John F Kennedy predicted 'tough day' on eve of assassination

London, Jan 25 (ANI): In the days before his assassination, President John F Kennedy predicted the following Monday would be a tough day, which turned to be the date of his funeral, his secret recordings reveal.

Kennedy was in the habit of recording meetings in the Oval Office without the knowledge of visitors or staff.

The newly released 45-hours of tape, issued by the President John F Kennedy Library in Boston, cover the final months of his life, including poignant moments between the president and his children, and concludes two days before his death in Dallas in November 1963, the Telegraph reported.

In the last of the 40 releases issued by the library since 1993, Kennedy is heard discussing the burgeoning war in Vietnam, his desire to improve the economic circumstances of young voters, relations with the Soviets, and the space race.

He also expresses an interest in using the latest technology - colour film - at the forthcoming Democratic conference.

There are intimate moments with his family, along with passages in which the president is heard sounding bored, becoming annoyed and even swearing.

In one unnerving exchange, on Nov 19 1963, Kennedy is heard in a diary meeting with an aide discussing whether he is free to see an Indonesian general the following week.

"I will see him - when is he here, Monday? Well that's a tough day," he says.

"It's a hell of a day, Mr President," the staffer replies.

Six days later on Monday Nov 25 1963, Kennedy was buried at Virginia's Arlington Cemetery.

It is not clear why the President made the hundreds of hours of recordings, or kept them secret from even his senior staffers.

But Maura Porter, archivist at the Kennedy Library who oversaw the release of the tapes, said the president might have been collating them to help him write a memoir at some stage in the future.

He may also have decided to take a personal account of meetings following an incident in which he felt that military officials had misrepresented an account of a discussion with him about the Bay of Pigs.

The existence of the recordings only came to light during the Watergate hearings into President Richard Nixon.

Around five minutes of tape were held back from the last issue because they contain private family information, with another 30 minutes withdrawn on the grounds of national security, the Library said. (ANI)