In his memoir, Jackie's dress designer said Jack told him he would never quote Jefferson in a presidential speech b/c of the man's antipathy towards Catholics.
In his memoir, Jackie's dress designer said Jack told him he would never quote Jefferson in a presidential speech b/c of the man's antipathy towards Catholics.
Wrong, he honored Jefferson publicly ar a White House reception.
Maybe. But JFK had a lot of respect for Jefferson. He famously said:
"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."-- Address at a White House dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners (29 April 1962), quoted in The White House Diary, at the JFK Library
I want to tell you how welcome you are to the White House. I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet. Whatever he may have lacked, if he could have had his former colleague, Mr. Franklin, hear we all would have been impressed.
John F. Kennedy Remarks at a Dinner Honoring Nobel Prize Winners of the Western Hemisphere.… April 29, 1962
Source. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-dinner-honoring-nobel-prize-winners-the-western-hemisphere