USA TODAY International Edition
JFK’S 100TH BIRTHDAY WILL BRING HISTORY TO LIFE
The 100th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s birth is Monday and many Americans are taking some time on the Memorial Day holiday weekend to remember the nation’s 35th president.
The array of options to commemorate JFK’s centennial year spans high culture to pop culture: Books, lectures, museum and art exhibits, performances and touch football, a commemorative U. S. stamp and ( this being America) auctions of Kennedy artifacts.
In a divisive era, Kennedy continues as a touchstone despite being a scion of a family of liberal Democrats who have populated American politics for nearly three generations. In part, Americans remember Kennedy because of the shocking manner of his death — assassinated in 1963 by a gunman in Dallas — at just 45.
But mixed in with the sorrow is the memory of the hope and inspiration the Massachusettsborn Kennedy once provided Americans when he became president in 1961, the first Roman Catholic to be elected president, the youngest, and one of the most stirring public speakers to recently inhabit the Oval Office.
Last year, Congress established the John F. Kennedy Centennial Commission, charged with planning, developing and carrying out activities to honor JFK. Presidential historians and journalists, for instance, will gab at conferences and symposia about Kennedy — such as the one at the Paley Center for Media in New York on June 13 to talk about JFK’s use of TV to transform the presidency.
Here’s a sampling of other ways to commemorate the centennial of JFK’s birth:
JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM: BOSTON
Headquarters of all things JFK, the library is a partner in many commemorations; in November, it touched off a year- long schedule of activities aimed at encouraging new generations to find meaning and inspiration in Kennedy’s values.
JOHN F. KENNEDY HYANNIS MUSEUM: CAPE COD, MASS.
The “Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port” on Cape Cod was a familiar phrase on TV news during the Kennedy administration, referring to the family’s longtime ( and continuing) summer vacation property, where the president often went to sail and relax with wife Jackie and their two children, plus a clutch of assorted Kennedy relatives.
After Kennedy’s death, so many tourists asked about the compound the local chamber of commerce in response set up a museum in a historic building on Main Street dedicated to promoting the Kennedy presidency and the family’s history on the island. The museum’s special exhibit, “JFK at 100: Life and Legacy,” opens Monday.
KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, WASHINGTON
The JFK Centennial Celebration on Monday will feature readings, performances and rare video footage featuring stars from music, theater, dance and TV/ film, including Martin Sheen, Taylor Mac, Renée Fleming and Christopher Jackson from Hamilton.
THE NEWSEUM, WASHINGTON
“Creating Camelot: The Kennedy Photography of Jacques Lowe,” a photo exhibit of more than 70 intimate images of Kennedy and his family, taken by his personal photographer, Jacques Lowe, opens Sept. 29.
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, WASHINGTON
Advancing Peace and Understanding: President Kennedy Creates the Peace Corps, opened in April in the Public Vaults Gallery. In October, the Archives will open an exhibit on Kennedy’s call for the U. S. to send an astronaut to the moon.
THE SMITHSONIAN, WASHINGTON
The National Portrait Gallery has opened “Celebrate: John F. Kennedy,” featuring some of the gallery’s 72 portraits of the president. The Smithsonian American Art Museum next door is featuring “American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’s Life and Times,” an exhibit that celebrates the golden age of photojournalism in America and the politician who became its icon.
AUCTIONS:
Interest in Kennedy memorabilia never wanes.
On June 21, a Cartier Tank watch worn by Jackie for decades, and visible on her wrist in many photos, will be auctioned at Christie’s Rare Watches and American Icons sale in New York; the estimate is $ 60,000 to $ 120,000.