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Original ink sketches of Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy on an off-white 8 x 10.5 sheet of his personal United States Senate stationery, unsigned, no date. The doodles consist of a small sailboat with the number “6” on its sail; a box with the acronym “NATO” [North Atlantic Treaty Organization]; a circle with his first initial "J" in the middle, surrounded by arrows pointing outwards; an apparent dollar bill with the word “money”; a diamond with crosshatched interior; and a small three-dimensional trapezoid that resembles a gold bar. In fine condition.
The most prolific doodler of all U.S. presidents, Kennedy was known to cover entire sheets of paper with stacked boxes, repeated words, and small drawings—most frequently of sailboats. This wonderful example appears to depict Kennedy’s beloved Victura, a 25-foot Wianno Senior sloop that he received as a gift from his parents as a teenager.
Dave Powers, a longtime friend of President Kennedy and founding curator of the Kennedy Library, wrote: 'Victura was among the President's most prized possessions. A gift on his fifteenth birthday, he sailed it as a young man, Navy hero, Congressman, Senator, and finally as President. It was on the Victura that he began winning races at the age of 15, and on which he taught his wife Jacqueline how to sail. If the President wasn't sailing on Victura, he was thinking about it as evidenced by his many doodles of the sailboat…When the President visited Hyannis Port, he was never happier than when he was at the helm of Victura.'
The 'Victura' remains an enduring symbol of JFK's passion for the sea. Since 1980, the sailboat has been exhibited from May to November on the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, overlooking the Dorchester Bay section of Boston Harbor.
