25624

John F.Kennedy's Personal Rocking Chair.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Historical Memorabilia Start Price:25,000.00 USD Estimated At:100,000.00 - 200,000.00 USD
John F.Kennedy's Personal Rocking Chair.
<B>President John F. Kennedy's Personal Rocking Chair from his White House Bedroom.</B></I> John F. Kennedy suffered from well-documented back problems, which led him in 1954 to consult Dr. Janet Trevell in New York City. Trevell recommended the use of a rocking chair, and allowed Kennedy to try the one she used for personal back relief in her own office. JFK liked the chair so much that he ordered an identical one, from the P & P Co. of Asheboro, North Carolina. Over the years, he bought or was gifted approximately 14 virtually identical chairs from that maker for use in the Oval Office, on Air Force One, in his suite at New York's Carlisle Hotel, in his White House bedroom, and other documented locations. Chairs from the presidential years may be distinguished by the unique upholstery added by official White House upholsterer Larry Arata, who used thick arm pads and seat cushion (the chair offered here still has the original Arata upholstery). <BR><BR>It is well documented that Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy gave the rocker from Jack's White House bedroom to his longtime valet George Thomas in December 1963. Jackie's longtime personal secretary, Mary Barreli Gallagher, wrote poignantly of the event in her 1969 memoir <I>My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy</B></I> (New York: David McKay Co., 1969). She was helping Mrs. Kennedy apportion various highly personal mementos among the late president's close associates, and notes that Mrs. Kennedy assigned the rocking chair from the White House bedroom to Thomas, telling Gallagher, "It was always in his (JFK's) bedroom. I know he would want (George) to have it." (p. 339). <BR><BR>The chair remained with George Thomas until his death in 1980, and it was subsequently purchased from his family (a notarized letter detailing that transfer of ownership will accompany this lot). Furthermore, some skilled "sleuthing" has clearly established this present chairË