JFK Swims for Harvard

Five years later, he swam for his life

by Chris Wild

March 10, 1938

JFK competed in the backstroke event for the varsity swimming team at Harvard. Here he prepares to dive into the pool.

IMAGE: AP PHOTO

He was rather frail, as I remember

HAROLD ULEN, HARVARD SWIMMING COACH

John F. Kennedy's favorite sport was swimming.  In November 1937, Kennedy was 20 years old, and his time-trials were sufficiently speedy to gain him a place on the Harvard college swimming team (below).

1936

John F. Kennedy (top row, third from left) as a member of the Freshman Swimming Squad at Harvard College in an 1936 photo for the yearbook.

IMAGE: AP PHOTO

But when press photographers visited to take pictures of the swimming team, Kennedy hid in the shower room. According to Harvard swimming coach Harold Ulen: "His physique wasn't anything outstanding. He was rather frail, as I remember. It took tremendous efforts to finally bring him out to have his picture taken."

Jack Kennedy was one of several Kennedy children who stayed behind
when his father went to London as U.S. ambassador.

IMAGE: AP PHOTO

 

Kennedy was described in this picture's original caption as the "son of Joseph
Kennedy, U.S. ambassador to Great Britain."

IMAGE: AP PHOTO

JFK practices his backstroke.

IMAGE: AP PHOTO

Only five years later, in August 1943, Kennedy's swimming was to make him a war hero. Under his command, the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 was run down by a Japanese destroyer in the Pacific. The boat's 11 survivors swam for four hours to reach the deserted Plum Pudding Island, a mere 90 meters (about 295 feet) in diameter and lacking all food or water. Kennedy then swam a further 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles) in search of help and food, guiding the surviving men to another island where they survived for six days on coconuts and water.

After Kennedy was elected president, the incident and PT-109 became celebrated in many forms, including books, films, television, models, toys and most improbably of all, in song. In 1962, Jimmy Dean's "PT-109" reached No. 8 on the American pop charts. 

JFK leaves the pool following his backstroke practice.

IMAGE: AP PHOTO

1938

JFK Swims for Harvard

by Chris Wild