Stan Musial, John F. Kennedy, and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness

Stan Musial visits the JFK White House in 1962, along with wife, Lilian, and daughter Janet. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

 

While his baseball exploits made Stan Musial a well-known and recognized public figure, for the most part his efforts were limited to baseball and business, especially his restaurant that built upon his baseball renown. However, Musial also made one brief foray into the world of politics, one which led to a little-remembered government position not long after the end of his playing days.

The road to his appointment, as well as the beginning of the relationship between a young senator with presidential aspirations and the aging baseball superstar1 began with a chance meeting between the St. Louis Cardinals star and the senator from Massachusetts in September 1959 in Milwaukee. John F. Kennedy was in Milwaukee in the early stages of his as-yet-undeclared candidacy for the presidency and, hearing that the Cardinals were outside the hotel waiting to get onto the bus that would take them to County Stadium and their game with the Braves, sought out Musial. Upon finding the Cardinals star, he introduced himself, saying, “You’re Stan Musial, aren’t you? My name is Jack Kennedy. I’m glad to meet you.”2 The senator then quipped, “They tell me you’re too old to play ball and I’m too young to be president, but maybe we’ll fool them.”3

The encounter represented the beginning of an active engagement with the Kennedy campaign as well as a devotion to the young future president. While Musial had supported Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, he had not been active in the campaigns, and as the 1960 campaign got underway, Musial found himself attracted by the candidate’s energy and vigor, as the saying went. Too, their shared Roman Catholic faith also made for a connection. At the time Kennedy’s Catholicism was seen as a political liability, especially in the very Protestant Midwest. But Musial’s popularity in that very region, as well as beyond, led Kennedy campaign adviser and one-time pro football star Byron “Whizzer” White to think that the baseball star might be able to help the young senator’s electoral prospects.4

Although Musial had never previously been actively involved in politics, he agreed to help, and so, in the final week of the 1960 campaign, with the baseball season behind him, Musial became a member of a group of celebrities that included White, author James Michener, historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Kennedy sisters-in-law Ethel and Joan Kennedy, and Hollywood stars Jeff Chandler and Angie Dickinson. The group campaigned in Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Kentucky.5 Musial enjoyed the camaraderie of the group – he and Michener became lifelong friends and he would frequently see Angie Dickinson at Dodgers games in Los Angeles – and he had enough experience from appearances at baseball banquets to be a relaxed but effective speaker as he offered a straightforward pitch on behalf of the candidate whose support for a “more just society” had particular appeal to a man who had seen the advances baseball had made in that area.6 Too, his baseball notoriety made him a big draw, with Michener recalling, “I was constantly astonished at how men in the cities we stopped at would crowd the airports to see Stan Musial.”7 Indeed, as election day neared and with Musial’s campaign efforts having clearly identified him with the Democratic nominee, he was named one of the co-chairs of the National Sportsmen for Kennedy Committee, a group that included Johnny Unitas, Bob Cousy, Leo Durocher, and Willie Mays.8 Kennedy’s narrow victory on November 8 made clear that it was a successful alliance.

While the always affable Musial would sometimes refer to JFK as “my buddy,” and Kennedy was known to occasionally call Musial on the phone, in fact, beyond the encounter at the hotel in Milwaukee, the pair had only two other meetings, both during the festivities surrounding the All-Star Game played in Washington in 1962.9 Before the game Musial talked briefly with the president, reminding him of their exchange at the hotel, to which the president replied that he thought they both were doing a good job, a comment that was picked up by the media with one paper’s next-day coverage including the headline: “JFK, Musial Both Doing All Right.”10 Meanwhile, as the game unfolded, Kennedy cheered enthusiastically when Musial, pinch-hitting for Juan Marichal, lined a single to right on a two-strike curveball from Camilo Pascual in the sixth inning of the National League’s 3-1 win.11

The next day Stan, his wife, Lil, and their daughter Janet were treated to a tour arranged by Missouri Senator Stuart Symington. They met first with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who gave them a tour of the Justice Department before they headed to FBI headquarters for a tour that included the firing range. Later, Bobby Kennedy asked the trio if they would like to visit his brother at the White House.12 While Musial demurred, saying they did not want to bother the president, he was quickly assured that such invitations were not offered unless they were for real and so the Musials went back to their hotel to change clothes before heading over to the White House.13 They were greeted by Kennedy aide Dave Powers, who talked baseball with Stan in an office adjoining the Oval Office. Janet happily sat in the president’s chair until suddenly “she went bug-eyed as in walked the president.”14 JFK spent about 15 minutes with the family. He gave them all little presidential mementos, while telling Lil and Janet what a great job Stan had done campaigning for him in 1960.15 Then, as Kennedy said he had to get back to work, he arranged for them to get a tour of the White House’s family living quarters. It was by all accounts a memorable experience with the ever-humble Musial later telling a reporter, “Everything I have I owe to baseball. Can you imagine the son of a poor steel worker from Donora being invited to visit the president of the United States in the White House?”16

