Former president gives top job to leftwing friend at the weekend (3)

I believe the answer is:

jfk

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'former president' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'top job to leftwing friend at the weekend' is the wordplay.
'top' says to take the initial letters (in a down clue, the first letter is top).
'to leftwing friend' becomes 'f' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the weekend' becomes 'k' (I've seen this in other clues).
The initial letter of 'job' is 'j'.
'j'+'f'+'k'='JFK'

'gives' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for jfk that I've seen before include "first man" , "Intially, an assassinated American president" , "Stone creation" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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