By Davy Crockett

Both a podcast and a full article

Prior to the 1960s, most of the ultrarunners participating in ultradistance races were professionals. It was a spectator sport. The general public never had serious thoughts that they too could run ultradistances.

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In 1963, President John F. Kennedy unintentionally played a key role that provided the spark to ignite interest for ultrarunning in America and elsewhere. The door was flung open for all who wanted to challenge themselves.  An unexpected 50-mile frenzy swept across the U.S. like a raging fire that dominated the newspapers for weeks. Tens of thousands of people attempted to hike 50 miles, both the old and the very young. Virtually unnoticed was a small club event run/hiked by high school boys in Maryland that eventually became America's oldest ultra, the JFK 50.

Kennedy's Push for Physical Fitness

John F. Kennedy had campaigned with a goal to improve the nation’s physical health, and once in office he made that a priority. He feared that the future generations would be spectators of sport rather than participants on the field of play because of their lack of physical fitness. Shortly after he was elected, President-elect Kennedy published an article in Sports Illustrated called, “The Soft American,” in which he wrote, “we can fully restore the physical soundness of our nation only if every American is willing to assume responsibility for his own fitness and the fitness of his children. All of us must consider our own responsibilities for the physical vigor of our children and of the young men and women of our community. We do not want our children to become a generation of spectators. Rather, we want each of them to be a participant in the vigorous life."

In 1961 a “Fit as a Fiddle” newsreel was produced by Kennedy’s Physical Fitness Program targeting youth to understand the importance of physical fitness. Also, that year, 200,000 copies of a song called “Chicken Fat” was distributed to all schools with the lyrics, “Nuts to the flabby guys! Go, you chicken fat, go away!” Detroit officials banned the song, judging the lyrics to be in bad taste for children. There was also resistance to the idea exercising to music.

Fitness Test for Marines

General David M. Shoup

Back in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt issued an executive order that every Marine captain and lieutenant should be able to hike 50 miles in 20 hours. If necessary, this could be accomplished over a three-day period. For the final half mile, the test required the marines to "double-time" to the finish. In 1962 Kennedy discovered this executive order and asked his Marine Commandant, David M. Shoup (1904-1983), to falsely claim that the discovery was his. Kennedy then wanted Shoup to find out how well his present-day officers could do with the 50-mile test. Shoup made it an order to his Marines. Twenty Marine officers would be selected, ten captains and ten lieutenants to take the test in mid-February 1963, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

News Article Starts the Frenzy

An Associated Press article was published nationwide on February 5, 1963, that shared the story of the Roosevelt test and Shoup's order to test 20 of his Marines. It received intense national attention. President Kennedy never directly challenged America to take the 50-mile challenge, and no walks were sponsored by the Fitness Council, but the article inspired many across the country, who were eager to test themselves too. Naïve, untrained citizens, immediately decided to hit the road without much planning to undertake the challenge in the middle of the cold winter. In response, the government tried to make it clear that they were not encouraging and sponsoring 50-mile hikes conducted by the public.

The Public Starts Hiking 50 Miles

Colonel Tuma during his run/hike

On the very evening after the article was published, Lt. Colonel James W. Tuma,