Paul B. Fay

Paul "Red" Burgess Fay, Jr. (born July 8, 1918) was the Acting United States Secretary of the Navy for less than a month in November of 1963.

Background

Born in San Francisco, California, he attended Stanford University and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He was sent to the small boat training center where John F. Kennedy was his instructor. They were assigned to the same base in the South Pacific, though they were not on the same boat.

Paul Fay and JFK became close friends, and Fay worked on Kennedy's early campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and also on his campaign for U.S. President. Paul Fay was an usher at JFK's wedding.

On JFK's election as the 35th U.S. President, Fay was nominated and served as Under-Secretary of the Navy and then as Acting Secretary of the Navy in November of 1963 while Kennedy was U.S. President. He resigned effective November 28th of 1963 following Kennedy's assassination on November 22nd of 1963.

In 1966, he wrote the best-seller "The Pleasure of His Company" about his good friend, John F. Kennedy.