Two titans of American letters, Robert Frost and Tennessee Williams,
were born on this day—Frost in 1874 and Williams thirty-seven years later. Both had a connection with the Nobel Prize
dinner at the White House in April 1962.
Frost, who had developed a relationship with President
Kennedy, famously recited “The Gift Outright” at the inauguration in 1961. Kennedy had given him the Congressional
Medal at the White House on the poet’s birthday in 1962. He was back, at the president’s table, for the
Nobel dinner one month later. Frost, one of the main attractions at the
gathering of American intellectuals that night, was invited to the intimate
after-party in the family quarters, in the Yellow Oval Room.
Shortly after, Frost was Kennedy’s personal choice for a
cultural exchange visit to the Soviet Union.
But, alas, a political misstep by the octogenarian poet on his return to
the United States caused a rift with the president; he died soon afterward. Still, Kennedy eulogized him at the
dedication of the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College in October 1963; it
was the president’s last speech in Massachusetts.
Tennessee Williams, the famous playwright, was invited to
the Nobel dinner, but declined with no reason given. He also was invited to the next dinner,
honoring French cultural minister Andre Malraux, held seventeen days
later. He was going to decline this
invitation, too, but Jackie Kennedy cajoled him into attending. Williams sat at a table hosted
by White House aide Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and next to actress Susan Strasberg.
Yet a third person born on March 26, the distinguished
scholar and administrator James B. Conant, was also invited to the Nobel
dinner. He had been president of
Harvard, a Manhattan Project leader, and ambassador to Germany. Conant’s response to social secretary Tish
Baldrige said “regret extremely that previous engagement prevent” attendance.
The photograph of Frost, which is in the public domain, is
credited to Abbie Rowe, White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and
Museum, Boston.
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