Spencer Tracy and John F. Kennedy?

Cafe Society
1

I came across this photo not long ago: https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/54cbfcf65e7a91c528233e77/master/w_768,c_limit/image.jpg

It shows the Kennedy campaign high command (including JFK, RFK, Ethel Kennedy and future White House press secretary Pierre Salinger) early on the morning after Election Day, watching the returns on TV. It sure looks to me like that’s Spencer Tracy on the stairs, but I’ve now checked three bios of Tracy and there’s no mention of him being in Hyannis Port at the time.

Anyone know if that’s Tracy, or someone else?

2

I think it’s old Joe Kennedy, the family’s father and patriarch.

3

The photos I can find show Joe Kennedy with a high forehead unlike the guy in the photo.

4

It’s not Joe Kennedy. For one thing he wore glasses. Also, he’d be in the middle of everything, not on the stairs. It’s not Spencer Tracy. Just some random guy, probably, maybe a bodyguard of some kind. The way he’s standing with his hands behind his back seems to suggest that.

I thought it might be a Secret Service agent, but presidential candidates were not given Secret Service protection until after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in 1968. :frowning:

5

Obviously, it’s Al Traina.

6

He was everywhere!

I wish I were Al Traina.

7

Agreed it’s definitely not Joe Kennedy: https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/joseph-kennedy-sr-john-f-kennedy-everett.jpg

The Secret Service contingent would arrive within hours of the OP photo being taken, as I recall.

8

Heh.

But seriously: I can see why ‘Joe Kennedy’ came up, as the man does have a Kennedy look around the eyes.

JFK’s father Joe had one sister (Margaret Louise) who had sons (two):

Charles Joseph Burke, Jr.+ b. 5 May 1928
Thomas Francis Burke II b. 25 May 1933

As to whether either of them were part of the Kennedy family scene when that photo was taken, I have no idea.

9

Yeah, it’s probably a Secret Service agent.

10

I found a larger image here, with a (probably not helpful) caption. 7th from top on left.

11

It looks like he’s wearing a campaign button on his lapel (as are several others in the picture) – if so, that’d point to it not being a Secret Service agent.

12

It’s sure not Tracy or Joe Kennedy ! Tracy’s ears didn’t stick out like that .

13

The guy on the stair’s ears don’t look much different from Tracy’s to me: http://www.steveblackwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/SpencerTracy225.jpg.html.jpg

14

It looks kind of like Archibald Cox who was part of JFK’s speech writing team and would go on to become solicitor general. Hereis a photo with Jackie. In the election night photo he has his eyes close.

15

Maybe it’s Private Shriver. His promotion came later.

16

I guess this is humor? “Sargent” was his first name. Doesn’t look anything like the guy on the stairs. Wikipedia with picture.

17

No, it was a lame attempt at humor.

18

I managed a wry smile. No upturned eyebrow though.

19

Might mean nothing, but he is ‘stand-offish,’ which might be he’s just an observer, and not part of the Kennedy camp, as they are all gathered close together–so the Secret Service agent is pretty plausible.

Where’s Walloon when you need him? (Yeah, I know where he is.) Walloon dug into and finally solved the mystery ‘bow tie’ man with FDR in the Social Security photographs. Turned out to be an obscure Pennsylvania short-term Congressman Joshua Twing Brooks.

Edit: (And I was ninjaed as I was also going to say ‘Al Traina’.)

20

Also. . . Jacques Lowe was the photographer, and this appeared in the book “The Kennedy Years.” But if the image online is the same one in the book. . . it’s cropped just below the shoulders, so that might not help any.