John F. Kennedy’s back was almost as famous as he was, having survived the sinking of PT-109 and the saving of several fellow sailors for the freezing waters of the great Pacific. A true hero, Kennedy’s back was awarded the prestigious Navy and Marine Corps medal, but that didn’t stop the constant pain, and the midnight spasms as the president reached for yet another handful of Demerol. Many wondered how the president’s back carried him through those 1000 days, but on a stormy night in Hyannis Port, Kennedy’s doctor Janet Travell, suggested he invest in a rocking chair to ease the pain. The chair became his constant companion, even traveling with him to various foreign countries. Some might say that that rocker was as useful an aid to the president as Robert McNamara or Dean Rusk, though much less vociferous.

It’s a little-known fact that the quintessential rocker was featured prominently in practically every room in the White House, and no one else was allowed to occupy that esteemed seat of comfort. Constructed from golden brown wood with a wicker seat and back, the chair became synonymous with Kennedy’s Camelot, but no one ever talks about the fact that the rocking chairs stood witness to any number of infidelities, inscrutable plots, squabbles, and backroom dealings not to mention the Bay of Pigs. To say those rocking chairs held so much more than Kennedy’s weight, would be an understatement as time and time again the boyish prez succumbed to desire, vitriol, and all manner of rages, all from the cozy comfort of his favorite wicked wicker brown rocker.

Decisions were made and hearts were broken as from that esteemed seat, Kennedy gave the order to do away with dear Marilyn once and for all. Only the rocker knows what was said that day and who did the deed, but it’s a well-known fact that chairs are the keepers of our darkest dreams and most wicked secrets.

  • Mark Rothko, untitled, 1952.

  • Chuck Close, April, 1992.

  • Leon Golub, Tete De Cheval II, 1963.