THE PRESIDENCY
In 1960 Philadelphia gave John Kennedy a 331,500-vote plurality, more than enough to offset losses elsewhere in Pennsylvania and put the state into the Democratic column. Last week the President went to Philadelphia to repay that political debt. He was given a frosty reception.
Kennedy had come to campaign for Mayor James Tate, up for re-election this week and under heavy criticism from many whites for his acquiescence to demands of militant Negro organizations. As the Kennedy caravan moved the 13 miles from the Philadelphia airport, most streets were virtually deserted. There was little waving or cheering. Outside the Bellevue Stratford Hotel, where Kennedy appeared at a $250-a-head reception, pickets waved signs—"Kennedy, Why Compromise Equality?" Then on to Convention Hall. There the signs warned "We Will Barry You," and inside, the galleries were half empty even though some 10,000 free tickets had been distributed.
Kennedy laid his blessings on Tate, ticked off achievements of his Administration, and made a strong appeal for civil rights legislation. "That issue," he said, "is still very much with us, and it will continue to be with us until all Americans of every race can regard one another with the quality for which this city is noted—brotherly love."
Back in Washington, the President sent a bouquet and congratulations to his maternal grandmother, Mrs. John F. Fitzgerald, who marked her 98th birthday in Boston. Looking forward to next year's vacations, the White House announced that the First Family had leased Annandale Farm on Narragansett Bay at Newport, R.I., for the months of August and September. Annandale, the same estate that a group of Rhode Islanders wanted to buy and present to Kennedy as a permanent summer White House in 1962, will replace the First Family's summer home at Squaw Island in Hyannis Port. The new digs, for which the Kennedys reportedly will pay $2,000 a month, has 22 acres, a swimming pool, nearly a dozen bedrooms, and seclusion behind high brick walls. It adjoins the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy's mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss, where Jackie played when she was a teenager.