Looking at Jack, Kennedy mumbled that Jack would make certain to have the mess cleaned up to which Jack responded he would.
"We had a long talk here by the window," Jack continued. "Politics, of course. He was a very appealing candidate and was determined to become president. I had every confidence he would."
"In fact," Jack added, "you're sitting where he sat that night."
Then Jack showed me a photograph of JFK standing in the Hall of Statuary of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, the building where Congress is located.
"That statue behind Kennedy," Jack continued, "is of my father, John Campbell Greenway. When Kennedy learned about the statue, he made a point of having himself photographed in front of it and sent the picture to me, something I appreciated very much."
Jack explained that the Federal Government asked every state in the Union to nominate two people to represent their state in the Hall of Statuary. Arizona selected Jack's father, John Campbell Greenway and Father Kino, the Jesuit priest who founded the missions of Arizona.
Jack went on to explain that his father and Teddy Roosevelt were best friends and had ridden together at San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American war. They also dated the same woman, Isabella, who was the belle of Washington society and who chose John Campbell over Teddy Roosevelt.
However, the Roosevelts remained close to the Greenways and in the Thirties when Isabella Greenway opened The Arizona Inn, Eleanor Roosevelt made a point of being there for the festivities.
Years later when I was living in the Bay Area, I called Jack to see if it was a good time to visit and he said, "Let me get my old friend, George Bush, on the plane and you can come in tomorrow. You'll have his room."
Needless to say I was curious how Jack knew Bush and when I asked him about it he told me that he and the senior Bush were roommates at Yale and had been friends ever since.
Jack also told me a wonderful story about Bush. One summer years earlier Jack faced an empty house for the summer with no house guests since work was being done. He called Bush and asked him if he knew of anyone who wouldn't mind a bit of discomfort and Bush said he knew just the person - one of his sons - who spent the summer with Jack that year.
Jack couldn't recall which son it was and after Jack's death I wrote President Bush at his Library in Houston and asked him if he knew which of the sons it was.
The president's assistant replied to my letter stating that according to President Bush it was his son, The President, who spent that summer in Tucson at Jack Greenway's house.
As a footnote, the photograph of President Kennedy standing in by the statue of John Campbell Greenway in the Hall of Statuary of the Capitol Building in Washington can be seen in Thomas Meier's book, The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings. A paperback edition has just been released.
Also, it should be noted that the Bush and Kennedy families are friends as demonstrated by the fact that the Bush Library gave Senator Ted Kennedy an award.
