Ten O'Clock News

[Rose Kennedy] This is an honor and a pleasure that I've never had before, to introduce my son on a platform. I can tell you, of course, a great deal about him. [Laughter] I used to spank him with a ruler [laughter] So it gives me great pleasure to introduce my seventh child, Robert Francis Kennedy. [Crowd cheering] [Robert Kennedy] I want to thank my mother for the kind introduction. I thought we'd gotten down to the campaign, after some of these polls came out that we were not doing too well, with mother. [Narrator] The Kennedy humor began with Rose. Some say JFK then developed his own style as a way to set himself apart in the large clan. In the rough and tumble world of a big family, humor was often focused on one another. [Ted Kennedy] I remember when I was first running for the Senate of the United States, and there were those that thought that I was running as a-- as someone just on the base of a

famous family name. And I was trying to distinguish myself from that tradition. And we had this magnificent dinner. We had every person in Massachusetts at a wonderful dinner at the armory, just before the election, and he said, 'I know my brother is running for the Senate in Massachusetts, he told me, he wanted to be judged on his own, and therefore, he is thinking of changing his name from Ted Kennedy to Teddy Roosevelt.' [Narrator] Jack Kennedy often used humor during his freewheeling news conferences. [Reporter]... On behalf of others, what have you done for the women, according to the promises of the platform? [John F. Kennedy] Well, I'm sure we haven't done enough, and, ah... [Crowd laughing] [Crowd laughing] I must say, I am a strong believer in equal pay for equal work, and I think that we ought to do better than we're doing, and I'm glad that you reminded me of it. [laughter]

[Narrator] John Kenneth Galbraith, who was one of President Kennedy's closest advisors, did not share his wry wit, but often delighted in it. [Galbraith] What impact it had. The thing we remember, and I think the thing important-- was important, was his capacity for hard, succinct truth. The extraordinary thing is that the truth so presented, and so unexpectedly presented, gives you a certain joy, a certain inner response, that is very much the nature of humor, and perhaps is mistakenly, on occasion, so-called. And my memory is of repeated occasions when this clarity of statement sent a thrill of approval, and amusement, through me. [Narrator] Most often

JFK focused his wit upon himself. [John F. Kennedy] I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself to this audience. I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy up to Paris and I enjoyed it. [Narrator] The conference on President Kennedy's humor was held at the Kennedy School of Government. It was part of the Profiles in Courage Award, and this year's honoree, Charles Longstreet Weltner, a Georgia Supreme Court Judge, had a favorite Kennedy quote of his own. [Weltner] My favorite story, attributed to President Kennedy, is this: He said, that Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm. I'm not sure you'all get that, yet. [Narrator] He was a master of the one liner. [Reporter] If you could tell us what you would do over again, you would work for the presidency and you could recommend the job to others.

[Kennedy] The answer is, the first is yes, and the second is no. I don't recommend it to others. [Audience laughter] At least for a while. [Galbraith] At Hyannis a few days after the convention when we were talking about the campaign and he said, 'Well, I won't be troubled by the campaign so much, because I can be myself.' And then he said, 'And Nixon will be greatly troubled, because he always has to wonder who he is.' [laughter] [Narrator] John F. Kennedy took the wry Massachusetts style of humor to an extreme. No wisecracks or bawdy stories, just the plain truth, with a twist. He used his self-deprecating style of humor to make friends, disarm his enemies, and carry himself through the dark times. For the 10 O'Clock News, I'm Gino DelGuercio.