Kennedy's Last Days: The Assassination That Defined a Generation (36 page)
Read Kennedy's Last Days: The Assassination That Defined a Generation Online
Authors: Bill O'Reilly
Robert Frost, standing behind the microphones, was one of Kennedy’s favorite poets. He often quoted from the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]
June 19, 1963 | | Kennedy sends a civil rights bill to Congress. |
June 26, 1963 | | Kennedy visits West Berlin and delivers a speech at the Berlin Wall. |
July 25, 1963 | | The Soviet Union, England, and the United States agree on a Limited Nuclear Test Ban treaty. |
August 28, 1963 | | Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington. |
October 26, 1963 | | Kennedy delivers a speech in tribute to Robert Frost, whose poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one Kennedy often quotes. |
November 22, 1963 | | President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He is 46 years old. |
November 25, 1963 | | John Kennedy is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. |
An eternal flame burns at the grave site of John and Jackie Kennedy.
[© Larry Downing/Reuters/Corbis]
PLACES TO VISIT
T
HERE ARE HUNDREDS, PERHAPS THOUSANDS,
of places around the world named for President John F. Kennedy. There are plazas, bridges, squares, and highways. There are schools and office buildings. His face has been on coins and stamps. Here is a selection of places that you can visit.
John F. Kennedy Space Center
www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/
NASA’s Launch Operations Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, was renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center. You can tour the center in person, go to an astronaut training camp, and watch NASA launches online at their website.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
The JFK Library on Columbia Point in Dorchester, Massachusetts, opened in 1979 as Kennedy’s official presidential library. It has exhibits about the life of President Kennedy; his wife, Jackie; and his brother Robert, as well as displays about Kennedy’s campaigns and his interest in the space program. You can visit in person or take a virtual tour of the museum online at their website. The website is the best source of information about John Kennedy, his life, and his political career.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
This grand building opened in 1971 in Washington, D.C., on the Potomac River near the Lincoln Memorial. Its many stages showcase the performing arts: ballet, theater, orchestra, and opera. Free tours are offered every day.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
[Douglas Litchfield/
Shutterstock.com
]
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas
Maintained by the Dallas County Historical Foundation, the sixth floor of the building that was the Texas School Book Depository now houses a permanent exhibit on the assassination and legacy of John Kennedy.
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas.
[Natalia Bratslavsky/
Shutterstock.com
]
John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza in Dallas, Texas
This square is not far from the site of President Kennedy’s assassination. The memorial consists of an empty platform with “John Fitzgerald Kennedy” engraved along its side, surrounded by a concrete square enclosure with two openings. The architect said it symbolizes an open tomb, a tribute to JFK’s living legacy.
John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza in Dallas, Texas.
[Carolyn DeVar/
Shutterstock.com
]
The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site
This National Parks site includes Kennedy’s birthplace and childhood home at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. From April through November you can tour his home and the neighborhood he grew up in. The president’s mother, Rose Kennedy, restored the house to the way it was in 1917 when John Kennedy was born.
The White House
Tours of the White House are available. You must ask your member of Congress for a ticket. To find your member of Congress, go to the website
www.house.gov/representatives/find
and type in your zip code. You may ask for a ticket up to six months in advance but not closer than twenty-one days before you want to visit. An interactive tour of the White House is available at
www.whitehouse.gov/about/inside-white-house/interactive-tour
.
THE AUTHOR RECOMMENDS …
R
ECOMMENDED
R
EADING
Byrne, Paul J.
The Cuban Missile Crisis: To the Brink of War
. Minneapolis, Minn.: Compass Point Books, 2006.
Cooper, Ilene.
Jack: The Early Years of John F. Kennedy
. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2003.
Harrison, Barbara, and Daniel Terris.
A Twilight Struggle: The Life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1992.
Heiligman, Deborah.
High Hopes: A Photobiography of John F. Kennedy
. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003.
Hossell, Karen Price.
John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech
. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Raintree, 2005.
Kennedy, John F.
Profiles in Courage
. New York: Harper, 1956.
Levine, Ellen S.
Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories
. New York: Putnam, 1993.
Levinson, Cynthia.
We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March
. Atlanta, Ga.: Peachtree Books, 2011.
McWhorter, Diane.
A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968
. New York: Scholastic, 2004.
Sandler, Martin W.
Kennedy Through the Lens: How Photography and Television Revealed and Shaped an Extraordinary Leader
. New York: Walker & Company, 2011.
Tougas, Shelley.
Birmingham 1963: How a Photograph Rallied Civil Rights Support
. North Mankato, MN: Compass Point Books, 2011.
R
ECOMMENDED
W
EBSITES
The single best place to find information, images, audio recordings, TV and news film footage, and lesson plans and suggestions for projects is the website of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum:
www.jfklibrary.org
.
Biographies of John F. Kennedy
www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/Life-of-John-F-Kennedy.aspx
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy
Biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy
www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/Life-of-Jacqueline-B-Kennedy.aspx
www.whitehouse.gov/about/first-ladies/jacquelinekennedy
One is on the JFK Library site, the other is the official United States government biography on the White House website.
The History Channel
www.history.com/topics/john-f-kennedy
A good overview of Kennedy’s life and career with very good live links to people, historical events, and places.
Brainy Quote
www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_f_kennedy.html
www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jackie_kennedy.html
Many interesting words spoken and written by the president and first lady.
Kennedy’s Career in the U.S. Navy
www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-2.htm
These pages on the official site of the U.S. Navy are not pretty to look at, but there is great information about PT boats and Kennedy’s missions.
Warren Commission Report
www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report
The full text of the report and images of all the exhibits that were presented.