For Immediate Release: December 2, 2010
Further information: Rachel Day (617) 514-1662, rachel.day@jfklfoundation.org
Boston, MA – On December 10, 2010, the Museum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library will unveil, Passing the Torch – the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy, a special new exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of the swearing in of John F. Kennedy as 35th President of the United States.
When John F. Kennedy took the oath of office on January 20, 1961, he was the youngest man ever elected President; he was also the first Catholic, and the first born in the twentieth century. On Inauguration Day, nearly one million people in the nation’s capitol braved the subfreezing temperatures and eight inches of unanticipated snow from an overnight storm to witness their new President take the oath of office.
Featuring original documents, photographs, and artifacts from the collection of the Kennedy Presidential Library, this exhibit will showcase treasures from the ceremonial events leading up to and surrounding the inauguration of John F. Kennedy.
Highlights of the exhibit will be the never-before-displayed top hat and brown suede gloves worn by President Kennedy to his inauguration and the Oleg Cassini evening gown worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on the eve of the inauguration to a gala at the National Guard Armory. The star-studded event, produced by Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford, featured performances by Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Gene Kelly, Ethel Merman and others.
Additional items on view will include:
• A reading copy of President-elect Kennedy’s farewell address to the state of Massachusetts, also known as the “City upon a hill” speech, delivered to a Joint Convention of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on January 9, 1961;
• Composer Leonard Bernstein’s original score for Fanfare for the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy;
• The menu from President Kennedy’s Inaugural Luncheon, autographed by President and Mrs. Kennedy, former President Harry S. Truman, and others seated at the President’s table;
• Never-before-published or exhibited photographs by award-winning American photographer Phil Stern showing spectators lining the Inaugural Parade route on January 20, 1961;
• A draft and the final version of Ernest Hemingway’s tribute to President Kennedy, penned after watching the inaugural address on television;
• A letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to President Kennedy describing the “sense of liberation and lift to the spirit” she experienced watching his inaugural address; and
• President Kennedy’s notes from his first full day in office, January 21, 1961.
Also currently on display at the Kennedy Presidential Library is a special exhibit, Poetry and Power: The Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy. The exhibit, which opened in January 2009 in the Museum’s Document Room, reveals how President Kennedy’s meticulously crafted speech was composed and the steps in the drafting process. Among the items featured are Ted Sorensen’s notes revealing some of Kennedy’s instructions; a draft of the speech handwritten by President Kennedy on January 17, 1961; and pages from the final reading copy of the speech.
Passing the Torch – the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy will remain open until September 2011. Media sponsors for the exhibit are WCVB-TV 5 and the The Boston Phoenix.
Passing the Torch – the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy is just one of the many exciting and inspiring exhibits visitors will find in the Museum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. The Museum’s 25 multimedia exhibits and period settings from the White House offer an exciting “you are there” experience, and create a stirring account of President Kennedy’s thousand days in office. Beginning with a 17-minute film narrated by President Kennedy, visitors step back into the recreated world of the early 1960s and witness the first televised presidential debate; accompany first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy on her televised tour of the White House; sit in on press conferences with the President; stroll through White House corridors; witness Cabinet meetings during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and observe the president’s televised address from the Oval Office on the Civil Rights crisis.
One of Boston’s most popular destinations for visitors from all nations, the architectural masterpiece designed by I.M. Pei sits on a 10-acre waterfront site on Columbia Point offering panoramic views of Boston’s skyline and Harbor Islands.
General admission to the Museum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is $12.00. Admission for seniors over the age of 62 and college students with appropriate identification is $10.00, and for children ages 13-17, $9.00. Children ages 12 and under are admitted for free.
The Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with the exceptions of Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. The Library is located in the Dorchester section of Boston, off Morrissey Boulevard, next to the campus of the University of Massachusetts/Boston. Parking is free. There is free shuttle-service from the JFK/UMass T Stop on the Red Line. The Museum is fully handicapped accessible. For more information, call (866) JFK-1960 or access www.jfklibrary.org on the Internet.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization.