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Subscribe to RSSNewly discovered items for President Kennedy's personal assistant, Dave Powers, went to the highest bidder. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- President John F. Kennedy's Air Force One bomber jacket sold for $570,000 at an auction on Sunday of items that belonged to a longtime aide, nearly 50 years after the president's assassination.
The jacket was among thousands of items, including letters, photographs and books, that had been tucked away in drawers and file cabinets at the home of David Powers, who died in 1998, said Dan Meader, auction appraiser at John McInnis Auctioneers.
Paul Marotta / Getty Images Contributor
JFK's Air Force One Bomber Jacket, given to his special assistant David Powers and worn by LBJ, which sold for $570,000 at an auction in Amesbury, Massachusetts.
They were discovered in recent years by relatives as they prepared Powers' Arlington, Massachusetts, residence for sale, Meader said.
Powers was close to the president throughout his political career, from 1946 until his assassination in 1963.
He later remained close to the Kennedy family and became curator of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston before retiring in 1994.
'President's best friend'
The auction included personal effects that reflected Powers' years of shared history with Kennedy and his family. Among them are dozens of letters from former first lady Jackie Kennedy and books inscribed by the president.
"The amazing thing about this whole thing is that it shows the personal connection," Meader said. "This is stuff that's true, it's pure, it's right from the family home ... right from the president's best friend."
Henry Burroughs / AP
John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever to serve as U.S. president. Click on the gallery for photos detailing key moments in his campaign for the White House, his brief time in office, and his untimely death.
The auction began on Sunday morning and continued into the night, with Kennedy's Air Force One leather bomber jacket selling for $570,000 plus a buyer's premium, he said. The jacket was initially expected to fetch $20,000 to $40,000 or more.
"There's never been an auction like this," Meader said.
Powers traveled with Kennedy, riding in motorcades, monitoring the reaction of crowds and informing the president of what his constituents wanted, Meader said.
"He was basically the eyes and ears of the American public," he said. "Dave was the pulse of the nation."
Related:
Photos, letters among Kennedy memorabilia to go to auction
RFK Jr: 'Very convincing' evidence that JFK wasn't killed by lone gunman
Secret tapes of JFK's last days released
Leave a Comment:
Who cares about JFK flight Jacket? I want Flight Jacket George's Mission Accomplished jacket.
Now what?!
Hang it in the closet? That jacket is worth more than my house...
How do you put a price on a memento from the last Democrat president to have the country's best interest at heart?
Great memoribilia from Kennedy for those followers. Bush II mission accomplished jacket will be sold with the next Hollywood fictional costumes auction.
The only mission accomplished for Bush II was oil was going to freely flow again and money was going to pour in for those investors in the Iraq war.
You must have been on Mars for Clinton's administration. The best years America has ever had!
Denver Bill - Good job squeezing throught the tiniest crack to introduce your tedious Obama hate without being COMPLETELY off-topic..
Nice try at putting words in my mouth. For starters, you are the one mentioning Obama. All I did was make an observation about Democrat presidents in general. And, just for the record, I don't hate Obama. You have to respect someone in order to hate them.
Yea. I long for the days of 15% inflation, public blow jobs, and an anemic military.
Denver Bill - you follow up your orgfinal post with an even more ludicrous post. Good work.
Wonder what ever happened to his gold plated AR-15 he was presnted by colt back in about 1960.
It's NOT a "bomber jacket". It's a U.S. Navy flight jacket. Bomber jackets are lined with fleece to protect crewmembers at high altitudes while flying during World War II.
The term "bomber jacket" has been misused during the past several years by merchandisers and retailers
Don, that's not the only error. Under the first slideshow photo, there is a caption that reads JFK was the youngest man to serve as president. This is false. Teddy Roosevelt was. C'mon MSNBC, it's important to get your facts straight.
Wilson or Ronald, which one is more annoying?
Lets find out
If you think its Wilson vote here
If you think its "Ronald Hussian" vote here.....
Motz in KC is right. TR was the youngest man ever to become president, succeeding the assassinated William McKinley. JFK was the youngest elected to the presidency.
...
People are jobless, homeless and out of options yet some 1% er pays that kind of money for a jacket.
The president is correct - wealth needs redistributed.
.
Biden in 2016.
...
Do you mean this? i found it doing a recent records search.........
D.C. Mental health hospital records. to whit....
inmate number 2016
Joesph Biden
AKA; "crazy uncle Joe"
Charge...Public indecency, seen behind his hero masturbating and laughing like a loon during a public address.
( Note; must be treated well due to connections and being a 1% er.)
If you want a different view of Mr. Powers realtionship to the President I suggest you read "The Dark Side of Camelot" by Seymour Hersh. Eye opener.
