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At the Capitol [on inauguration day], an icy wind swept across the East Front in the brilliant sunshine. As [President John F.] Kennedy made his way down the aisle to his seat, he saw Congressman Tip O'Neill, who held J.F.K.'s old House seat, together with George Kara, an affluent Boston businessman with a reputation for showing up, Zelig-like, in the most unexpected places without the requisite tickets. O'Neill recalled that Kara had nudged him and said,
'Years from now historians will wonder what was on the young man's mind as he strode to take his oath of office. I bet he's asking himself how George Kara got such a good seat.'
That night, O'Neill and his wife danced over to the president's box at the ball in the Mayflower Hotel to congratulate him, and sure enough, Kennedy asked, 'Was that George Kara sitting beside you?' O'Neill told Kennedy what Kara had said.
And J.F.K. replied, ‘Tip: you'll never believe it. I had my left hand on the Bible and my right hand in the air, and I was about to take the oath of office, and I said to myself, "How the hell did Kara get that seat?’”
Todd S. Purdum, “From That Day Forth,” February 2011
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