Chicago, IL (WFN) -- Before Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated John F. Kennedy, hatmakers accused the president of killing off their industry.

That's the word from journalist Neil Steinberg, who discusses JFK's decision to go hatless in a new book, "Hatless Jack: The President, The Fedora And The History Of An American Style" (Plume).

JFK was famous for hating hats, but Steinberg insists the prez didn't kill off the cap craze. Statistics show the popularity of hats had been in decline for 50 years before the president took office in 1961.

Steinberg blames the fall of the hat to the automobile because, as he puts it, "You don't need to show your social status when you're going 60 miles an hour."

Kennedy's youthful appearance did change the hat from being a badge of adulthood to a symbol of being over-the-hill which caused the hat industry to beg the president to doff a cap once in a while.

It didn't work. JFK hated fedoras. Still, stories that he went hatless during his inauguration are false. Steinberg says photos clearly show him wearing a top hat, which he actually liked.

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