BENSON, Ariz. — John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, had a streak of Arizona cowboy in him.
The state has a long history as a health-seeker's paradise and when John fell severely ill in 1935, his father, Joseph Kennedy, found it the perfect place for him to recover. In the spring of 1936, he sent 19-year-old JFK and his brother Joe Jr. to Jack Speiden's J-6 ranch near Benson.
Speiden was an American stockbroker who, like so many others, lost his money in the stock market crash of 1929. On recommendation from a friend, he took up ranching in Arizona and found great success. The Kennedys weren't his only (eventually) famous guests — statesman Barry Goldwater also frequently spent time at the J-6
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John and Joe Jr. came to the ranch to ride fence, wrangle cattle and build an adobe office on the property. Speiden came to call it "the house that Jack built" after young JFK's work.
"I thought that was really cute. We had Jack Speiden and Jack Kennedy," Arizona historian Jim Turner said. "He was an actual cowboy. He did that kind of work."
It was the first job either of the two brothers ever had, according to historian Michael O'Brien, author of John F. Kennedy: A Biography. During their four-month stay, the boys were only paid a dollar a day. But the slim salary wasn't enough to keep them out of trouble.
"There is some talk and one of the biographies [mentions] that they took a little side trip to Nogales, where they have Canal Street," "And you know, Jack was quite the ladies man..."
One of JFK's letters describes visiting a house of ill repute in the area, but Turner cautioned against taking then 19-year-old JFK's stories at face value.
More certain (and less scandalous) was JFK's attendance at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Benson during his stay at the ranch. During one of his visits, he allegedly left $20 in one the collection plate — roughly equivalent to $443 today.
"I'm sure he got an allowance," Turner joked.
These days, most of the ranch has been converted into a housing development, but Arizona left its mark on JFK. After he was injured during his World War II service aboard PT-109, Kennedy returned to Castle Hot Springs in Arizona to recover.
Kennedy made his last visit to Arizona in 1961 for a dinner in honor of Arizona Sen. Carl Hayden at the Westward Ho in Phoenix. He would be assassinated in Dallas just two years later on Nov. 22, 1963.
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