Honoring President John F. Kennedy - My Visit to the JFK Library on November 22, 2023

It has now been exactly sixty years to the day in which President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. By the time his exciting life came to end, he had reached the age of forty-six years, five-months, and twenty-four days. I chose on this day to embark on another “pilgrimage” to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts to honor my favorite president.

I also requested the day off from work in advance to avoid scheduling conflicts. The night before, after returning from working two shifts, I was unable to sleep until past 2:00 in the morning for an unknown reason. On the morning of, I still woke up early enough, but was still tired from working the day before. I stayed in bed, until I had a mediocre breakfast and finally left the house at 11:27 in the morning to heavy rains pouring outside. I did not bring any books to read on the way there, so I had to be patient as I traveled to the location of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. After traveling for over an hour, I finally arrived at the museum a few minutes past 1:00 in the afternoon. 

When I arrived, I expected to see a dark curtain with lines of people waiting to sign condolence books as I witnessed ten years ago. 

[photo taken on November 22, 2013, by someone else]

Instead, there were fewer people, and no curtains were drawn. There were only two small tables with a photo of the late president, a small square container full of flowers, and condolence book, in which I wrote some words down for posterity.

There was another small table for former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who passed away three days before on November 19, at the age of ninety-six. I also wrote down words for the condolence book for her. 

I then went to the front desk to pay for entry into the museum but was told that there was free entry for all visitors for today. 

I was also informed that in the pavilion that the flag that covered President Kennedy's casket was on display and letters of condolences to the widowed First Lady. I thanked the person at the admissions desk for informing me and I went immediately to the pavilion to see the artifacts rarely seen on display. 

When I entered into the pavilion, there were two tables, each encased with plexiglass to protect the artifacts encased within. I went up to the first table on the left. 

It showcased some notes handwritten notes by the recently widowed, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy regarding the plans for the state funeral of her husband. 

The first table mostly showcased letters written to her. I was struck by a letter that a child wrote the day after the assassination, along with a drawing that she made of the burial of the slain president that she would witness on television along with her family a few days later. 

The second table showcased artifacts relating to materials relating the state funeral and burial of the thirty-fifth president. 

Among them was a print of a painting of a riderless horse "Black Jack" in President Kennedy's funeral procession, following the caisson and being led by a marine. It was painted by college student Suzanne Seitz as a gift for Jacqueline Kennedy, in memory of President Kennedy.

There was also a shell casing from the last round fired during the military salute for President John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery on November 25, 1963.

I remember most vividly that flag that draped President Kennedy's casket, carefully folded into the shape of a tri-cornered hat by enlisted soldiers and presented to Mrs. Kennedy on that sad and mournful day. It was very same flag I had seen ten years ago it made the solemn event more real to me.

After this, I then went into the museum where once again, I would reemerge myself into the era of Camelot and to more fully appreciate the times in which John F. Kennedy lived through and presided over. I began by going into a recreation of the 1960 Democratic National Convention, in which a video of Senator John F. Kennedy accepting his party’s nomination is played on a continuous loop.

Then I went into a recreation of the main streets of America, in which are 1960s campaign commercials, songs, and excerpts of candidates Kennedy and Nixon delivering their speeches were shown.

There was also a recreation of a Kennedy Campaign office filled with campaign paraphernalia. 

There was also reproduction of the television studio where the first debate between the candidates took place in Chicago, Illinois with the actual television camera and audio control used in that studio were on display. 

Next, I went into a recreation of Inauguration Day, January 20, 1961. That day was when Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States. It was on that day that he gave the immortal words, which have become a part of the American canon: "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." Also on display was his family's bible, in which he swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States and to "faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States."

After viewing a large display of the presidential seal, I stepped into what looked like the interior of the White House. I had remembered the first time I had seen the corridor at age of sixteen only ten years before. I stood in awe of the regal and grand atmosphere and for a brief moment I felt as though I had actually walked from the JFK Library in Boston into the White House in Washington DC. 

There was a recreation of the briefing room, with footage of President Kennedy's press conferences.

Across from the brief room, was a section dedicated to the Peace Corp, which was a hallmark of the Kennedy Administration. 

The idea was to send citizens of the United States to Third World nations to volunteer in the struggle against poverty, illiteracy, and disease. The volunteers were to work shoulder-to-shoulder with local citizens and applied their passion and skills to a wide variety of self-help projects, such as constructing roads, developing water and sewage systems, also providing medical care, teaching basic literacy, and improving farming methods. In this way, when the volunteers would return home, their knowledge of the countries that hosted that would help promote international understanding.

From there, I went to the exhibit that highlighted President Kennedy commitment to the exploration of space through his support of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA.

