In 1958, while working on the screenplay of Suddenly Last Summer, Gore Vidal took Tennessee Williams to Palm Beach to meet Senator John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie. Vidal knew Jackie because they shared the same stepfather, the much married, much divorced Hugh Auchincloss. Williams had no idea who the Kennedys were, but the young couple were certainly familiar with the famous playwright. The four drank cocktails and did a little skeet shooting — Williams was a better shot than the senator from Massachusetts. When Kennedy stepped forward to to take aim, Williams whispered to Vidal, “Get that ass!” Vidal told Williams he shouldn’t cruise our next president, then repeated the remark to Kennedy. “Now that’s very exciting!” said Kennedy with a grin. Williams later told Vidal, “They’ll never elect those two. They’re much too attractive for the American people.”

- Christopher Bram, Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America, 2012