Preserving Kennedy's Legacy
The admiration for Kennedy is due in part to the work of Jackie Kennedy. She understood what her husband meant to the nation, and it influenced her decision to bury him at Arlington National Cemetery instead of in a more private place. “He belongs to the people,” she explained.
Camelot
A week after Kennedy's assassination, Jackie sat down to talk with Life magazine reporter Theodore H. White. In the emotional interview, Jackie described one of the things Kennedy enjoyed doing most. At night when he had time to relax, he listened to the recording of the 1960 musical “Camelot,” and he especially liked the line “don't let it be forgot that for one brief shining moment there was Camelot.” For Jackie, Camelot represented Kennedy's presidency.
QUESTION
What is the original meaning of Camelot and how has it changed?
Camelot originally referred to the legendary King Arthur's court in England in the sixth century. Now the term has come to encompass the definition of an idyllic or peaceful place or situation.
The analogy stuck. Life magazine printed the story, and magazines and newspapers seized the name. Eventually the music of “Camelot” was played alongside of photos and television clips of Kennedy, cementing the Kennedy-Camelot association.
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Jackie Kennedy wanted her husband's commitment to space exploration to be remembered. After Kennedy was assassinated, the Launch Operations Center was renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center in his honor.
The Kennedy Space Center has been instrumental in NASA's success. It has been the launching and landing site for many of NASA's flights, including Apollo 11, the first successful human mission to the moon. It is still an active part of the space program, and visitors are encouraged to take a tour of the center and view public exhibits.
FACT
In 1964, the Department of the Interior renamed Cape Canaveral, Florida, as Cape Kennedy over the protests of local Floridians, who successfully lobbied to have the name changed back to Cape Canaveral ten years later.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Every president since Herbert Hoover has a presidential library to house the papers, photographs, and other historical artifacts of his term in office. Jackie Kennedy took the lead in implementing her vision for her husband's library. She saw it as a living part of the president's legacy, a place to encourage learning and the free exchange of ideas, not simply a repository for the effects of the Kennedy administration.
I. M. Pei's eye-catching white building sits on the edge of Columbia Point in Boston, Massachusetts, overlooking Dorchester Bay. Completed in 1979, the library's collection includes photographs, original papers, presidential recordings, speeches, and an oral history project comprised of more than 1,100 interviews with those who knew Kennedy.
In addition, it holds the collection of one of America's literary greats. Jackie Kennedy pursued an offer from Mary Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's widow, to house Hemingway's collection alongside the president's.
FACT
Kennedy applied Hemingway's definition of courage, “grace under pressure,” to the statesmen he honored in Profiles in Courage. Kennedy and Hemingway respected each other, although they never met. Hemingway was invited to Kennedy's inauguration, but his ill health kept him from attending. He died in 1961.
In 1968, four years after Mary Hemingway had offered to donate her husband's collection, it was finally given to the library. The collection contains thousands of pages of hand-written manuscripts, family photographs, and personal correspondence. The Hemingway Research Room opened in 1980.
Hemingway's collection is not open to the general public, but the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum allows visitors to journey back to the 1960s and explore the life of the president.
John F. Kennedy National Historic Site
The Kennedy National Historic Site was founded on May 26, 1967, after Congress established Kennedy's birth home in Brookline, Massachusetts, as a site of preservation. The house went through several owners after the Kennedys moved out in 1920. In 1966, the Kennedy family purchased the home and started to restore it. From Rose Kennedy's memory, the home was reconstructed to represent the way it looked when the family lived there. Not all of the objects in the home are original, but Kennedy's bassinet and porringer are among the 152 objects that are.
President Kennedy and Rose Kennedy at the first annual international awards dinner for the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation.
Photo credit: Abbie Rowe, White House/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The Kennedy Center was a work in progress even before it took on the name of one of America's most popular presidents. President Eisenhower created the National Cultural Center Act in 1958 to promote the arts. Kennedy inherited the program from Eisenhower and advanced it.
FACT
The Center was dedicated to Kennedy for his commitment to the arts. While in office, he conducted fundraising luncheons at the White House to earn money for the Center. Jackie was also instrumental in creating a cultural environment at the White House with the concerts, musicals, and plays that were held in the East Room.
On January 23, 1964, President Johnson signed the John F. Kennedy Act into law, making the center a living memorial. To help get the project underway, Congress allocated $23 million to the construction of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Private donations were also secured, and in December 1965, construction began in Washington, D.C., near the Lincoln Center. On September 8, 1971, the Center hosted its first performance. Its performances run the gamut from comedy acts to celebrations of classical music. Each year, the center honors five individuals for their contributions to the arts.
