“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” - John F. Kennedy, 1963 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation
“When the President came to the office the morning of October 29, 1962 he was thinking about a memento that he could give to all of those who participated in the meetings during the Cuban crisis. The one thing that was fixed in his mind was the idea of having the month of October on some kind of a background with the dates 16-28 either circled or standing out in a different print. He first thought of a lucite cigarette box… Then he thought there might be some who did not go in for cigarette boxes so he thought of the idea of having the calendar engraved on a silver plate to be attached to a piece of wood with the dates 16-28 in larger print. And he thought it would be nice to have his initials in one corner and the donee’s initials in the other…
“The calendars arrived on Wednesday, November 28th, so on the morning of November 29 the President wanted them so that he could pass them out at the National Security Council Executive Committee meeting at 10:00 am. So the blue boxes containing the calendars were placed by his chair in the Cabinet Room and after everyone had been seated, and just before the meeting started, he distributed them. The men who did not attend the meeting received theirs either by hand delivery or by mail.
“The President surprised me by having one made up for me and just before he went into the Cabinet Room that morning he handed it to me.”
- Evelyn Lincoln’s description of the Cuban Missile Crisis memento, JFKPOF-098-007-p0007
At 8:45 AM on October 16, 1962, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy alerted President Kennedy that a major international crisis was at hand. Two days earlier, a United States military surveillance aircraft had taken hundreds of aerial photographs of Cuba, which showed conclusive evidence that a Soviet missile base was under construction near San Cristobal, Cuba.
Discussions began on how to respond to the challenge. Two principal courses were offered: an air strike and invasion, or a naval quarantine with the threat of further military action. To avoid arousing public concern, President Kennedy maintained his official schedule, meeting periodically with advisors to discuss the status of events in Cuba and possible strategies.
📷One of the first images of missile bases under construction shown to President Kennedy on the morning of October 16.
Kennedy Family Collection Nitrate Negative Project: Fun in the Sun
From the early 1900s to about 1950, the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families documented their lives on nitrate photographic film. They were part of a new generation of amateur photographers utilizing a new medium that enabled them to produce numerous snapshots of everyday life – of friends and relatives, trips, holidays, and other celebratory occasions. When nitrate film became commercially available in the late 1880s, it made possible technical advancements in amateur roll film for smaller, more mobile cameras, ushering in the practice of family photography.
More than a century later, the surviving nitrate negatives from the Kennedy Family Collection have been digitized due in part to the inherently fragile and unstable nature of the medium but also to provide greater access and ensure future use while the physical objects remain safely preserved in their original format and condition.
The JFK Library is pleased to announce the completion of an 18-month grant project to catalog and provide online access to these newly digitized materials. Archivists created robust descriptions and metadata records for all of the nitrate negatives in the collection so that users can browse, search, and discover these historic photographs. Over 1,700 photographs are now available on the Library’s website. The nitrates represent a subset of photographic materials in a collection that provides access to the more personal, private moments of this prominent family not found in other historical sources.
These photos – the fourth and final in a series of posts to highlight images from this cataloging project - feature the Kennedy family enjoying outdoor leisure time together, whether at the beach in Hyannis Port, in the pool in Palm Beach, or on vacation with family and friends. These images highlight the Kennedy family’s affinity for the water – both ocean and pool, stateside and abroad.
To browse all of the Kennedy Family Collection photos that show the family (and others) swimming and participating in other sports and recreational activities, visit the Digital Archives.
Photographs © John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
KFC31N. Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., Swims with His
Children at the Beach in Hyannis Port, ca. 1925
KFC621N. John F. Kennedy Swims at the Beach in Hyannis Port, ca. 1925-1926
KFC117N. Rosemary Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy, and Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Sit Poolside in Palm Beach, Florida, 1934
KFC1017N. Rosemary Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Swim at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, March 1934
KFC1013N. Kennedy Family Children with Nanny Katherine Conboy at Breakers Beach in Palm Beach, Florida, March 1934
KFC304N. Patricia Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Jean Kennedy Play in the Pool in Palm Beach, Florida, March 1934
KFC109N. Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., with Edward M. Kennedy at the Pool in Palm Beach, Florida, March 1935
KFC209N. Edward M. Kennedy with Edward E. Moore and Mary Moore at the Pool in Palm Beach, Florida, ca. March 1936
KFC583N. Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and His Family Go Swimming in Palm Beach, Florida, April 1936
KFC1403N. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., at a Beach Near Cannes, France, 1939: July-August
KFC1635N. Kathleen Kennedy Swims in Pool at Schweppe Family Estate in Lake Forest, Illinois, July 1941
KFC1722N. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, and a Friend Go Swimming in Palm Beach, Florida, December 1941-January 1942
KFC1863N. Kathleen Kennedy and Unidentified Woman Swim at Country Estate in England, ca. 1943-1944
KFC2759N. Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish and Edward M. Kennedy Play in the Pool in Palm Beach, Florida, ca. 1946-1948
KFC2776N. John F. Kennedy, Jean Kennedy, and Ethel Skakel Go Swimming in Palm Beach, Florida, ca. 1946-1948
Read more about this project on the Library’s Blog.
