He was the ‘schoolboy diplomat’ sent across the ocean to a war-torn country to soothe the fears of fellow Americans who had been caught up in the foreign conflict.
Few knew that the fresh-faced 22-year-old would one day go on to occupy the most powerful office in the world and go down in history as the victim of the most infamous political assassination in history 60 years ago today.
More than eight decades ago, John F Kennedy visited Glasgow to deliver the first political statement of his career to a group of Americans and Canadians in Scotland after a U-boat torpedoed the Govan-built passenger liner Athenia while it sailed Glasgow to Montreal on 3 September 1939.
The bedraggled survivors of the sinking, one of the first attacks on a civilian ship in the Second World War, were assembled in the Art Deco Beresford Hotel in Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street.
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The young Kennedy, then aged 22, made his way to Scotland at the behest of his father, Joseph Kennedy, then the US Ambassador to Great Britain.
Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, an American isolationist, was determined this would not happen and dispatched his son to turn on the charm and soothe the nerves of the traumatised passengers.
Patrick Dollan, Glasgow's Lord Provost at the time organised the relief effort personally and even launched a special fund for the survivors, which raised more than £3500.
In a telegram to the US President Franklin D Roosevelt sent on 5 September, he assured that "Glasgow will look after American and other survivors of [the] Athenia disaster who have arrived in our city".
This prompted President Roosevelt to write to Provost Dollan in response on 11 September, saying: "I wish you to know how deeply I and the American people appreciate the efficient, generous and humane manner in which Glasgow and its citizens came to the help of our fellow countrymen and women in their need.
"I express to you my heartfelt thanks and assure you that Glasgow's gesture will not be forgotten."
When the young JFK arrived in Scotland, he also quickly showed his appreciation of Provost Dollan's efforts, accompanying him to a meeting in the City Chambers and visiting survivors in hospital.
Kennedy said at the time: “I have never seen people more grateful for all that has been done for them by Glasgow than those to whom I have spoken today.
“I have told Lord Provost Dollan that it is the desire of the American government to undertake complete responsibility for the care of our nationals but he has insisted that Glasgow regards it as its privilege to undertake this responsibility. That is a very generous gesture indeed and it will be fully appreciated by my countrymen.
“I will go back and tell my father how kind you have been to our people.”
A telegram, held by the Glasgow City Archives from Joseph Kennedy states: “May I on behalf of the President and people of the United States express heartfelt thanks to you and your citizens of Glasgow for this humane and generous action in aiding survivors of the Athenia disaster.”
But when Kennedy was taken to the Beresford Hotel to meet with around 150 American survivors, some of them wounded, the mood turned ugly.
Demands were made for protection from the US navy for any further crossings of the Atlantic, with many people fearing further German attacks.
A newspaper report from 8 September said: “Several women shouted “We must have a convoy, we are not going in a small freighter without a convoy. You can’t trust the Germans now".
“We want an armed escort," shouted another woman who had a bandage around her head. Mr Kennedy, obviously taken aback by the display of feeling in the meeting said he would report to his father on a suggestion of a convoy.
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There was also said to be anger at the arrival of the ambassador’s son – dubbed the “schoolboy diplomat” – whose fresh-faced looks made him seem even younger and more inexperienced than his 22 years.
But he was able to remain calm and reassured them that they would be safe and ultimately persuading them to travel.
However, the truth about the sinking was obscured in Germany, where Hitler decided to dampen down publicity to avoid stoking American outrage.
Officially, it was denied that the Athenia had been torpedoed by a German U-Boat, and records were altered to cover up the incident with the truth only emerging during the Nuremberg trials.
JFK returned to Harvard and would later enlist in the US Navy, serving on a torpedo boat in the Pacific.
He was injured when the boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, and had to survive for several days behind enemy lines.
After the war he became active in politics, entering the House of Representatives in 1947 and advancing to the US Senate in 1953. He was elected President in 1961, and assassinated two years later in Texas.
The Beresford Hotel, which opened in 1938, was turned into an office block after the war, and later bought by the University of Strathclyde for student accommodation in 1964, renaming it Baird Hall.
It was sold in 2003 and work began on its re-conversion into private apartments.
Phillips O'Brien, Professor of Strategic Studies at St Andrews University said: "Joseph Kennedy was a colourful character and was isolationist towards American involvement in the war. He wanted to act quickly to make things were smoothed over."
Prof O'Brien, said that the JFK's trip there would have been part of his father's efforts to limit the damage to America's interests caused by the sinking of the Athenia, giving the young JFK an introduction to the world of political spin.
He said: "John Kennedy - JFK - was the second son and it was his older brother Joe who was being groomed to be president. But Joe died during the war undertaking a very dangerous bombing mission, and John was next in line.
"Their father was politically driven to his finger tips and wanted to get someone up to Glasgow to ensure there was no bad press and that the American government came out of it ok.
"As John was in London at the time, he would have been used to make the diplomatic point that the US government was on top of things."
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