On the Christening of America’s Newest Nuclear Vessel, Ethel Kennedy Tells the Father of the Nuclear Navy, Admiral Hyman Rickover, That, “Men will look with fear and pride at her and know the nobility of America”
Acquired from the Rickover descendants.
The John Marshall began its construction in 1960. The only vessel named after Chief Justice John Marshall, it was a nuclear powered Polaris-launching submarine, part of a fleet launched during the presidency of John F. Kennedy. It was later classified as an attack submarine.
On July 15, Mrs. Robert Kennedy (Ethel)...
The John Marshall began its construction in 1960. The only vessel named after Chief Justice John Marshall, it was a nuclear powered Polaris-launching submarine, part of a fleet launched during the presidency of John F. Kennedy. It was later classified as an attack submarine.
On July 15, Mrs. Robert Kennedy (Ethel) christened the John Marshall (pictured right). She was the vessel’s sponsor, a ceremonial title and assigned for each newly commissioned military ship. Being a sponsor is a tradition dating back centuries. Just days later, she sat down to write Admiral Rickover, in charge of the Navy’s nuclear program. Rickover had written her a thank you note. This response for Mrs. Kennedy is the best such pieces we have seen.
Autograph letter signed, 3 pages, with handwritten envelope present, on her Hickory Hill letterhead but from Hyannisport, Massachusetts, July 18, 1961 (so stamped), to “The Honorable H.G. Rickover, Vice Admiral United States Navy.”
“Dear Admiral Rickover – Thank you so much for your wonderful telegram congratulating me for sponsoring that great ship, the John Marshall. Without you none of us would have been there – and because of you the administration can lift up its head and proudly point to an adequate defense system against the Russian Bear.
“The John Marshall came alive only after the most intense struggle to live Our country is forever in your debt for bringing her to life under almost impossible odds. Having survived a turmoil that would have destroyed ships conceived by lesser men – Admiral Rickover you have proved that the spirit of our fore-fathers is still with us. Wherever she ranges the whole world over men will look with fear and pride at her and know the nobility of America – and that we will fight for what we believe in.
“My thoughts and heart and prayers are with the men on the Marshall.”
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