Kennedy Family Collection Nitrate Negative Project: John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald
From the early 1900s to about 1950, the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families documented their lives on nitrate photographic film. They were part of a new generation of amateur photographers utilizing a new medium that enabled them to produce numerous snapshots of everyday life – of friends and relatives, trips, holidays, and other celebratory occasions. When nitrate film became commercially available in the late 1880s, it made possible technical advancements in amateur roll film for smaller, more mobile cameras, ushering in the practice of family photography.
More than a
century later, the surviving nitrate negatives from the Kennedy Family
Collection
have been digitized due in part to the inherently fragile and unstable nature
of the medium, but also to provide greater access and ensure future use while
the physical objects remain safely preserved in their original format and
condition.
The JFK Library is pleased to announce the completion of an 18-month grant project to catalog and provide online access to these newly digitized materials. Archivists created robust descriptions and metadata records for all of the nitrate negatives in the collection so that users can browse, search, and discover these historic photographs. Over 1,700 photographs are now available on the Library’s website. The nitrates represent a subset of photographic materials in a collection that provides access to the more personal, private moments of this prominent family not found in other historical sources.
These photos – the third in a series of posts to highlight images from this cataloging project - feature former Mayor of Boston, John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, pictured alone or with his wife, Mary Josephine Hannon Fitzgerald, and their children and grandchildren. The following images offer glimpses into Honey Fitz’s personality, his family and public service life, and the keen interest he held for his Irish heritage.
To browse all of the Kennedy Family Collection photos in which John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald appears, visit the Digital Archives.
Photographs © John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
KFC1429N. Mayor John F.
Fitzgerald and Rose Fitzgerald Aboard R.M.S. Franconia, ca. June 27-August 16,
1911
KFC887N. John F.
“Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald with Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., at Nantasket
Beach, ca. 1916
KFC803N. John F. Fitzgerald
and Mary Josephine Fitzgerald in Palm Beach, Florida, ca. 1915-1916
KFC807N. John F.
Fitzgerald, Mary Josephine Fitzgerald, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy in Palm
Beach, Florida, ca. 1915-1916
KFC232N. Kennedy Family
Children with Their Grandparents, John F. Fitzgerald and Mary Josephine
Fitzgerald, in Cohasset, ca. 1922
KFC211N. Kennedy Family
Children with Their Grandparents, John F. Fitzgerald and Mary Josephine
Fitzgerald, in Cohasset, ca. 1922
KFC1422N. Mayor John F.
Fitzgerald with John Hays Hammond, Sr., Aboard R.M.S. Franconia, ca. June 27-August 16, 1911
KFC1559N. Mayor John F.
Fitzgerald and Boston Chamber of Commerce Delegates at Residence of Sir Thomas
Lipton in England, ca. July 5, 1911
KFC1481N. Mayor John F.
Fitzgerald with Rose Fitzgerald, Agnes Fitzgerald, and Hugh Nawn Aboard Sir
Thomas Lipton’s Yacht in England, ca. August 7, 1911
KFC240N. Mayor John F.
Fitzgerald at Gatun Locks in Panama, ca. May 1-4, 1913
KFC1442N. John F.
Fitzgerald at Blarney Castle in County Cork, Ireland, ca. August 8, 1908
KFC1519N. John F.
Fitzgerald and Agnes Fitzgerald Visit Treaty Stone of Limerick in Limerick,
Ireland, ca. August 5, 1908
KFC1447N. John F.
Fitzgerald Swims in Ireland, ca. August 1908-August 1909
KFC1430N. John F. Fitzgerald with Donkey in Ireland, ca. August 1908-August 1909
Read more about the project on the Library’s Blog. Photographs © John F. Kennedy Library
Foundation.
KN-C29875. Fireworks Show at the White House
In her 1964 Oral History with colleague Pamela Turnure, the First Lady’s Social Secretary Nancy Tuckerman described how the fireworks show at a state dinner honoring the King and Queen of Afghanistan (pictured above) came to be, and what President Kennedy’s reaction to it was.
