History Happy Hour: JFK and the Cocktail Hour that Changed American History

History Happy Hour is a weekly virtual program hosted by the White House Historical Association. Join us as experts weigh in on a variety of historical topics, share their insights, answer audience questions, and enjoy presidential-inspired libations.

One evening in February 1944, U.S. Navy officer John F. Kennedy took a young woman to the world-famous Stork Club nightclub in Manhattan, the frolicking ground for celebrities like Ernest Hemingway, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra and J. Edgar Hoover. Over cocktails that night, a little-known, seemingly random event happened to Kennedy that would launch his political career and propel him into the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House itself, becoming America's most admired modern president. (Hint: it had to do with PT 109, the New Yorker magazine, and a fortune built on the liquor business.)

Mix yourself and your date a daiquiri (JFK's favorite mixed drink), or pop open a cold Heineken (JFK's favorite beer) and listen to award-winning New York Times bestselling author William Doyle spin you the amazing true tale of JFK and the cocktail hour that changed American history.