Chris Matthews Book Reveals Source of Famous JFK Speech

Journalist and political commentator Chris Matthews released his book Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero on Tuesday, and in it he reveals some interesting things about the former president, including where exactly he got the idea for a certain quote in his inaugural address.

Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country was spawned from words uttered by Kennedy's headmaster at the Choate boarding prep school in Connecticut, apparently. The headmaster had quoted a Harvard dean, saying The youth who loves his alma matter will always ask not 'What can she do for me?' but 'What can I do for her? Reuters reported.

Matthews also went back to a topic he explored before in a previous book of his, Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America.

Matthews wrote how Kennedy and Nixon had agreed to not use makeup before a televised presidential election debate but Kennedy ended up getting a thin layer of makeup without saying anything, Reuters reported.

Also, Nixon's staff allegedly lowered the thermostat while he and Kennedy were debating and Nixon began to sweat, but Kennedy's put it right back up, Matthews wrote, the UK's Daily Mail reported.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Matthews said he was not out to write just any other idealistic book about the former president.

I had a point of view that I wasn't going to try to write another iconic book about President Kennedy, he told The Daily Beast. I wanted to answer his own question when he read biographies: what's he like?