Like all Americans, Musial mourned the loss of the president after Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963, the day after Musial’s 43rd birthday. Indeed, he took his daughters out of school and they went to pray at the Cathedral Basilica in the Central West End area of St. Louis.17 He would renew his tie with the Kennedy family the following spring, appearing at Fenway Park in Boston when JFK’s brothers, Bobby and Ted, as well as sisters Jean Smith and Patricia Lawford, appeared at the Red Sox season opener in conjunction with a ceremony honoring the late president. Bobby threw out the ceremonial first pitch and in addition to handing out the newly-minted JFK half-dollars to the first 6,000 ticket holders, the Red Sox had pledged to donate the game’s proceeds to the JFK Library fund.18

Musial was, in fact, there in an official capacity, representing the president, for in early 1964, Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Johnson, had asked the now-retired baseball icon to serve as the presidential adviser to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.19 The council had its roots in work by Dr. Hans Kraus in the 1950s. Kraus’s studies about American physical fitness revealed some disturbing facts, foremost among them that American postwar prosperity and the resulting lifestyle had left the nation’s youth, in contrast to their European counterparts, “soft.”20

In response and in an effort to address the problem, President Dwight Eisenhower, a former college football player and avid golfer, convened a conference on youth fitness that issued a long list of goals aimed at improving the fitness of America’s youth. Spurred by the findings, in July 1956, Eisenhower issued an Executive Order establishing the President’s Council on Youth Fitness.21 Over the years, the name has changed slightly as has the focus, but during the Kennedy administration and under the leadership of University of Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson, the council enjoyed a heightened public profile.22 Consequently, when, not long after Kennedy’s death, Wilkinson resigned as both head coach at Oklahoma and chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness to run as a Republican for a US Senate seat from Oklahoma, the recently retired Musial, with his ties to Kennedy and his efforts on behalf of the Kennedy-Johnson ticket in 1960, was an ideal successor.23

Johnson took advantage of a February 14, 1964, visit to St. Louis as part of the celebration of the city’s 200th anniversary to announce his decision to appoint Musial as consultant to the president for physical fitness and chair of the slightly renamed President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.24 In speaking before the St. Louis crowd, he praised their longtime baseball favorite, saying of Musial, “There are a few men who have served as American heroes with such dignity. I am proud to have ‘Stan the Man.’”25

At the ceremony Musial made clear that his approach to the new post was based on more than just his baseball career. In talking about the importance of physical fitness, Musial harked back to his youthful days as a member of the Donora branch of the Polish Falcons, a club that offered training and competition in gymnastics and track and field, while also engaging in charitable activities that supported causes in Poland.30 Musial sought to paint a vision asserting that physical fitness involved more than just calisthenics and other forms of exercise. He affirmed its value but asserted that “games and other forms of recreation [were] important too.”31 Musial also declared that his effort would be aimed at both adults and children.32

The job was only loosely defined – indeed, at various times he was referred to as an adviser, an ambassador and on the day of the announcement, the “director of President Johnson’s physical fitness program.”33 Too, given that Musial was compensated on a per-diem basis, at a rate of $75 a day, he was often left having to choose between making real money with his various businesses or serving the public.34 But in typical fashion, outside pressures aside, what Musial did, he did fully, throwing himself into his new duties, traveling widely in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of physical fitness for American of all ages.

Upon assuming the office, Musial appointed former Washington University in St. Louis athletic director Bob Stewart as the council’s executive director.35 Under Stewart’s direction and with Musial beating the drum for both the council and fitness at large, the council was able to increase its budget, one that enabled it to expand its advertising, part of its effort to encourage citizens of all ages to exercise more.36 It was also able to expand its reach into schools, where it advocated for more physical education classes as well as greater encouragement of more exercise for all.37 While critics argued that some of the money was being wasted on excessive travel, including at least one major overseas trip, Stewart pointed to the continued success of the council’s effort to raise awareness and expand formal programing, especially as seen in the increased number of state laws mandating physical education in elementary schools, as well as better student performances on basic fitness tests. He said the council was determined to build upon the improved foundation.38

