By the time Sen. John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, a young comedian named Mort Sahl had established himself as one of the country’s top political satirists. Sahl was what some would call an equal opportunity offender, going after both Democrats and Republicans in his act. Kennedy, for one, was fond of the comic’s approach and respected Sahl for what he called “his relentless pursuit of everybody.” When Kennedy said “everybody,” he wasn’t exaggerating; Sahl had no qualms about taking aim at the aspiring commander-in-chief or his political opponent at that time.
During the 1960 presidential campaign, Sahl joked that his “considered opinion of Nixon versus Kennedy is that neither can win.” He told people to “Vote ‘No’ for President,” and said, “Let’s keep the White House empty for another four years.” JFK’s father, Joseph P. Kennedy, wasn’t spared either: On TV one night, Sahl made a joke about the elder Kennedy telling his son, “I’m putting you on an allowance. You’re not allowed one more cent than you need to buy a landslide.” The funny thing about all this is that Sahl actually wrote jokes for Kennedy to use in his speeches back then.
In 1960, family patriarch Joseph Kennedy called Sahl up, saying, “I hear that you’re pre-eminent in the field of political humor,” and asked him to write something for his son. Sahl then met and became friends with JFK while emceeing a dinner for him at the Beverly Hilton Hotel that year. He agreed to write for him and provided the future president with a joke bank to draw from for his various speaking engagements. When Kennedy was on the spot one night after a Protestant leader said he would dig a tunnel to Rome if Kennedy got elected, Sahl told him to say, “I’m against public works projects of any kind.”
However, Sahl did warn Kennedy from the beginning that he wouldn’t stop making jokes about him if he were to become president, and he made good on that promise. Kennedy’s father didn’t take kindly to the comedian’s continued attacks, and before long, Sahl was having considerable difficulty finding stand-up gigs for himself. When JFK was assassinated a few years later, Sahl suspected that it was a conspiracy and was very vocal about his opinions on the matter. That didn’t help his career either, and while he did make a bit of a comeback after that, he never reached the same heights as before his association with the former president.
Sahl died in 2021 at the age of 94.
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