For Immediate Release: September 14, 2001
Further information: Tom McNaught (617) 514-1662
The Museum at the John F. Kennedy Library will offer free admission through Sunday, September 30 to provide Boston area residents and visitors a place for reflection and remembrance during this national tragedy.
PLEASE NOTE: The waived admission does NOT apply to the special exhibition Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years – Selections from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum that opens this weekend.
The John F. Kennedy Library was organized in 1964, in the sad days following the death of President Kennedy. From the start, it was the dream of Jacqueline Kennedy that the library would be a place for reflection and remembrance, where people could search for historic truth, learn more about politics and government, and reflect on the need to serve the public in some way. She wanted the building itself to be a magnificent work of art celebrating the energy, grace, dignity and boldness that John Kennedy, and those associated with him, brought to the world of politics and public service.
Housed in a striking building designed by I.M. Pei, the national memorial to President John F. Kennedy sits on a 10-acre waterfront site on Columbia Point offering panoramic views of Boston’s skyline and Harbor Islands.
In a 1964 statement on the plans for the Kennedy Library, Mrs. Kennedy wrote:
John Kennedy believed strongly that one's aim should not be the most comfortable life possible – but that we should all do something to right the wrongs we see – and not just complain about them. We owe that to our country, and our country will suffer if we don't serve her. He believed that one person can make a difference – and that every person should try.
I hope that in the years to come many of you and your children will be able to visit the Kennedy Library. It will be, we hope, not only a memorial to President Kennedy but a living center of study of the times in which he lived, which will inspire the ideals of democracy and freedom in young people all over the world.