President Kennedy's Oval Office is the backdrop for a video chronicle of events leading to the president's June 11, 1963 address to the nation on civil rights defining racial discrimination as a moral issue. Included are civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, the June 10 integration of the University of Alabama, President Kennedy's televised address and Martin Luther King's speech, later that summer, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Carolina Rocker, ca. 1955
P & P Chair Company (American, est. 1926)
Mahogany, cane, textile
46 x 28 x 33 in.
On 6 June 1963, President John F. Kennedy, with top civilian and military leaders, boarded USS Kitty Hawk to witness a carrier task force weapons demonstration off the California coast. Addressing the men of the task group from Kitty Hawk, President Kennedy told them that, as in the past, control of the seas still means security, peace and ultimate victory. It was on the Kitty Hawk that Capt. William F. Bringle and crew presented JFK with this rocking chair which he used in the Oval Office.
Breton Fisherman's Prayer Plaque
Wood, bronze, brass
1 3/4 x 5 1/4 x 2 in.
Old Breton prayer inscribed on plaques given to new submarine captains by Admiral Hyman Rickover, founder of the nuclear Navy, who gave this one to the President. President Kennedy favored this quote and used it in his remarks at the dedication of the East Coast Memorial to the Missing at Sea, May 23, 1963. He kept the plaque on his Oval Office desk.
Goblet
Clark and West (Silversmiths), Dublin, 1805
Silver
6 1/2 x 3 3/4 in.
The goblet was a gift to the President from the People of New Ross, Ireland which President Kennedy kept in the Oval Office of the White House. Mrs. Kennedy instructed the White House gardener to place a fresh cut flower in this goblet each day. JFK's great grandfather Patrick Kennedy embarked from New Ross when he emigrated to America, setting sail for Boston in 1848.