JFK's prankster past uncovered

Exhibition reveals ex-president's high-school hijinks

BOSTON - Years before he captained the torpedo boat PT-109, ran for office or set the United States on a path to put a man on the moon, president John F. Kennedy was a troublesome teen whose hijinks nearly got him kicked out of his prestigious boarding school.

The scion of a wealthy Boston family, Kennedy spent his midteens at Connecticut's elite Choate Rosemary Hall, where he excelled at history and literature - but infuriated the headmaster by organizing pranks as a member of an unofficial school club known as "The Muckers".