American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography, including The Larry Ness Collection of Native American Photography

Spindle-style rocking chair from President Kennedy's private room at The Olympic Hotel in Seattle, Washington. Approx. 43 in. (h) x 25 in. (w) x 32 in. (d), featuring a dark-stained wood frame with a woven natural cane seat and back. Rocking chair bears a brass plate plaque which reads: "President / John F. Kennedy / Used This Chair / At The Olympic Hotel / In Seattle Washington / Nov. 1961." Condition generally good with light wear, some minor damage to weaving on cane seat and back, and adhesive residue on several small portions of frame. Provenance: Acquired directly from The Olympic Hotel by the former Sales Manager of The Olympic Hotel several years after the 1961 Kennedy visit.

President John F. Kennedy visited Seattle on November 16-17, 1961, with a full itinerary that included delivering a major foreign policy speech at the University of Washington's Centennial Convocation, and then attending a dinner celebration at The Olympic Hotel in honor of Senator Warren Magnuson's 25th anniversary in Congress. With more than 3,000 guests in attendance across several hotel ballrooms, Kennedy gave brief remarks in each room before his main speech in the Grand Ballroom. Reports surfaced from a retired Secret Service agent in the late 1990s that the ballroom speech was followed by a secret meeting with two prostitutes in Kennedy's hotel room.

Upon his arrival in Seattle that day, Kennedy rode an open convertible in a presidential motorcade form Boeing Field to a 15-block long "Welcome Lane" where tens of thousands of spectators enthusiastically greeted the President. After a short stop at The Olympic Hotel, Kennedy proceeded to his speech at the University. The staff of the hotel were undoubtedly well-prepared for the President's arrival that morning, as well as for his stay scheduled later that night. Provenance documents accompanying the rocking chair detail how preparations for the President's arrival included a search for a suitable rocking chair for the President. Kennedy was known to prefer straight-backed rocking chairs as a means for providing some relief for his chronic back pain, and The Olympic Hotel staff was determined to find him one.

Accompanying the rocking chair is a folder with three original letters, each dated 1996, and providing details of the chair's history and provenance.

Excerpt from a letter of the Executive Assistant Manager of the Olympic Hotel: "Here is the background to the rocking chair story as I recall it. A fair amount of renovation had taken place in the Presidential Suite (rooms 1150-52-54-58 and 60) shortly before the President's announced visit in November 1961. We thought it would be appropriate to include a wooden rocking chair but didn't find one in the furniture catalogs or the Seattle stores. It became a challenge near the date of his arrival, so I called our friend...in Spokane...with the Crescent Department Store there. Quite to my surprise, [the friend] call[ed] back a day later to report that he had located a rocking chair like the one President Kennedy had in Washington...I did not personally see the President sit in the chair, but members of his staff told me he used it and was quite impressed."

Excerpt from a letter of a Manager of the Crescent Department Store, Spokane: "...a classmate of mine at Washington State University, scouted Seattle for this particular chair and found there was none...I was an employee of Crescent Department Store in Spokane...we had it in stock...we packed and shipped the chair by Greyhound Bus...."

The former Sales Manager of The Olympic Hotel and later Director of Marketing wrote: "......A few years later [after Kennedy's visit], a remodeling program was begun which included the Presidential Suite. Since the new decor of the suite did not include the Kennedy Rocker, I asked the Manager of the hotel...if I could have the chair...The chair has been in our family's possession for over 25 years...."

Details of the rocking chair were reported in the Seattle Times in November 1961, as part of covereage of the visit, and a photocopy of the newspaper account is included with the letters. The article reads, in part: "President Kennedy will have his own rocking chair at the Olympic Hotel Thursday and Friday. The presidential rocker, therapy for a chronic aching back, has been ordered from Spokane. It will be similar to the 'Carolina porch rocker' he takes to his Glen Ora, Va., country estate. The rocker is squeakless. The crated chair is to arrive Monday or Tuesday."

A wonderful Kennedy artifact, with strong provenance.

[With:] Six large format magazines (5 issues of Look and 1 issue of Life) with content related to JFK, all published 1963-1967. -- The Dallas Morning News. Vol. 115 - No. 54. 23 November, 1963. Headlined "KENNEDY SLAIN ON DALLAS STREET."