Inside the Kennedy White House

JFK's election brought Irish-American Catholics to the center of U.S. power

Powers, meanwhile, became a driving force behind the JFK Library and Museum in Boston. He served as curator when it opened in 1979, and retired in 1994, before dying at the age of 85 in 1998. Finally, O'Brien became chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1968, and later was targeted for investigation by Richard Nixon. O'Brien later left politics and became commissioner of the National Basketball Association, before dying in 1990 at the age of 73. "The Irish," JFK once said to O'Donnell, "do seem to have an art for government." The president then paused, considered his company, and added: "Perhaps we are both prejudiced."

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