Supporters reach for President-elect John F. Kennedy, at the Palm Beach International Airport on Nov. 11, 1960. (Bert Morgan/Florida Memory)
In the early dark of Veterans Day, 1960, John F. Kennedy made his first trip to Palm Beach as President-elect, inaugurating the town as his Winter White House.
At the Palm Beach International Airport, adoring crowds reached toward the youthful president.
President-elect Kennedy wades through airport crowds while arriving in Palm Beach to work with his transition team. (Bert Morgan/Florida Memory)
During several weeks in Palm Beach that fall, Kennedy summoned his vice-president, Lyndon Johnson and other government officials to meet with him at his father’s house on the island’s north end, followed closely by the biggest crowd of reporters the resort had ever seen.
Palm Beach had become a presidential dateline, as it may become now that Mar-A-Lago owner Donald Trump is the President-elect.
Kennedy, center, is engulfed by supporters at Palm Beach International Airport. (Bert Morgan/Florida Memory)
In Palm Beach, he announced a legislative agenda that included medical care for the elderly, a new fair housing program, a higher minimum wage and help for the country’s depressed areas.
He spent his weeks in the sun deliberating over his Cabinet choices and working on his inaugural address.