If you want a different view of Mr. Powers realtionship to the President I suggest you read "The Dark Side of Camelot" by Seymour Hersh. Eye opener.
Ummmm...."John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever to serve as U.S. president." I'm pretty sure it's Teddy Roosevelt at 42yrs to serve as president, though JFK was the youngest elected at 43yrs.
PLEATHER!
drop something on your keyboard Steve? .....or is it merely "sticky"
JFK came from a criminal family .. his father was one of the Biggest criminals of his time.
JFK cheated on Jackie with more women than Bill Clinton ever dreamed of having ....
Cuban Missle Crisis ended well (0f course it wouldnt of happen if the bay of pigs wasnt a total cluster fck in the first place) ... pretty much everything else that happen during his time in office was either a failure or weak
at least Clinton had a good excuse.....but his taste was once again HIGHLY suspect.
But until lately it did more to increase gun sells then anything since WWII, That record however has recently been reset. Still it held for 50 years...kudos.
At least JFK went after good looking women ... you have to wonder about Clinton ...
Clinton came from Arkansas. Maybe Monica would be considered primo in those parts....
Amusing what a waste of money. Then again someone will say 911 was Bushes fault when it was Ollie North who warned Clinton about Osama, but he was too busy showing Monica his cigar.
Kind of like the killer Kennedy's only concerned about themselves.
Its easy to forget that Clinton failed with protecting America, to serve his own lust....
As for you Bush haters and blamers, think about 5 different countries all stating Iraq had nukes and the IAEA backing that up, only to find out that Kofi Anon and others were siphoning millions off of the oil for food program with Chirac in France that was making Iraq upset.
All with the help of the Useless Nations which have to date not prevented one atrocity since its inception.
The world is better of without Saddam and Osama. It would also be alot better off without Khomeni as well.
Name one country that has spent its way to prosperity? Just one..
And why didn't Facebook pay any taxes? or why is certain companies exempt from the Health Care Law as well as those in office? or why did 20% of the waivers got to Pelosi's district not state?
Anyone can chime in feel free to show how smart you are..
What a bunch of cr*ap! The person who paid for this needs to have his/her taxes increased. So much for the argument by the super rich that they are the builders of America...they are the vampires of America! Sucking us dry so they can buy a bomber jacket...sick!
So if they don't give you all of THEIR money through the "tax the rich" cr*ap , you wish to have the last say on what they spend THEIR remaining money on?
570,000 huh. Whoever bought that jacket is an idiot. Who cares who wore it. Its a @!$%#ing jacket for christ sake.
and a car is merely a car, so you drive a........?
I drive a car to get to work ya meathead. Not the same thing.
wow you all really dislike jfk i see that
wow you dont know how to use this site i can see that
lots of people care about jfk too bad you all don't
keep holding your grudge. you all are so good at that
It's NOT a "bomber jacket". It's a U.S. Navy flight jacket. Bomber jackets are lined with fleece to protect crewmembers at high altitudes while flying during World War II.
The term "bomber jacket" has been misused during the past several years by merchandisers and retailers.
There is presently a growing distrust between the rich and the poor. By numbers alone, the rich should use caution. Greed is the only equal factor in our predicament, violence may be the only outcome. The near future is vague, and could be soon become predictable.
$570K is chump change to the 1%.
Your right .. it is chump change to some of us ... that said, I still say only a chump would spend it on a jacket.
1% ?.....1% ?....ya mean the people on here who actually think for themself's ? that 1% ? ( and i am being generous here.)
He means those of us Obama insults daily for making too much money and wants us to pay more taxes .. even though we pay too much already
I bought land right on the water and built a 3 bedroom house for just under this price ...
Ocean view from every room ... or view of a jacket ... Hmmmmmm
considering today's shabby cheap a$$ construction methods, the jacket would last longer.
No when you sub contract it yourself and control all the building and materials
"control" freak eh?... lol... Best get to building though before nail guns are outlawed, they have multi-capacity clips ya know.
Control Freak ... HELL yes when it is my money being spent ....
As for the nail gun comment ... I wouldnt put that past the Gov to try
just joking tex...i tend to do that... you will get use to me i tend to grow on people...course so does a fungus, but....
This jacket is actually a flight jacket that is used by flight crews in the Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard.
Both Officers and Enlisted flight crews had this issued, or had another type, a nylon WEP design...
It is a Model G-1, leather with a moulton collar, that was designed just prior to WW2.
If it was 'issue' to the crews, they could take it with them when they were transferred from one squadron to another...
If sold in the private market, it would bring no less than $300.00 each...
all this stuff going for big bucks, who paid for all this the tax payer. so where is thier cut . always the tax payer getting taken.
If you have the money and you want to spend it on JFK's jacket, then have at it. Who are we to judge?
If I had half a million dollars, that's JUST what I would have bought!