For Immediate Release: August 27, 2008
Further information: Brent R. Carney (617) 514-1662, Brent.Carney@JFKLFoundation.org
Boston, MA – As citizens across the country prepare to elect the next President, the Museum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library has unveiled The Making of a President, a special display of archival material and Museum objects from the Library’s collection that explores those elements of John F. Kennedy’s life that prepared him for a career in public service and motivated him to seek the nation’s highest elected office. This special display in the Museum’s Theater Lobby will remain open through the summer of 2009.
This new display features documents, photographs, and artifacts from the Kennedy Presidential Library’s collections which illustrate key aspects of John F. Kennedy’s early life, including: growing up as part of a large and service-oriented family; his education at Harvard University; his foreign travels as the son of an ambassador and as a United States Congressman; his Naval service in the South Pacific during World War II; and his authorship of two books, Why England Slept and Profiles in Courage.
Among the items to be displayed, some of which have never been displayed before, are:
- John F. Kennedy’s notes on government and the presidency, written as a student at Harvard University.
- Travel diaries from the 1930’s and 1950’s from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
- John F. Kennedy’s notes on the opening session of the United Nations in 1945, which he covered as a journalist for the Hearst newspaper chain.
- Draft pages and the typewriter used for John Kennedy’s senior thesis that became, Why England Slept.
- An essay by John F. Kennedy titled “Justice,” written while attending the Choate School. John F. Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize certificate for Profiles in Courage.
- John F. Kennedy’s May 1956 article “Why Harvard Men go into Politics” written for the Harvard Bulletin.
The Making of a President is made possible with generous support from AIG Private Client Group. The media sponsor is WCVB-TV 5.
The Making of a President 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; relive the thrill of Col. John Glenn’s first orbital mission; 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 $10.00. Admission for seniors over the age of 62 and college students with appropriate identification is $8.00, and for children ages 13-17, $7.00. 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.
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.