David Powers

[1] Starting at the age of ten, Powers sold newspapers at the Charlestown Navy Yard to help support his mother and siblings.

During the Second World War, Powers served as a master sergeant in the Fourteenth Air Force in the China-Burma-India Theater.

Powers provided Kennedy with a kind of refuge from the burdens of the "political grind" of running for and serving in office.

They would swim together in the White House pool, where Powers would use a breaststroke in order to keep up a steady chatter of amusing conversation that Kennedy enjoyed.

[9] Among his duties, Powers greeted distinguished visitors to the White House and escorted them to the Oval Office, and kept track of Kennedy's extensive wardrobe.

"[10] Powers was an enthusiastic baseball fan, and his "amazing memory for sports and election statistics" impressed Kennedy.

[2] In 1972 Powers and O'Donnell co-authored "Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye", a bestselling account of their mutual experiences working for Congressman, Senator, and President Kennedy.

[16] Historian Robert Dallek has written that Powers was a "facilitator" of Kennedy's affinity for extramarital relations, discreetly arranging the time and places for trysts with a variety of women.

[18] In his 2008 memoir Counselor, Ted Sorensen wrote that he "would not be shocked" to learn that Powers had arranged extramarital trysts for Kennedy.

President Kennedy at Powers' 50th birthday party in the White House, 1962