Posted on January 25, 2012

JFK: ‘Well, That’s a Tough Day’

Andy Soltis, New York Post, January 25, 2012

Newly released White House tapes reveal one particularly eerie conversation between President John F. Kennedy and an aide just three days before his death.

Kennedy, in the tape dated Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1963, is heard casually talking about his upcoming trip to Dallas that Friday, his weekend plans in Cape Cod, and how hard it was trying to schedule things for the next week.

“Monday? Well, that’s a tough day,” he said.

“It’s a hell of a day, Mr. President,” the aide agreed.

Kennedy was assassinated that Friday and buried Monday.

The exchange was among the final 45 hours of tapes released by The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

The tapes, secretly recorded with Kennedy’s knowledge and made during what would be the final months of his life, also show the president candidly analyzing his chances for re-election in 1964 with top political advisers.

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That tape, dated 10 days before his death, shows Kennedy admitting that 1964 would be a tough race and that he had to find a way to convince voters to back him.

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Kennedy also acknowledged that his civil-rights record could turn off an average voter.

“We’re the ones shoving the Negroes down his throat,” he said of the average voter.

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