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They say that every American who was old enough remembers exactly where they were when they heard John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Well, a lot of people remember where they were when they first encountered the president — or the man who would be president — in person.

When I asked <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/07/05/celebrity-encounters/" target=_blank>readers to share their tales of celebrity encounters</a>, JFK was the person mentioned most often.

In 1959, Lutz Prager was a Foreign Service officer working for the State Department in New York. He’d volunteered to head to Idlewild Airport to greet a visiting Nigerian politician. While they waited to transfer to a plane to Washington, Lutz noticed a tall man with a familiar face talking to a young woman.

“After their conversation ended, I approached the man I had recognized and introduced the two of us, because I knew he had knowledge of African politics and relationships with the U.S.,” wrote Lutz, of Arlington, Va.

The three men chatted for a while, then said their goodbyes.

“I repeated the name of the man we had met, but my visitor merely nodded, showing the name meant nothing to him,” Lutz wrote. “So I said, ‘That was Sen. John Kennedy; there’s a good chance that he may be elected president of the United States later this year.’”

A few years after that encounter, Idlewild had a new name: John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Sandy Corbett’s father, Ben Jaffe, drove a Diamond cab in the District. In the spring of 1960, Ben saw Kennedy walking near the U.S. Capitol.

“Dad slowed down and called out, ‘Hey Senator, where can I take you?’” wrote Sandy, who lives in Richmond.

Kennedy replied that he was just heading down the block, but Ben insisted.

“JFK did get in and two minutes later shook my dad's hand, thanked him and got out of the cab,” Sandy wrote.

Three hours later, Ben picked up a fare at National Airport and had to share the story of his famous passenger.

Wrote Sandy: “My dad’s fare then replied, ‘Oh, how is my son?’ What are the odds of picking up both JFK and Joseph Kennedy, never mind the same day?”

Charlotte Bliss’s father, David Bliss, was chairman of the county Democratic Party in Appleton, Wis., home seat of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R). Since there weren’t too many Democrats in those parts, it fell to the family to host a campaigning Kennedy in the spring of 1959.

“One Saturday morning, Dad called from work to say that Senator Kennedy would be coming to the house to freshen up before a speaking engagement,” wrote Charlotte, who lives in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

“Dad came home from work and we awaited the arrival of the senator,” Charlotte wrote.

Charlotte was 12 at the time and Kennedy was, she wrote, “the most handsome, gorgeous, movie-star good-looking man I had ever seen! Who knew that men could be so attractive? This was the day I became interested in the opposite sex. I looked him right in his tie clasp and asked for an autograph. He obliged.”

Before going to his event, Kennedy took a bath, then rested in Charlotte’s parents’ bed. They later found a cashmere sock with a “John F. Kennedy” tag sewn inside on her mother’s side of the bed.

“We had long debates about whether or not to return the sock of a presidential candidate, but in the end, it was returned,” Charlotte wrote. “Dad wrote a letter to the Senator, returning the sock, and asking why it was left on Mom’s side of the bed. We received a humorous letter in return, saying he had no idea it was Mom’s side.”

The seven-paragraph letter shows JFK’s folksy charm: “Anent the stray sock — I fear you have caught me bare-footed. It is indeed an extra that I carry around on my trips for the sole (and I suppose, in a way, heel) purpose of judging my sock appeal.”

Wrote Charlotte: “The letter, fading signature and all, remains in the family.”

She added: “We thought he left socks around as a shtick but who knows.”

Pat McCarthy was 10 or 11 when her grandmother insisted she come with her to Sunday Mass at Holy Trinity in Georgetown.

“My grandmother’s sisters were there and my older brother tells me he was there,” she wrote. “As the congregation arrived so did JFK with bodyguards.”

Pat was seated at the end of one aisle, President Kennedy at the end of another, directly across from her.

“One of my aunts whispered for me to look at him, that I would never get a chance like this again,” she wrote.

Pat didn’t want to gawk, but she caught a glimpse.

“The next thing I knew the president had received Communion and was quickly out the door,” she wrote. “My aunt was right, I never did get a chance like that again.”

Nieman Fellow, 1998

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Fellow, 2007

Two-time winner, "Journopalooza" Battle of the Bands

University of Maryland, BA in English

John Kelly writes John Kelly's Washington, a daily look at Washington's less-famous side. Born in Washington, John started at The Post in 1989 as deputy editor in the Weekend section.

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Readers share personal encounters with John F. Kennedy

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