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By Root 1839 0

I said that Frank would love that, but then Jack said, ‘There’s only one problem. Jackie hates him and won’t have him in the house. So I really don’t know what to do.’ Here was the President of the United States in a quandary just like the rest of us who are afraid to upset our spouses. We joked for a few minutes about stuffing Frank into a body bag and dragging him around to the side door so the gardeners could bring him in like a bag of refuse and Jackie wouldn’t see him. We also talked about sneaking him in in one of John-John’s big diaper bundles. The President brightened up a few minutes later and said, ‘I’ll wait until Jackie goes to Middleburg, and I’ll have Eunice be the hostess.’ So that’s what he did. When Jackie left, Evelyn Lincoln called Frank and invited him to the White House. He flew to Washington for the day and a car drove him up to the southwest gate. Even without Jackie there, the President still wouldn’t let him come in the front door. I don’t think he wanted reporters to see Frank Sinatra going into the White House. That’s why he never flew on Air Force One and was never invited to any of the Kennedy state dinners or taken to Camp David for any of the parties there. He got to Hyannis once, but that was only because Pat and I invited him.”

Still, Frank stayed in close contact because President Kennedy frequently called him in Los Angeles. Frank’s secretary, Gloria Lovell, would interrupt business meetings to tell him that he had a White House call and Frank would pick up the phone, saying, “Hi ya, Prez.” If he took the call privately, he always told the men what the President said when he returned to the meeting.

“After each one of those calls, Frank pranced around so proud of the fact that the President was ringing him up,” recalled one associate.

Since the gala, Frank had seen the President in person only once and that was briefly when he visited the White House with Judy Garland and Danny Kaye. The minute they were ushered into the Oval Office, Kaye started jumping up and down, climbing behind the desk, peeking around the flag and playing the clown. The President quickly signaled his military aide to shut the door and make sure that no photographers were let in, including Cecil Stoughton, who was acting as the official White House photographer. Kennedy did not want “unpresidential” photographs published of entertainers cavorting in the Oval Office. When the meeting was over and the three stars were escorted out, Frank tried to hang back to have a one-on-one talk with Kennedy, but to no avail.

Frank got the chance in September 1961, when the President invited him to Washington to thank him for all his work on the gala. Before going to the Oval Office, Frank stopped by the press office to see press secretary Pierre Salinger, who had become a good friend. He was noticed by reporters, which fueled speculation about his close friendship with the President.

At a press conference, Salinger was asked about the relationship:

Q: Pierre, one other thing, was Frankie Sinatra a guest at Hyannisport last week?

A: No.

Q: Or any other weekend?

A: No.

Q: In Show Business Illustrated [it was said] that the President on Inauguration Day went to see Sinatra to thank him for his participation in the gala.

A: No, that’s not true.

Q: Has Sinatra ever been a guest of the President and his wife anywhere?

A: No.

Technically, Salinger was correct. Frank didn’t go to Hyannisport until the day after the news conference, on September 23, 1961.

The day of his White House visit, Frank was given a grand tour of the family quarters and taken out to the Truman Balcony for drinks.

“I still remember how he showed the White House maître d’ how to make Bloody Marys with his own fantastic special recipe,” said Dave Powers, a presidential aide. “He sat on the balcony sipping his drink and looking out at the sun streaming in and the wonderful view of Washington we got from there. He turned to me and said, ‘Dave, all the work I did for Jack. Sitting here like this makes it all worthwhile.’ Then I went out and got some of the