Frank Sinatra and J.F.K.
||| HOME |||FRANK SINATRA
Sinatra and JFK got along great. They had everything in common: charisma, talent, power. They were about the same age, but JFK seemed much younger. After all, like his dad, he was a Harvard man, a war hero, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and a senator. Sinatra stood in awe of JFK, his heroics and his acclaim. Yet JFK was far more in awe of Sinatra than Sinatra was of him mainly because Sinatra controlled the one thing JFK wanted more than anything else: a collection of the best broads in Hollywood. Aside from gossip and scandal, John Kennedy was obsessed with Sinatra's love life. JFK had told George Jacobs, that his ambition in life was to : f*** all the women in Hollywood. It was this attitude that bonded Frank, also a womanizer, and JFK’s brother in law, Peter Lawford. They were drinking, womanizing playboys and when they got together, the parties were nothing short of unbelievable. Jeanne Martin, wife of Dean Martin is quoted as saying that she didn’t like attending parties at the Lawford beach house, as “the things that went on in that house were mind boggling”.

When together, according to George, Frank and JFK never discussed politics or issues of national concern, they only discussed Hollywood gossip topics and who sexual linked to who.

Frank was interested in the man JFK was, but never wanted to know about JFK's drug use. On several occasions in Palm Springs, George caught Peter Lawford and JFK did lines of cocaine together in Lawford's guest room, insisting it was for his back pain. George, however, didn’t tell Frank about Jack, whom Sinatra had put on a pedestal. Sex and alcohol may have made Jack a better man in Sinatra's eyes, but cocaine was a different story.

Frank did everything he could to assist in JFK’s campaign for president; singing at fundraisers, organizing galas, and calling in favours from his friend, Giancana to ensure Jack won the election. All his hard work, however, didn’t earn him the privlegde of flying on Air Force One, being invited to any of the Kennedy state dinners or taken to Camp David for any of the parties there but did, however, bestow upon him the honour of receiving a phone call from JFK on a regular basis, but this was mostly to cover the President's favourite topic, Hollywood gossip. The Kennedys had been slowly distancing themselves from Sinatra for some time before they gave him the axe, in part due to the singers often erratic public, and private, life that reflected badly on the family, being associated with such a person as Frank.

Due to Frank’s admiration for JFK and how much he valued their friendship, Frank was devastated when the Frank thought that JFKwas his friend, and made many excuses for JFKcancelling his trip, not wanting to believe that JFK had initiated the cancellation himself, putting his reputation before his friendship with Frank, as that would be a betrayal of their friendship and would mean the end of his association with the Kennedy family. Frank didn’t want to face the realization that JFK may have just used Frank and got out of him what he wanted, and now he had got what he wanted, was ready to dismiss him from his life.

When the news reached Frank on the set of "Sergeants 3" that JFK had been assassinated, the news shook Frank and he grieved deeply for his friend, but didn’t attend the funeral, opting to send flowers instead.