John F. Kennedy was a busy man. As president of the United States, he was often off his rocker...the chair prescribed for him by the official presidential physician, Dr. Janet Travell, the first woman to hold that position. Kennedy suffered from chronic back pain due to injuries suffered in World War II. Travell recommended the rockers, and subsequently designed various chairs for the White House and Kennedy's personal homes. But it was the rockers that were made famous, and the president's use of them caused sales to zoom.
Famed British broadcaster Allistair Cooke recalled being aboard the carrier Kitty Hawk in June of 1963, for a demonstration of American naval prowess. But it wasn't the technology that would stay with him. When invited down to the tiny cockpit-like space of the bridge by a wartime friend, now the Vice-Admiral of the Pacific Fleet, he walked into a cramped space occupied by a rocking chair, and the President of the United States.
In 1996, after the death of Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, a quantity of memorabilia from the "Camelot" years were put up for sale by the famed Christie's Auction House. Among them, was the president's oak rocking chair from the White House, expected to bring $4,000-$5,000. It sold for $453,000.
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