Джон Кеннеди устроил французский ужин для 129 лауреатов Нобелевской премии в Белом доме

There was a distinct Rochester hue to the proceedings when President John F. Kennedy hosted Nobel Prize recipients on April 19, 1962, at the White House. The president that evening gathered 129 Nobel winners and literary figures and their spouses for the formal dinner. They dined on beef Wellington at 14 tables in the historic state dining room with Kennedy as host, and at five additional tables in the Blue Room, where First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was the hostess. ADVERTISEMENT The formal dinner was followed by dancing to music by the U.S. Air Force band. Kennedy said he wanted to call attention to the achievements of the guests, but also wished to encourage young people to emulate the Nobel winners. Guests included Dr. Philip Hench, of Rochester and Mayo Clinic, and Dr. Edward Kendall, of Princeton, N.J., also formerly of Rochester and Mayo Clinic. Hench and Kendall shared the 1950 Nobel Prize in medicine for their research leading to the use of cortisone in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The list of luminaries in a variety of fields led JFK to ad-lib one of his more famous quotes: “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” The Rochester connection included readings by actor Frederic March from the works of the deceased authors Ernest Hemingway and Sinclair Lewis, both of whom had been well-familiar with the city. Hemingway was a Mayo Clinic patient and a Kennedy acquaintance. Following Kennedy’s inauguration on Jan. 21, 1961, Hemingway sent a note to the new president that began, “Watching the inauguration from Rochester, there was happiness and the hope and the pride and how beautiful we thought Mrs. Kennedy was.” He added, “It is a good thing to have a brave man as our president in times as tough as these are for our country and the world.” Lewis was a Minnesota native and the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in literature. He was a frequent visitor to southeastern Minnesota, which he described as the most scenic area of the state. It has been conjectured that Lewis gathered material for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Arrowsmith” on visits he made to Rochester and Mayo Clinic in the company of his brother, who was a physician. ADVERTISEMENT The dinner was one result of Kennedy’s desire to revitalize appreciation and respect for the arts and sciences, which he felt had fallen into disrepair during the conservative and comfortable 1950s. During his time in office, he hosted dinners for Andre Malraux, the French minister of culture; violinist Isaac Stern; composer Igor Stravinsky and several others. “Never before had any president sought to identify the White House with the whole range of the nation’s intellectual life,” wrote historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Meanwhile, the guest list for the Nobel dinner included future Canadian prime minister Lester Pearson (Nobel Peace Prize), and scientist Linus Pauling (Nobel Prize in chemistry), who had earlier that day picketed the White House in support of nuclear disarmament. Eventually, Kennedy invited so many intellectuals and artists to the White House that he joked they were beginning to view the invitation as a free lunch. Perhaps that’s why the menu for the 1962 Nobel dinner was printed entirely in French — to confound his honored guests. Thomas Weber is a former Post Bulletin reporter who enjoys writing about local history.