May 2, 1963 - JFK Remarks to Congressional Wives

May 2, 1963 - President Kennedy interrupted his busy White House schedule today to praise the sacrifices of Congressional wives. He spoke in place of his wife at the annual Congressional wives’ brunch. Mrs. Kennedy is in New York, where she saw the London Royal Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House last night. Mrs. Kennedy is expected to remain in New York until Saturday, the White House said today. The President has taken her place at a number of events in the past, but today was the first time he had done so since cancellation of her social schedule. Mrs. Kennedy, he said with a smile, “is engaged in increasing the gross national product in her own way.” The President said that wives of members of Congress “really make an extraordinary sacrifice.” “I feel that politics is a most rewarding profession, as I am sure all of your husbands do, but it is also very rewarding for women,” he told the gathering at the International Inn in Washington. Among those at the brunch were two of the President’s sisters-in-law, Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy, who is expecting a baby in June, and Mrs. Edward M. Kennedy, who is expecting a baby in late August.

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