The Presidency: Moby Jack
Jackie Kennedy likes to give her sea-loving husband things that are nautical and nice. So for Christmas she gave the President a fine piece of scrimshaw to add to his growing collection. It was a sperm whale's tooth. 9½ in. long and 4½ in. in diameter. "This wasn't just an ordinary whale's tooth,'' marveled a White House aide. "I guess it is supposed to be the biggest damn whale's tooth ever found."
Jackie's gift was obtained in New Bedford, Mass., by Artist Milton Delano (a distant and Republican relative of F.D.R.'s), who spent 160 hours etching the Presidential Seal into the ivory and another 80 hours polishing it as clean as a hound's tooth. Jackie commissioned Delano for the job last summer. At that time. the townspeople of Fairhaven. Mass., presented the President with another, smaller whale's tooth, on which Delano had etched Jack's likeness. The President was so delighted with it that Jackie decided he ought to have another.
Most Popular »
- Why Obama Has to Worry About Polls
- Israel vs. Hizballah: Drumbeats of War
- The Pentagon Prepares for a Missile Attack from 'Iran'
- How Panera Bread Defies the Recession
- The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade from Hell
- In Germany, a Disturbing Rise of Right-Wing Violence
- Lindsey Graham: The Senate's New Republican Maverick
- Will Your Next Car be Made in India?
- Sony's Robot-Cam: Partying Without a Photographer
- Rehabilitating Joseph Stalin
- How Panera Bread Defies the Recession
- Rehabilitating Joseph Stalin
- In Germany, a Disturbing Rise of Right-Wing Violence
- New Job for Ex-Soviet Pilots: Arms Trafficking
- Why Obama Has to Worry About Polls
- Holland's Plan to Cut Traffic: A Tax on Every Kilometer Driven
- In Cleveland, Worker Co-Ops Look to a Spanish Model
- Dear President Obama: What North Korea Might Say
- Domestic Terror Incidents Hit a Peak in 2009
- Autism Numbers Are Rising. The Question is Why?
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
RSS