Wednesday, April 23, 1947

April 23, 1947

In the early morning hours, JFK and Richard Nixon share a sleeping compartment on a train back from McKeesport, Pennsylvania after their debate the night before on labor issues.

When they were boarding the train, they drew straws to see who got the lower berth. Nixon won and took the lower berth, but reports have it that they lay in their respective berths talked the entire way back to Washington, D.C.

The topic according to Nixon was chiefly foreign affairs but Nixon also told Kennedy on the train ride that he had been stationed at Vella LaVella during World War II. Jack Kennedy relayed that his PT boat had put in there and they together reckoned that they probably met there during the war.

Later that day, both Kennedy and Nixon are in attendance for a House vote.

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