A mahogany speedboat that belonged to President John F. Kennedy was sold for $75,000, and a flight suit that belonged to CIA operative Francis Gary Powers was sold for $2,750 at auction for items from the Kennedy period in New York.
The sale at Guernsey’s included various items – documents, photographs, office items, even decorated silver toothbrushes for babies.
The rocking chair Kennedy used in the White House, specially made for his back injury, was sold for $30,000. Another such chair used by Kennedy and next president Lyndon B. Johnson, was sold for $10,000.
1961 Century Resorter
Among the most interesting items was a five-meter boat, the 1961 Century Resorter, Kennedy used it in his home in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
The nautical history starts with family patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who had a boat named ‘Tenovus,’ a reference to the number of Kennedy family members at the time: ten of us.’
Later, when he got a speedboat on the lottery, he called it “Restofus” (the rest of us) because the family grew. This boat became the personal boat of John Kennedy. After his death, the boat was taken over by his brother, Edward, and then he got other owners.
The blue swimsuit belonging to John’s wife, the late Jacqueline Kennedy, was sold for $1,800, and two swimsuits by President Kennedy were sold for $3,500 and $1,800.
1961 Century Resorter
Most of the items offered were from the collection ofHenry Hirschy, who was a Navy aide in the White House during the Kennedy administration, then from the collection of Mary Gallagher, who was Jacqueline Kennedy’s personal secretary, and Powers.
In one of the landmark episodes of the Cold War, Powers was captured in the Soviet Union after his spy plane was shot down in 1960.
The U.S. initially tried to cover it up, inventing a story about a NASA weather plane going off course, and was embarrassed when the Soviets produced Powers alive.
1961 Century Resorter