On a framed screen in the exhibit, there was footage of President Kennedy giving a speech that he delivered on September 12, 1962, at Rice University on making his administration's priority and goal to landing a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth. 

He declared, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win ...”

From there, I went to what is called the Ceremonial Room. 

In this exhibit were items relating to the State Dinner that President and Mrs. Kennedy hosted at The White House for President Félix Houphouët-Boigny and his wife on the evening of May 22, 1962.

Next was a recreation of the office of Attorney General, who everyone knew at the time was the President's younger brother: Robert Francis Kennedy. On top of a desk and encased in glass, were documents and personal items of Robert Kennedy, including a pair of glasses, pens and pencils, his original telephone, bookends, and drawings taped on the wall from his young children. 

Then came The Oval Office exhibit with a replica the HMS Resolute desk which President Kennedy and now used by recent presidents. 

The desk was bare of items to show what the oval office might have been like when President Kennedy gave televised addresses. 

I kept trying to imagine the president seated at the desk, looking into the camera, speaking words to either warn or inspire the country. Just behind the desk, was a large screen which periodically showed footage of civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, the enrollment of the first black students at the University of Alabama, President Kennedy’s June 1963 address to the nation on civil rights, in which he said, "The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?"

Footage was also shown of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his “I Have a Dream Speech” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  As the footage was playing, I couldn't help but remember when I last visited the library ten years before when I attended a forum regarding "The 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" and "A Conversation with John Lewis."

From there, I viewed an exhibit of the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s achievements during her tenure during her husband’s presidency. 

I remembered seeing a golden Emmy statue for the television special she hosted showcasing her efforts in restoring the White House.

Seeing this made me think of what George Reedy, Special Assistant to Vice President Johnson, once said of her in an interview for the American Experience documentary called “The Kennedys,” which aired years ago on PBS, “Jackie gave it real class. Jackie was the one that redecorated the White House. Jackie was the one responsible for all the very fine entertainment. And Jack was not quite like that himself. You know, Jack, at a piano, could sing “The Wearing of the Green” as well as any Irish revolutionary you ever came across in your life, but Jackie, Jackie sort of gave the- this kind of fragile, delicate Limoges china feeling to the White House.”

From there, I saw a Kennedy Family exhibit, which touched on the Kennedy's dynamic relatives. I saw President Kennedy's golf clubs and accessories. I also saw footage of private home movies of the Kennedys spending quality time together in the autumn of 1963 after Jack and Jackie's son Patrick was born prematurely and lived for only two days.

Pierre Salinger, who served as President Kennedy's secretary, said in an interview for the PBS documentary called "Jackie: Behind the Myth," that "after that boy died, that changed the whole mentality of the time. I remember that very well. She decided, 'Well, we've just got to be together all of time.'" In that same documentary, Jackie, voiced by Diz White, is quoted to have either said or written, "I just wanted to save some normal life for Jack and the children and for me."     

I then went into another exhibit featuring highlights of Jacqueline Kennedy’s early life, as well as more of her achievements as First Lady of the United States.

Among the items shown were her baby brush, her first communion book, her report card from 1940-1941, her degree from Georgetown University, her journal of her summer in Europe with her sister Lee, and her camera from her time as journalist for Washington Times-Herald.

From there, I went into another area nearby and saw President Kennedy’s personal Dictaphone recorder, which he used to capture his thoughts about notable events and would hope to use for his memoirs.

For this exhibit, there was phone to listen to his recording that he made on November 4, 1963, regarding a coup in South Vietnam, in which he said, “Monday, November 4, 1963. Over the weekend the coup in Saigon took place... I feel that we must bear a good deal of responsibility for it, beginning with our cable … that wire was badly drafted... I should not have given my consent to it without a roundtable conference... I was shocked by the death of Diem and [his brother] Nhu. I'd met Diem ... many years ago. He was an extraordinary character. While he became increasingly difficult in the last months, nevertheless over a ten-year period he'd held his country together, maintained its independence under very adverse conditions. The way he was killed made it particularly abhorrent.”

After seeing this, I went to see another exhibit highlight President Kennedy’s trip to Europe from June 23 to July 2, 1963, featuring his's remarks at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, in Berlin and an emotional visit to his ancestral home in Ireland. 

To the left of the screen, saw the handwritten notecard in which he used phonetically to help him pronounce the foreign words, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” “civis Romanus sum,” and “Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen.” to encourage the people living in West Berlin, Germany after the Soviet had built up the Berlin Wall two years before.

