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| Above, Sean Connery and Ian Fleming. |
As yesterday was James Bond Day worldwide (the movie Dr. No was released on October 5, 1962), I was perusing around for material for a blog post on the topic.
One source of information I read yesterday, but didn't use, was from IrishCentral. They had an article on President John F. Kennedy's fondness for the Ian Fleming James Bond books.
It started out with:
The last movie President John F. Kennedy ever watched was “From Russia With Love”, the second in the James Bond series, just days before he was assassinated on Nov 22, 1963.
JFK first came across the James Bond character when he was recovering from back surgery in hospital, in 1954, and a friend gave him “Casino Royale”, the first 007 novel, by former British spy Ian Fleming.
Kennedy fell in love with the character and strongly identified with him. JFK was keen to create a dashing new image when running for the White House and when he succeeded in 1960, according to Washington Post journalist Theo Zenou.
The James Bond author, Ian Fleming, was invited to the Kennedy residence during the 1960 campaign and in 1961 when Kennedy was asked about his favorite books he named “From Russia With Love” as one of his top three.
Kennedy’s choice meant that the book started to fly off the shelves.
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| Above, JFK reading while yachting. |
Fleming and Kennedy Meet
Fleming was somewhat dashing and had many friends within British government. Thus, he was invited to a party in Washington D.C. held by newly elected American President John F. Kennedy.
Fleming was introduced to President Kennedy, and in their conversation, he told Kennedy that he had a way to get rid of Fidel Castro, the Communist leader of Cuba. This piqued Kennedy's interest, since Castro had been a thorn in the side of Kennedy.
And what was Fleming's way of ridding Kennedy of Castro?
Fleming said that Castro's beard was the key. Without the beard, Castro would look like anyone else. It was his trademark. So, Fleming said that the U.S. should announce that they found that beards attract radioactivity. Any person wearing a beard could become radioactive himself as well as sterile!
Castro would immediately shave off his beard and would soon fall from power, when the people saw him as an ordinary person.
Kennedy had a good laugh about this bizarre suggestion.
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