Not really. The great circle route from Hawaii to Boston goes about over San Francisco, but it's not that much of a deviation to go through Seattle.
The direct flight is 5095 miles the path through Seattle is 5173 miles. Only 1.5% farther. In 1961 the direct path might have been out of the question. Flying through SF would make the distance only 0.1% more than the direct path at 5103 miles. The over-water leg would be 2677 miles to Seattle and 2399 miles to San Francisco. That does make the SF run more attractive, but since it would have had more traffic the Seattle path might have been cheaper (although I doubt it, in those days of stricter regulation of fares and such). But the differences in distance and cost are not so much as to discourage a stopover to see friends for a few days, weeks or whatever.
According the Boeing web site, the first commercial 707 type jets were the 707-120 series of 1958 which had a range that was barely sufficient for the Atlantic Ocean. The 707-320 series in 1959 achieved a range of 4000 miles with 141 seats.
The great circle route is all very interesting but the airline routes available don’t go that way. Besides, Obama Sr. was not in Boston in August of 1991, at least on the current record.