Nancy Tuckerman: When the King and Queen of Afghanistan came, Mrs. Kennedy decided it would be appropriate to have a military review on the South Lawn of the White House. And then she decided something even more spectacular had to be done—because there had already been a military performance before. So she thought of fireworks, which they had never had at the White House, and the President, I remember, was very dubious and a little bit nervous about this because he thought it might be too much of an extravaganza and too much of a display to suddenly have fireworks bursting forth.
Mrs. Wayne Fredericks: Well, was he overruled on this or did he think about it?
Nancy Tuckerman: He thought about it a great deal. In fact, he thought about it so much
that he called me constantly to find out if the fireworks came from
Japan; how long they would last; and many other things: whether by
law in Washington you could set them off other than the 4th of July—but we found out it was
legal. He had a hundred questions which I had never thought about—and had no answers
for—but found out.
…Also at the Afghanistan dinner, I remember, he
suddenly got nervous again over the fireworks and about the day
before the dinner he started into exactly the same routine that we had
been through a few months ago. He said, “Well, I’ve decided now we must cut the fireworks
in half.” So they went from ten minutes to five minutes, and the man who was setting off the
fireworks didn’t quite understand or else he decided to make it more spectacular by putting
the same amount of dynamite into five minutes because we’d paid for it…
So suddenly when the fireworks went off it really was incredible. Do you remember?
Oh, the noise! The switchboard in Washington, the police boards, everything was jammed
up. People thought the end of the world had come.
Kennedy Family Collection Nitrate Negative Project: Voyages and Travel
From the early 1900s to about 1950, the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families documented their lives on nitrate photographic film. They were part of a new generation of amateur photographers utilizing a new medium that enabled them to produce numerous snapshots of everyday life – of friends and relatives, trips, holidays, and other celebratory occasions. When nitrate film became commercially available in the late 1880s, it made possible technical advancements in amateur roll film for smaller, more mobile cameras, ushering in the practice of family photography.
More than a century later, the surviving nitrate negatives from the Kennedy Family Collection have been digitized due in part to the inherently fragile and unstable nature of the medium but also to provide greater access and ensure future use while the physical objects remain safely preserved in their original format and condition.
The JFK Library is pleased to announce the completion of an 18-month grant project to catalog and provide online access to these newly digitized materials. Archivists created robust descriptions and metadata records for all of the nitrate negatives in the collection so that users can browse, search, and discover these historic photographs. Over 1,700 photographs are now available on the Library’s website. The nitrates represent a subset of photographic materials in a collection that provides access to the more personal, private moments of this prominent family not found in other historical sources.
These photos – the second in a series of posts to highlight images from this cataloging project - feature the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families as travelers and tourists, taking snapshots of historic sites and scenic views for the sake of personalizing their experiences abroad.
Follow Rose Fitzgerald on her travels as a young woman during her school year abroad (1908-1909), and with her father Mayor of Boston, John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, during the Boston Chamber of Commerce tours of Europe (1911) and Panama (1913). Take note of the same countries her children would visit decades later. Or see the vacation spots the Kennedy family traveled to during their embassy years, when Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., served as U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain.
Photographs © John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
KFC1418N. Rose Fitzgerald
and Agnes Fitzgerald with Unidentified Girl Aboard S.S. Cymric, ca. July
1908-August 1909
KFC1445N. Rose Fitzgerald
at Windsor Castle in Windsor, Berkshire, England, ca. July-August, 1908
KFC1529N. Mayor John F.
Fitzgerald and Rose Fitzgerald with Boston Chamber of Commerce Delegates at
Royal Palace Gardens in Budapest, Hungary, ca. July-August, 1911
KFC1449N. Rose Fitzgerald
Kisses Blarney Stone in County Cork, Ireland, ca. August 8, 1908
KFC675N. Kathleen Kennedy
Kissing Blarney Stone in County Cork, Ireland, ca. July-August, 1937
KFC1452N. John F.
Fitzgerald and Rose Fitzgerald at Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim, Northern
Ireland, ca. August 1909
KFC702N. Joseph P. Kennedy,
Jr., Visits Giant’s Causeway in Bushmills, Northern Ireland, ca. August 1937
KFC1471N. View of Eiffel
Tower and Ferris Wheel in Paris, France, ca. August 4-5, 1911
KFC2834N. Edward M. Kennedy
at Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, France, ca. August 4, 1950
KFC1057N. Rosemary Kennedy
and Betty Rice Visit Kilcroney Castle in County Wicklow, Ireland, ca. July
1-August 8, 1938
KFC646N. Kathleen Kennedy
Visits Doge’s Palace in Venice, Italy, March 30, 1936
KFC711N. View of Killiney
Beach in Killiney, Ireland, ca. July-August, 1937
Read more about the project on the Library’s Blog. Photographs © John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
Public Opinion in the JFK Library Archives: School Prayer and the Supreme Court, June 25, 1962
Stacey Chandler, Reference Archivist
In 1958, starting the school day with the Pledge of Allegiance was pretty routine for American kids. But mornings became a bit more complicated that year for students in New Hyde Park, New York, where the local public school board started requiring teachers to lead a class prayer (written by the state’s Board of Regents) after the Pledge each day. It didn’t take long for local dad Steven Engel and a few like-minded parents to challenge School Board President William Vitale on the prayer’s constitutionality, bringing the issue of school-sponsored prayer into the national spotlight and sparking controversy across the political spectrum.
