BEVERLY, Mass. — Joseph Wright Alsop VI was 14 years old when he met the future president of the United States.

Alsop was the son and nephew of influential newspaper columnists Stewart and Joseph Alsop. John F. Kennedy was a young senator from Massachusetts and a candidate for president.

In the late spring of 1960, Kennedy arrived at Alsop’s uncle’s home in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., to discuss his choice for vice president with the Alsop brothers. As the young Alsop looked on, he was struck by Kennedy’s piercing blue eyes and nervous energy.

“He picked up a matchbook and kept tapping it against the table,” he said.

That encounter made such a strong impression on Alsop that he submitted the winning bid of $718,750 on Wednesday for Kennedy’s only known diary at an auction in Boston. The sale price “far exceeded” expectations, according to RR Auction, which had set a minimum bid of $200,000.

Kennedy wrote most of the 61-page diary in 1945 during his brief stint as a journalist for Hearst newspapers after World War II. The 28-year-old reporter covered the formation of the United Nations in San Francisco, the post-war election in England, and the historic Potsdam Conference in Germany with President Harry Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Russian leader Joseph Stalin.

Kennedy also saw firsthand the devastation of post-war Berlin, where he described the overwhelming stench — “sickish and sweet” — of dead bodies, and visited the bombed-out bunker where Hitler died.

“There is no complete evidence, however, that the body that was found was Hitler’s body,” Kennedy wrote. In his diary. “The Russians doubt that he is dead.”

Alsop said he read the diary online and “fell in love with it.” He described his winning bid as a “reasonable price” given the diary’s uniqueness. It was owned by Deirdre Henderson, Kennedy’s former research assistant and had been well-preserved in a safe deposit box, he said.

“He (Kennedy) wrote some pretty perceptive stuff in terms of the evolution of the post-World War II world, such as how effective the United Nations would be,” he said. “It’s a fun document to read.”

Alsop, 71, an MIT graduate and venture partner in an investment firm, said he has yet to decide how, or if, the diary will be displayed in his home in toney Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. But nearly 60 years after he met the future president, he’s thrilled to have made another personal connection.

“It’s a great piece of history and I’m happy to end up with it,” said Alsop.

Paul Leighton is a reporter for the Salem, Massachusetts News.