John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the first television president. It was the advent of the 1960s – the Mad Men era – when his debate with Richard Nixon was the first to be televised, making the Kennedy presidency the first to be covered on television in its entirety, from its beginning to its violent premature end.

Some believe that Kennedy won the first debate because he made a more attractive visual presentation than Nixon to the television audience, while some who listened to the debate on the radio actually felt that Nixon made a better show. Regardless, it was a new era – an era of television – where appearances would matter more than ever.

However one felt about him or his politics, one could not deny that Jack Kennedy possessed powerful charm, enormous appeal and looks that the camera loved. He was a glamorous package that even Frank Sinatra couldn’t resist.

He also had style. With an effortless look that betrayed a privileged New England upbringing and a Harvard education, Kennedy’s iconic Ivy League style came to represent a distinctly American sophistication and masculine glamour that was rooted in Brooks Brothers and has continued to influence the likes of Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Thom Browne and others.

His style, both dress and casual, has influenced all of us, really, whether we’re aware of it or not. With enormous media exposure in a new television age with bold color photographs – combined with a virtual canonization by a nation gutted by his tragic end – President Kennedy and his legacy wielded an unprecedented style influence and established an image and a template to which many American men aspire to this day.

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Kennedy Campaign.
Kennedy Campaign.

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With daughter Caroline in Hyannis Port, MA.
With daughter Caroline in Hyannis Port, MA.
In Hyannis Port, MA.
In Hyannis Port, MA.
President Kennedy and his son, John F. Kennedy Jr. at the White House.
President Kennedy and his son, John F. Kennedy Jr. at the White House.

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Portrait with Mrs. Kennedy
Portrait with Mrs. Kennedy
With Caroline.
With Caroline.

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With Peter Lawford.
With Peter Lawford.
With President Eisenhower.
With President Eisenhower.

JFK In New Mexico

President Kennedy and his brothers, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy outside the Oval Office.
President Kennedy and his brothers, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy outside the Oval Office.
President Kennedy, John Jr., Mrs. Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy with family dogs. Hyannis Port, Squaw Island.
President Kennedy, John Jr., Mrs. Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy with family dogs. Hyannis Port, Squaw Island.
President Kennedy aboard the "Honey Fitz", off Hyannis Port, MA. Photograph by Cecil Stoughton.
President Kennedy aboard the “Honey Fitz”, off Hyannis Port, MA. Photograph by Cecil Stoughton.

3 Comments

  1. Thanks for this George. There’s a great story I heard emanating from the Irish press corps who greeted JFK on his trip in June 1963 to his ancestral homeland, Ireland. They were hanging about with the Irish politicians waiting to catch a glimpse of President Kennedy for ages. Finally when he arrived, the journalist said: ‘We looked at him, his hair, teeth, tan, and those clothes… and then we glanced back at our own line up of elected politicians, suddenly to a man they all had their mouths hanging open, and in that single instant they all realised what we realised, they were looking at the future and quite abruptly they all looked so… old.’