Apr. 30, 1962 - Much of the cream of scientific America gathered at the White House last night for a dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners. The gathering culminated in the first public reading, by actor Frederic March, of an unpublished work by the late Ernest Hemingway, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. The manuscript was made available by Mrs. Mary Hemingway (second from left), a guest at the dinner. President and Mrs. Kennedy brought together 49 Nobel laureates and 124 other scientists, writers, editors, and educators. The President described the dinner as “probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house — except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.” Among those present were 7 Pulitzer Prize winners, including the President, whose book “Profiles in Courage” won the Prize in 1957. Colonel John Glenn Jr. was on hand, as were writers James T. Farrell, Robert Frost, John Dos Passos, and Pearl Buck. Vice President Johnson and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy were the only Administration officials of Cabinet rank present.