Central to Musial’s efforts was travel. He went to all sorts of gatherings in his effort to spread his message about the importance of physical fitness. In mid-March 1964, just weeks after his appointment, he was in Albany, New York, where he addressed the participants at the Northeastern Regional Fitness Clinic, a gathering of fitness educators from the region who were looking to share information to better enable them to increase awareness about the importance of greater fitness in citizens of all ages, while also working to develop programs to help people achieve it.39

The month of May saw Musial in a different setting when he attended a lunchtime event in Wahington for over 600 government workers. In his folksy way, Musial introduced a do-it-at-home fitness program, noting that they were “really starting our fitness program right here by having you all miss lunch.”40 Musial said he hoped that everyone would begin a fitness program but that only 100 individuals would be chosen to participate in the pilot program that would seek to publicize the newly developed Council on Physical Fitness for Adults, a product of the pledge Musial had made in his introductory press conference when he made clear that his efforts would be aimed at young and old alike.41

Further evidence of the breadth and range of his efforts was a visit in mid-September to Pocatello, Idaho, for a conference with state physical education leaders, recreation directors and coaches in an effort to support and boost their efforts. Reflective of Musial’s star power, Pocatello’s mayor had formally proclaimed the week of his visit “Physical Fitness Week.”42 Musial’s dedication to the cause was evident in the fact that in early September, attending a Cardinals-Braves game, he “collapsed from complete exhaustion brought on by his heavy schedule as director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness” and had to be hospitalized in St. Louis.43

Despite his reputation for fitness and durability, details emerged of his “break-neck schedule” – in what Musial told one person was “not an unusually heavy schedule for the day” – he had started the day on August 25 in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he dedicated a hospital, then stopped in his office in St. Louis before heading to the Connie Mack World Series in Springfield, Illinois. He returned to St. Louis that night before taking an early morning flight to Philadelphia for an event – his collapse became understandable, if not overdue.44 Happily, he bounced back and was able to do the Pocatello event, although Bob Feller pinch hit for him at a luncheon combining his physical fitness work with the opening of the Stan Musial World Series of the American Amateur Baseball Congress. Musial’s colleague, Fitness Council administrator Bob Stewart, was also on the program to share Musial’s message.45

Another less arduous way that Musial got the word out was through newspaper columns and news articles. During a busy September 1964, he penned a column titled “Your Child and Physical Fitness,” in which he emphasized the lifetime benefits of physical fitness in children. As he often did, he wrote of his own nonbaseball experiences growing up in Donora.46 No less typical were the newspaper articles that would appear after one of the many interviews he did in the course of his travels. An April 1965 syndicated piece had Musial talking about the combined impact of diet and exercise on a person’s fitness, with the reporter also including some research in the article that reaffirmed Musial’s advice.47

Similarly, as he had as a player, Musial’s leadership by example was no small part of his efforts to encourage the American people to make caring for their physical fitness a regular part of their life. An article in the nationally circulated Sunday newspaper supplement Parade in April 1966 showcased the way the whole family stayed fit. Titled “How the Stan Musial Family Stays Fit,” in addition to a photo of Stan working out as well as a description of the workouts he did in a hotel room on the road, it also talked about what the rest of the family – from his wife, Lil, a golfer, to his 3-year old grandson and the others in between – did to stay fit and healthy.48 The article also noted that the family was about to move to a new home that included a miniature gym that would make it even easier for Musial and other family members.49 The article on the Musials was accompanied by a coupon that readers could use to purchase for $1, Parade’s “Fitness Is a Family Affair” booklet.50

Through it all, Musial tried to get people to understand that attending to their physical fitness should be part of their daily life, something that would have long-term benefits. It need not, he would often say, be an arduous regimen of exercises, but could be as simple as regular walking or as enjoyable as swimming. As he told one writer, “When I talked to President Johnson about his physical shape I recommended he do more walking and more swimming. I don’t mention straight exercise once.”51 And in that same vein, Musial urged companies to give employees exercise breaks rather than coffee breaks arguing that fitter workers were better workers.52

In the end, despite his best intentions, Musial never really took to the job, in part because he never established the kind of rapport with Johnson that he had with Kennedy. Too, while the job offer may in fact have had its roots in his 1960 campaign efforts, Musial did not see the job as a political one. As a result, when the ever-political Johnson and his administration not only asked Musial to lobby a Polish congressman, but also vetoed a joint appearance with a local baseball official in Rochester, New York, because the official was a Republican, Musial became increasingly uncomfortable in the post.53 In addition, with Johnson actively in the midst of his push for greater civil rights protections as well as the Great Society, while at the same time expanding the war in Vietnam, physical fitness was not a top priority.54 Consequently, there was little fanfare when, in January 1967, Musial resigned the position, with White House press secretary George Christian explaining that Musial’s recent appointment as Cardinals general manager made continuation impossible.55

BILL PRUDEN has been a teacher of American history and government for over 40 years. A SABR member for over two decades, he has contributed to SABR’s BioProject and Games project as well as a number of book projects. He has also written on a range of American history subjects, an interest undoubtedly fueled by the fact that as a seven-year-old he was at Yankee Stadium to witness Roger Maris’s historic 61st home run.

