For Immediate Release: January 20, 2011
Further Information:
Rachel Day (617) 514-1662; rachel.day@jfklfoundation.org
New JFK50.org Website Passes Torch to a New Generation
TV PSAs Featuring Jimmy Fallon Urge Americans to Ask What They Can Do
Washington, DC, January 20, 2011 - Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, was joined today by a host of prominent Americans who responded to President Kennedy’s uplifting challenge to public service as she announced the launch of a new groundbreaking multi-media campaign aimed at inspiring a new generation of Americans.
The formal announcement was made in the recently renamed Kennedy Caucus Room where Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts launched his historic campaign for the presidency on January 2, 1960.
The multi-faceted campaign includes the launch of a ground-breaking multimedia website aimed at youth (www.JFK50.org) and a public service advertising initiative urging Americans to ask what they can do for their country featuring Jimmy Fallon.
“President John F. Kennedy inspired men and women throughout the world to tackle the difficult challenges of the age and to achieve in ways never before deemed possible,” said Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. “As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of his inauguration, we have the opportunity to reassess President Kennedy’s achievements and to apply his ideals and reasoning to the serious challenges that confront us today.”
Kennedy was joined by Kenneth R. Feinberg, Chairman of the Kennedy Library Foundation Board of Directors, in making the announcement.
Also in attendance were former staff of the Kennedy Administration, former and current Peace Corps volunteers, astronauts, civil rights activists, service men and women, and other Americans who accepted President Kennedy’s challenge to serve their country, including Ambassador Jean Kennedy
Smith, Buzz Aldrin, Jessye Norman, Justice Stephen Breyer, Ambassador Michael Collins of Ireland, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Lorne Michaels, Sander Vanocur, Special Olympians and Best Buddies.
Launch of www.JFK50.org Website
At the centerpiece of the anniversary celebration is the new website www.JFK50.org created to invite young visitors to explore the legacy of JFK through the core themes of public service, science and innovation, civil rights, domestic affairs, the arts, foreign policy and diplomacy and the environment. The site was conceived, designed and executed by Edwin Schlossberg and ESI Design for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to engage America’s youth whom 50 years ago President Kennedy challenged to serve as the nation’s standard bearers.
“Nearly fifty years have passed since President John Fitzgerald Kennedy sparked an era of progress, innovation, and inspiration based on excellence,” said Schlossberg. “Today, younger generations have little knowledge of President Kennedy’s vision. As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of his presidency, our aspiration is to bring forward his words and ideas to ignite the imagination of youth, and to challenge them to define their own call to greatness.”
JFK50.org will serve as the principal online destination for the worldwide celebration honoring President Kennedy, providing scholars, artists, teachers and cultural institutions around the world with a wealth of resource material on America’s 35th president. It will also host an ongoing global conversation about the ideals of President Kennedy and their continued influence on the world today through a series of online reenactments using broadcast news reports, newspaper accounts, and archival media combined with web 2.0 technologies to bring to life the events of that era.
Features include a media rich interactive graphic novel and a video mosaic legacy gallery showcasing people who are continuing JFK's legacy in their respective fields. Downloadable exhibits that users can customize and produce are available as well. The multi-media website takes elements from the JFK Presidential Library archives and frames them in new ways for discovery and exploration by a generation well-versed in digital media.
Ask What You Can Do —The PSA Campaign
To drive awareness of the 50th anniversary, and of the new interactive website www.JFK50.org, the Kennedy Library Foundation partnered with Ogilvy & Mather and Jimmy Fallon to develop a public service ad campaign centered on the message, “Ask what you can do.” The “Ask Not” series featuring Jimmy Fallon seeks to inspire younger Americans to take up the challenge of asking not only what they can do for their country, but connecting with those around them to make a difference. Another television spot features archival footage of President Kennedy challenging the nation to put aside our differences, to think beyond our borders, to imagine a world without war, to dream of things that never were – all interweaved with footage of contemporary issues demanding the same action. The Kennedy Library Foundation partnered with Comcast, Viacom and CBS to ensure that the campaign could reach the widest audience possible. The national television spots and public service announcements will be aired on Viacom, Comcast and CBS properties.
Click here to download the PSA videos.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is one of 13 presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and is supported, in part, by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization. The Kennedy Presidential Library and the Kennedy Library Foundation seek to promote, through educational and community programs, a greater appreciation and understanding of American politics, history, and culture, the process of governing and the importance of public service.