Those who saw him at the Hotel Bethlehem, Moravian College and in Center City Allentown said they were riveted.
Allentown lawyer Malcolm Gross holds a photo of John F. Kennedy's visit to Allentown in 1960. John F. Kennedy was an incredible local attraction during a campaign swing through the Lehigh Valley two weeks before his 1960 election.
There was the motorcade of 200 cars that traveled from Easton to Bethlehem to see him; the 6,000 people who packed Moravian College’s gym to hear him speak; and the extra 3,000 who listened to his remarks via loudspeakers on the gym’s lawn.
Kennedy's life, death and legacy will be fodder for discussion this week as the 50th anniversary of his assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, approaches Friday. The Lehigh Valley was among his campaign stops before he became the nation's 35th president.
About 14,000 people turned out in the wee hours of Oct. 28, 1960, to see Kennedy fly into the then-Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport. But all that paled compared with the 80,000 to 100,000 people who came to his speech in Center City Allentown.
There were only about 100,000 people living in Allentown at the time but Kennedy’s appearance was considered a must-attend, city historian Frank Whelan said.
“You wanted to go see politicians because all your friends and neighbors would have gone,” he said. “People just enjoyed that kind of visceral contact with politicians.”
Allentown lawyer Malcolm Gross, whose father was the city’s mayor at the time, agreed that just about everyone came out to see Kennedy speak that day. That is, everyone but him.
“I very stupidly didn’t come down to Seventh and Hamilton streets,” said Gross, then a junior at Muhlenberg College. “In those days I didn’t cut classes, which is what I would have had to have done to see him speak.”
Hotel Bethlehem stay
Gross had, however, taken the opportunity to join his father for a fundraising breakfast with Kennedy at the Hotel Bethlehem earlier in the day. The then-U.S. senator went to the hotel to catch a few hours of sleep after his 1 a.m. arrival in the Lehigh Valley.
His stay at the Hotel Bethlehem wasn’t without challenges, current hotel General Manager Dennis Costello said. The hotel at the time had gone many years without upgrades and the staff had to cobble together furnishings and linens from several rooms to make a suitable suite for Kennedy, who stayed in the so-called Bethlehem Steel Suite on the eighth floor.
The breakfast delivered to his room also wasn't up to par, Costello said. The hotel staff mistakenly served the famed Catholic bacon on a Friday.
“One of his aides gave the staff a tongue-lashing for bringing bacon up to the room because at the time, Catholics didn’t eat meat on Fridays,” Costello said.
Starstruck campus
Spectators lined up outside the hotel to watch Kennedy leave for his speech at Moravian College. The large crowds continued once he was there.
Grove Stoddard, then a Moravian sophomore, attended Kennedy’s speech inside Johnston Hall as the photographer for both the school newspaper and yearbook. But the Bridgeport, Conn., resident said he probably would have attended anyway.
“Everyone at the college was very excited,” Stoddard said. “We looked upon Sen. Kennedy as a young, vibrant person.”
Fellow Moravian Class of 1963 member Jean Friedman also remembers just about everyone on campus being starstruck by Kennedy — herself included. A member of the Young Democrats, she was part of the student group assigned to welcome him.
Friedman in particular was tasked with fetching water for Kennedy’s podium. She was so nervous about the duty that she did it at 8 a.m. even though he wasn’t speaking until noon.
“When he was giving the address, he went for the water and he visibly reacted to getting this warm, stale water,” Friedman said with a laugh.
Friedman, who lives in Bethlehem, also had another trip-up during Kennedy’s visit. She was eager to get a photo with him but wasn’t having much luck getting his attention.
“So I started tapping Kennedy on the shoulder, saying, ‘Sen. Kennedy, Sen. Kennedy?’ And he turned around and was furious, and he said to me, ‘Yes?!’” Friedman recalled. “I said, ‘Sen. Kennedy, welcome to Moravian College!’ And he broke up and he put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘OK, let me know how to get into the hall.’”
Friedman didn’t end up getting a photograph with Kennedy — her friend forgot his flashbulb — but she still remembers the experience fondly 53 years later.
“He was completely charismatic, even when he was angry with me,” she said. “It was a very exciting experience.”
Memories last lifetimeEven 53 years later, Friedman, Stoddard and Gross can all remember small details of Kennedy’s visit to the Lehigh Valley.
Friedman and Stoddard both immediately recalled that Kennedy arrived late at Moravian — don’t all politicians? — and Friedman vividly remembers his bloodshot eyes that day.
The talk at the time was that he hadn’t gotten enough sleep with his early morning flight, but Friedman said she realized later on that they were probably due to the many medications he took to deal with his severe health problems, which weren’t known publicly at the time.
Gross also has a recollection from the day he now thinks is connected to Kennedy’s health problems. It came from his mother, who as the first lady of Allentown got to sit on the stage at Kennedy’s Center City rally and observe him up-close.
“She said, ‘Did you notice he had lifts under his shoes? He must be shorter than he was perceived to be,’” Gross said. “I’m thinking now that it must have been because of his back problems.”
Another unique memory also stands out to Gross from that day. Maybe it’s because he has a photo from the rally in his Allentown office, but Gross pointed out that Kennedy didn’t wear a coat during the rally despite the chilly late October temperatures.
“Everybody has their coats turned up, but Kennedy of course is the only one not wearing an overcoat,” Gross said.