After a tour of the city and his first glimpse of the Wall, JFK discarded most of his prepared speech and delivered instead a ringing message of solidarity with the people of West Berlin. Much of the speech, widely viewed to be one the best of the President's career, was composed in his head and delivered extemporaneously. President Kennedy said in his remarks at Berlin City Hall on June 26, 1963, “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words – ‘Ich bin ein Berliner.’"

From West Germany, the President flew to Ireland, where he was embraced like a returning son. “There he was, the vibrant leader of the anti-communists and Catholic Irish all over the world,” an Irish woman recalled, “We, the Irish, had finally taken our rightful place among the nations of the Earth.”

For four days, the President traveled the country where he was hailed, honored, and feted, immersed in the historical and literary heritage of Ireland that had helped form him. Writing to Irish President Eamon de Valera on his departure, JFK said, “I want to thank you for a visit that has been one of the most moving experiences of my life.”

I recalled seeing President Kennedy sharing words from a poem that moved him. “... Last night," he told the people of Shannon, Ireland, "I sat next to one of the most extraordinary women, the wife of your President, who knows more about Ireland and Irish history. So, I told her I was coming to Shannon, and she immediately quoted this poem, and I wrote down the words because I thought they were so beautiful..."

'Tis it is the Shannon's brightly glancing stream,

Brightly gleaming, silent in the morning beam,

Oh, the sight entrancing,

Thus returns from travels long,

Years of exile, years of pain,

To see old Shannon's face again,

O'er the waters dancing.'”

The film ended with footage President Kennedy waving goodbye to the crowd before his departure for England and his voice saying, “This is not the land of my birth, but it is the land for which I hold the greatest affection and I certainly will come back in the springtime.”

Little did he know that he would never again set foot on the soil of his ancestral homeland.

I then went into a darkened room where the words “November 22, 1963” was highlighted. 

In it were several screens showcasing the moment when Walter Cronkite, the former CBS newscaster, announce on the air that the president had died. 

I then walked through a renovated area where the legacy of President Kennedy was highlighted through videos of different speeches and remarks by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy and so on. 

Also on display was a piece of moon rock was brought back to earth by the Apollo 15 mission on August 7, 1971. The rock called “breccia,” weighs 160 grams and is more than 3 billion years old. It was collected by astronaut James Irwin.

Just before the entrance to the Pavilion stood a section of the Berlin Wall, which according to the website is 12 ft. height x 4 ft. width x 7 in. deep. 

I kept thinking when I had seen it of the people of Germany who had been separated from loved ones for 28 years because of this. It took the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush to finally remove the wall of needless separation and reunite families that had been torn apart for almost two decades. Both presidents have individual sections of the Berlin Wall housed at their own presidential libraries. If only President Kennedy had lived to see that day, I wonder what he would have thought.

I then went into the JFK Library Gift Shop Library to browse through the items there. I noted my desire to own a replica of the coconut that sat on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

There were also some hardcover books that I noticed that I wanted to add to my own personal collection but did not have the budget or space for them.

Indeed, there were many items there that I wanted to own for myself that my limited budget would not allow me to purchase. 

I wanted to buy something in commemoration for today and after some deliberation I bought a round keychain featuring President Kennedy's face and the words "Students For Kennedy."

After purchasing it, I met up with an acquaintance that works at the JFK Library. I asked him if any cermonial events took place earlier today. He said that were was a concert that morning, but no prominent speakers. The concert took place featured the performances of Lumanyano Mzi with String Quartet, Cellist Leland Ko (a recipient of the Presidential Scholar Award at New England Conservatory for 2022-2024), and the Boston Arts Academy Spirituals Ensemble, which focuses on the music of the African diaspora, including African American spirituals. I sadly missed all of these performances, but thankfully they were recorded, and I could watch them some other time. 

I was also informed that the JFK Library would be closing at 2:30 in the afternoon so that the employees could go home early to prepare for Thanksgiving, which is to occur tomorrow. I was only fortunate to have been there for a least an hour and a half though I did not get a chance to experience the ceremonial events featured that day. Before leaving, I picked up four copies of "John Fitzgerald Kennedy: The Last Full Measure, Reprinted from March 1964." 

I picked one for myself and three to give to friends who appreciate the memory of President Kennedy. With the building closing down for the day and tomorrow, I soon left to go home to document my visit to the JFK Library and Museum for this blog entry. 

As I reflect on the day's events and find myself thinking about John F. Kennedy, I am wondering why since I never knew him, why I made the trip to Boston to remember that he lived. Throughout the past three years, in part to commemorate the 60th anniversary of his time as the thirty-fifth President of the United States, I have collected ninety-eight books about him and his illustrious family. In this year alone, have also traveled to places that were significant to him and his family for the very first time, including a recent visit to his birthplace twenty-seven days ago, which remains fresh in my mind. I still marvel that though I was born long after President Kennedy's time passed into history, his story has had an impact on me. 