 

NOTES

1 Actually Kennedy (born in 1917) was older than Musial (b. 1920).

2 Stan Musial and Bob Broeg, Stan Musial: “The Man’s” Own Story as Told to Bob Broeg (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1964), 3.

3 Musial and Broeg, 3.

4 George Vecsey, Stan Musial: An American Life (New York: Ballantine Books, 2011), 234.

5 Vecsey, 233-234.

6 Vecsey, 235, 240.

7 Jack Doyle, “Jack & Stan, Kennedy/Musial: 1959-64,” PopHistoryDig.com, March 25, 2016; https://pophistorydig.com/topics/jack-kennedy-stan-musial/

8 Doyle.

9 “Stan Musial Shared a Special Bond with JFK,” Retrosimba: Cardinals History Beyond the Box Score, November 19, 2019; https://retrosimba.com/2010/11/19/musial-shared-special-bond-with-jfk/; Doyle.

10 “Stan Musial shared a special bond with JFK”; Doyle.

11 “Stan Musial shared a special bond with JFK.”

12 Vecsey, 255.

13 Vecsey, 255.

14 Vecsey, 255.

15 Doyle; Vecsey, 256.

16 Vecsey, 256.

17 Doyle.

18 Doyle.

19 Doyle.

20 President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports The First 50 Years: 1956-2006, 17.

21 President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports The First 50 Years: 1956-2006, 17.

22 “Stan Musial shared a special bond with JFK.”

23 “Musial Is Sworn In as Physical-Fitness Director,” New York Times, February 27, 1964.

24 “Stan Musial Heads Physical Fitness Program,” Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun, February 15, 1964; “Musial Is Sworn In as Physical-Fitness Director.”

25 “Stan Musial Heads Physical Fitness Program.”

26 “Musial Is Sworn In as Physical-Fitness Director.”

27 “Musial Is Sworn In as Physical-Fitness Director.”

28 “Musial Is Sworn In as Physical-Fitness Director.”

29 “Musial Is Sworn In as Physical-Fitness Director.”

30 Vecsey, 263.

31 Vecsey, 263.

32 Vecsey, 263.

33 “Musial Is Sworn In as Physical-Fitness Director.”

34 Vecsey, 263.

35 Vecsey, 263.

36 Philip Meyer, “LBJ’s Physical Fitness Council Goes Budget Happy,” Tallahassee Democrat, August 28, 1966.

37 Meyer.

38 Meyer.

39 “18 Vermonters Attend Physical Fitness Clinic,” Burlington Free Press, March 14, 1964.

40 “Musial Addresses Workers on Physical-Fitness Plans,” New York Times, May 14, 1964.

41 “Musial Addresses Workers on Physical-Fitness Plans.”

42 Tom Morrison, “Pocatello Welcomes Stan Musial Monday,” Idaho Sunday Journal (Pocatello), September 13, 1964.

43 “Bob Feller Offers to Hit for Musial,” Battle Creek (Michigan) Enquirer, September 3, 1964.

44 Bill Frank, “Frankly Speaking,” Battle Creek Enquirer, September 6, 1964.

45 Frank; “Lakewood Wraps Up Musial Regional Title on Two Wins,” Battle Creek Enquirer, September 16, 1964.

46 Stan Musial, “Your Child – Physical Fitness,” Zanesville (Ohio) Times Recorder, September 20, 1964.

47 Gaynor Maddox, “Moderate Exercise Essential,” Alexandria (Louisiana) Daily Town Talk, April 22, 1965.

48 “How the Stan Musial Family Stays Fit,” Parade Magazine, April 17, 1966.

49 “How the Stan Musial Family Stays Fit.”

50 “For You and Your Family: How to Look Better and Feel Better,” Parade Magazine, April 17, 1966.

51 “Fewer Coffee Breaks, More Exercise,” Lancaster (Pennsylvania) New Era, March 27, 1965.

52 “Fewer Coffee Breaks, More Exercise.”

53 Vecsey, 263-264.

54 Vecsey, 264.

55 “Musial Submits His Resignation,” Columbia (South Carolina) State, January 26, 1967.