to President Kennedy by Mrs. Dorothy Tubridy of Dublin, Ireland.
9. Books
Among the books that President Kennedy habitually kept on his desk were the following (2):
Leather-bound copies of his own publications:
As We Remember Joe (personal reminiscences of his brother, who was killed in World War II)
Strategy of Peace
Profiles in Courage (his Pulitzer Prize winning work of biography)
To Turn the Tide
Why England Slept (his honors thesis for Harvard University)
The speeches of JFK during the 1960 Campaign
Joint Appearances of Senator Kennedy and Vice President Nixon during Presidential Campaign of 1960
Winston Churchill's four-volume biography of Marlborough,
Samuel Flagg Bemis's two-volume study of John Quincy Adams,
Herbert Agar's The Price of Union, and
Henri-Beyle Stendahl's The Red and The Black.
Also on the desk is a pocket Congressional Directory for the year 1963.
10. Telephones
One large green telephone with several buttons. Two small black telephones for communicating with his staff and the Mansion. (3)
11. Other Items
Magnifying glass (5" x 2"), letter opener, framed photographs of his children, an ashtray with JFK's fingerprints on it (apparently a gift from J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation), a wooden handle with the die of the Presidential seal, a lamp, and ink and pen holders.
According to a response written on 27 February 1961 by Pierre Salinger, Press Secretary to President Kennedy, located in the White House Central Subject File here at the Kennedy Library, the lamp was a Hercolite Executive (no. 605SB) made by Herco Art Manufacturing of Wallingford, Connecticut.(4)
NOTES:
* The Kennedy Library has oral history interviews with Ambassadors Estes and Darlington, in which each recalls this last official appointment of the President, prior to his departure for Dallas.
(1) Refer to Robert Donovan's PT 109, and Joan and Clay Blair's The Search for JFK, for details on the PT 109 episode.
(2) Why the President chose to have these particular books on his desk is not known to us.
(3) The individual function of these telephones, especially which one was used to communicate during national security emergencies, is not known to us. Note that the famous "hot line" that was installed between Washington and Moscow was not a telephone but rather a teletype machine producing typewritten communications at each end.
(4) At present we have no further information on these items, including whether Hoover was the actual source for the ash tray and what the purpose of the Presidential seal was.
References to Read About the Desk and the White House Generally:
Wolff, Perry. A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy.
White House Historical Association. The White House, An Historic Guide.
West, J.B. Upstairs at the White House.
Baldridge, Letitia. Of Diamonds and Diplomats.