Nevertheless, I wanted to share an assessment of John F. Kennedy written by what I consider to be one of America's underrated public servants - Clark Clifford, who was a major advisor to four presidents of the United States (including Kennedy). He wrote in his memoirs entitled "Counsel to the President" on page 379-380:

"How will history view the Presidency of John F. Kennedy? On one hand, he offered vast promise to a new generation of Americans. He inspired the nation with a heroic vision of the Presidency as the center of action in American life. No president during my lifetime, with the exception of Franklin Roosevelt, matched Kennedy in creating a sense that the Presidency was the center of our national life, the place from which we could solve our nation's most pressing problems.

On the other hand, in the thousand days that he was President there was not enough to fashion a full record. The substantive and legislative legacy he left behind was incomplete, and it is difficult to measure him without taking into account the achievements of his successor, especially in the domestic area, and the difficulties, especially in Vietnam.

Because in many ways the drama of his Presidency outweighed its achievements, John F. Kennedy may grow elusive to Americans as time passes. Already an entire generation has been born since that dreadful day in Dallas. As those who were alive during this Administration grow older, the memory of his charm and grace will fade, and he will slowly recede until he becomes a dim and distant figure, and finally a nearby mythical part of our collective memory, like Abraham Lincoln. People may look back and wonder what Camelot and the New Frontier were all about, and remember the Kennedy Presidency more for its awful end, or for gossip about the family, than for its record."  

Reading Secretary Clifford's assessment written in 1991 has made me ponder over President Kennedy's legacy today.  In 2011, there was a controversial television miniseries that aired on Reelz Channel called "The Kennedys," chronicling the lives of the Kennedy family. Though it is watchable, it felt too much like soap opera for my taste. In my opinion, the miniseries seems to showcase how many Americans today view them for the gossip of their private lives and for the tragedies they endured. I believe in the time since President Kennedy's death he seems that have given less respect by our culture. I don't believe his accomplishments are known to ordinary people. 

After the twenty-second of November of 1963, most people were devasted when they heard the news of the Death of the President. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin recalled in an interview for the American Experience documentary “The Kennedys,” "I just remember feeling that sense that it was impossible that it could have happened, that somebody in the middle of the vitality of his life was struck down. It made all of us, including myself, just feel more vulnerable. You’re young, you can’t ever imagine you’re going to die and somehow, when John Kennedy died, there was that sense of the arbitrariness of fate, as if you could die, too."

Now, sixty years later, he does seem like a distant figure. I don't know many young people today who have an interest in him, except for a few I am acquainted with online through Instagram. Even so, as much as I admire President Kennedy, I think I should not put him on a pedestal and revere him with hero worship nor should I knock him down and revile him for his flaws. I cannot allow myself to love him or hate him. I need to view him for what he was, a historical figure and as a human being recognizing that he had flaws and imperfections that we all have. I don't think I should worry about his legacy as that is not my inheritance. My job as a scholar is to look at him with objectivity, impartiality, and without bias.  

Despite him being so well documented, it is hard to assess him since in my opinion he is an unfinished story. I can attempt to do so another time. However, I can say that to me he will always be a fascinating subject to learn about. Much like how others view Elvis Presley, no matter how much you learn about him, you still want to know more. I hope that if I ever write about John F. Kennedy in future book projects that I can make him more alive through my words about his time on earth and for his deeds. I hope that while I am still living to honor and respect his memory and hopefully inspire more people to want to learn about him.

Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I wanted to conclude this blog entry with remarks that President Kennedy gave commemorating the holiday. I found a document called "Proclamation 3505—Thanksgiving Day, 1962," which I think would be appropriate for this occasion. It reads:

"Over three centuries ago in Plymouth, on Massachusetts Bay, the Pilgrims established the custom of gathering together each year to express their gratitude to God for the preservation of their community and for the harvests their labors brought forth in the new land. Joining with their neighbors, they shared together and worshipped together in a common giving of thanks. Thanksgiving Day has ever since been part of the fabric which has united Americans with their past, with each other and with the future of all mankind.

It is fitting that we observe this year our own day of thanksgiving. It is fitting that we give our thanks for the safety of our land, for the fertility of our harvests, for the strength of our liberties, for the health of our people. We do so in no spirit of self-righteousness. We recognize that we are the beneficiaries of the toil and devotion of our fathers and that we can pass their legacy on to our children only by equal toil and equal devotion. We recognize too that we live in a world of peril and change--and in so uncertain a time we are all the more grateful for the indestructible gifts of hope and love, which sustain us in adversity and inspire us to labor unceasingly for a more perfect community within this nation and around the earth."