WHAT’S THE STORY?
YESTERDAY was the centenary of the birth of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the USA who was assassinated on November 22, 1963. He is one of the few men in history known by his initials, but then JFK was the most famous man on the planet in the early 1960s and had he lived and served a second term, this world of ours might be a very different place.
DID HE HAVE ANY SCOTTISH CONNECTIONS?
HE most certainly did, but any attempt to portray him as having Scottish ancestry is doomed to failure. There are simply no written records showing that he had an ancestral line in Scotland, although some claim he was descended from the Kennedy who fought alongside Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.
JFK’s biggest connection to Scotland was the fact that he made his first reported public speech in Glasgow in 1939 when he was just 22. His father Joe was the US Ambassador to Britain and infamously thought Germany would win the Second World War, though he never said as much in public.
Kennedy Snr sent his handsome and clever son to Glasgow after the passenger ship Athenia was sunk by a U-boat off the cost of Ireland – 98 passengers and 19 crew members were killed in the first sinking of a British vessel by the German navy, hours after was declared on September 3.
Some 28 of those who died were American citizens and, fearing the then neutral USA would enter the war, Hitler ordered a cover-up and a propaganda exercise blaming British mines for the sinking.
On his arrival in Glasgow, Kennedy, who was carrying out his first official duty for the US government, was hugely appreciative of the city’s efforts to care for the beleaguered passengers of the Athenia, and praised Lord Provost Patrick Dollan for the efforts he had led personally, which included raising the sum of £3500 – about £250,000 today – to assist the survivors.
One newspaper reported: “Jack Kennedy, son of America’s ambassador Joseph P Kennedy, spent one of the busiest days of his young life today, going from hotels to hospitals in Glasgow, visiting the Athenia’s American survivors.
“His boyish charm and natural kindliness persuaded those who he had come to comfort that America was indeed keeping a benevolent and watchful eye on them.
“Mr Kennedy displayed a wisdom and sympathy of a man twice his age.”
WHAT DID HE SAY?
THE ever-loquacious Kennedy calmed the survivors’ fears and promised they would get home as soon as possible. The schoolboy diplomat made a great impression on his hosts, especially when he made a speech of gratitude to Glasgow.
Addressing the city in general, he said: “I have never seen people more grateful for all that has been done for them by Glasgow than those to whom I have spoken today.
“I have told Lord Provost Dollan that it is the desire of the American government to undertake complete responsibility for the care of our nationals but he has insisted that Glasgow regards it as its privilege to undertake this responsibility.
“That is a very generous gesture indeed and it will be fully appreciated by my countrymen.
I will go back and tell my father how kind you have been to our people.”
IS IT TRUE THE BAGPIPES WERE PLAYED AT HIS FUNERAL?
ON November 13, 1963, the pipes and drums of the Black Watch played for JFK on the White House lawn. He gave a speech, which you can see on YouTube, in which he says: “We are proud to have them here because they are a Scottish regiment, and that green and misty country has sent hundreds and thousands of Scottish men and women to the United States and they have been among our finest citizens. We are proud to have them here, finally, because, speaking personally, the history of Scotland captured me at a very young age.
“The United States, in fact all of us, love, I suppose, in a sense, lost causes, and on occasion the history of Scotland has been a lost cause. But in some ways they have triumphed perhaps more today than ever before.”
Just 12 days later, nine of the Black Watch pipers played in JFK’s funeral march, above, at the request of Jackie Kennedy, who recalled how much her husband had enjoyed that White House performance.
WHO REALLY KILLED HIM?
DESPITE the revelations of his lurid love life and physical infirmities that were kept secret, it’s still the biggest question about JFK.
The answer to who shot Kennedy is Lee Harvey Oswald – there’s no other sensible answer. Whether he was acting on his own remains the subject of intense debate more than 53 years later.
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