JFK chewing out Gen McHugh over furniture

[everet...@gmail.com]

I heard a tape of JFK chewing out General Godfrey McHugh over an issue
about furniture. JFK was steaming mad. In fact, he even said f*cked up.

What was the story behind the furniture? I tried to find it in a google
search, but came up empty.

regards,
Everett Fuqua

[Lanny]

BOSTON — President John F. Kennedy opened the newspaper one day in 1963
and learned to his horror that military aides had built a hospital bedroom
for his pregnant wife at an air base on Cape Cod in case she went into
labor. He thought the $5,000 spent on the furniture was wasteful and would
be a public-relations disaster that would prompt Congress to cut his
military budget. The angry president picked up the phone.

First, he a took a press underling to task. He demanded that the furniture
be sent back and that those responsible — including “that silly fellow
who had his picture taken next to the bed” — be transferred to Alaska.

He then called Gen. Godfrey McHugh, his Air Force aide. “What the hell
did they let the reporters in there for?” the president thundered.
“You just sank the Air Force budget!”

And he was not finished venting his rage about the aide who appeared in
the newspaper picture. “He’s a silly bastard!” he exclaimed. “I
wouldn’t have him running around a cathouse!” Before hanging up, he
characterized the entire episode with an expletive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/us/in-kennedy-secret-recordings-historys-raw-materials.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0#h[FhaHdt,1]

[Anthony Marsh]

Haven't you seen the TV ads for Bing It On?

Bing found it in half the time as Google. 0.67 sec.

Jordan Marsh incident

In the summer of 1963, a pregnant Jacqueline Kennedy was at the Kennedy
family compound in Massachusetts. Air Force personnel became concerned
that if Mrs. Kennedy were to deliver the child at the Otis Air Force Base
hospital, that the maternity ward furniture would be inferior for the
newborn of the President and First Lady. The Air Force then spent
$5,000.00 of taxpayer money at Jordan Marsh & Company to purchase new
furniture, and allowed media photographs of an Air Force captain proudly
standing next to the purchase. After the photos made their way into the
Washington Post, an irate President Kennedy telephoned McHugh and ordered
him to have the furniture returned. Kennedy's curse-laden phone call with
McHugh are now public.

[claviger]

You might be referring to a conversation where President Kennedy was not
mad at General McHugh, but at an Air Force Colonel who invited a reporter
to see and take photos of a special room arranged for Jackie at a local
Air Force Base when she was pregnant. I've heard a tape of that
conversation and JFK was incensed by this press story for a couple of
reasons.

[everet...@gmail.com]

Ah, so that's what the episode was about. Thanks for filling in the
details. I tell you, JFK tore both those guys a new one. Such activities
gives the average citizen some insight as to the "factors" that often
dictate presidential favor.

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> > Everett Fuqua

Ah

[everet...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the clarification. The source I got the info from indicated it
was General McHugh. Obviously, the source is in error.

[Anthony Marsh]

Slightly. McHugh was not the idiot who bought the furniture. He was the
idiot in charge of that idiot and the idiot who let the press in to take
photos.

[David Von Pein]

>>> "Thanks for the clarification. The source I got the info from
indicated it was General McHugh. Obviously, the source is in error." <<<

No, your source was not in error at all. It was McHugh that JFK was
chewing a new one, but in the second phone call only. In the first
call about the furniture, JFK was talking to Arthur Sylvester. Scroll
down to the recordings for July 25, 1963:

http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/presidentialrecordings/kennedy/dictabelts