[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.