As Engel v. Vitale made its way through New York’s courts, judges sided with Vitale and school prayer three times, stressing that students could leave the room if they didn’t want to participate. But on June 25, 1962, after hearings at the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Hugo Black delivered the 6-1 decision that reversed the lower court’s ruling and deemed school-sponsored prayer unconstitutional:
We think that by using its public school system to encourage recitation of the Regents’ prayer, the State of New York has adopted a practice wholly inconsistent with the Establishment Clause. …When the power, prestige and financial support of government is placed behind a particular religious belief, the indirect coercive pressure upon religious minorities to conform to the prevailing officially approved religion is plain.
Though the ruling banned only official school-sponsored prayer and didn’t impact individual students’ rights to pray on school grounds, it motivated people across the United States to write to President John F. Kennedy with their thoughts about the role of prayer in public life. Their letters are now part of the archives at John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, where archivists are working on preserving and describing them.
Damaging materials removed from the Public Opinion Mail collection during preservation.
In the two weeks after the decision, the White House Mail Room saw nearly 1,000 letters on the topic; only 13 of those, a staff member noticed, supported the Supreme Court’s ruling. Most writers brought up Communism or the Soviet Union, echoing the comments of politicians like Alvin O’Konski of Wisconsin, who suggested the Court was “doing everything possible to help Khrushchev bury us.” Meanwhile, children (often writing as part of a Sunday school class) worried they wouldn’t be allowed to pray in school at all.
JFKMPFPOM-1202-001
JFKWHCSF-0886-008
Others attacked the communities associated with the families involved in the case, who identified as atheist, Ethical Culturalist, Jewish, and Unitarian:
JFKMPFPOM-1202-002
JFKMPFPOM-1202-002
While the letters arrived, JFK was preparing for a previously-scheduled June 27 press conference. Expecting that he’d be asked about Engel v. Vitale, the President’s staff put together a few draft statements, including one that expressed sympathy with the dissenting opinion. But when a reporter asked “Can you give us your opinion of the decision itself?” JFK ditched the prepared remarks and said:
We have in this case a very easy remedy, and that is to pray ourselves. …I would hope that as a result of this decision that all American parents will intensify their efforts at home, and the rest of us will support the Constitution and the responsibility of the Supreme Court in interpreting it.
JFK’s comments sparked a second wave of letters, and most writers expressed concern over what they interpreted as outright support for the Court’s ruling.
JFKMPFPOM-1202-002
One of these writers was New York fifth-grader Tom Mallon, who later reflected that his own letter “based on a misapprehension (Kennedy was not supporting the Court’s decision per se), shows a stiff anger.”
JFKWHCNF-1709-007
But not all of the letters about JFK’s comments were critical. Scattered throughout the boxes of mail on this topic are letters from leaders of organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the United Parents Association of New York City, who wrote in to express their approval of his remarks.
JFKWHCSF-0886-009
JFKWHCSF-0886-008
By the end of 1962, the flood of White House mail about the case was over – but the controversy wasn’t. In December (after receiving many constituent letters of their own), members of the House of Representatives voted to inscribe “In God We Trust” on the wall in the House Chamber, in what Congressman William Randall of Missouri called “our answer to the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court order banning the Regents’ prayer.” But even as the words were mounted on the Chamber wall, another landmark case was on its way to the Supreme Court – Abington School District v. Schempp – that would end Pennsylvania public schools’ required Bible readings in June 1963.
JFKWHP-ST-C7-2-63. John F. Kennedy delivers his State of the Union Address in January 1963 under the newly-installed “In God We Trust” inscription.
While a 1962 Gallup poll tells us that 79% of Americans approved of “religious observances in public schools,” polls can’t always reveal what’s hidden behind the numbers: the beliefs, attitudes, and understandings about an issue that contribute to each person’s opinion of it. Letters from the public can capture the perspectives that raw numbers can miss, and we’re working to preserve these materials for future study of decisions like Engel v. Vitale and their lasting impact on American politics and culture.
Kennedy Family Collection Nitrate Negative Project: The Everyday
From the early 1900s to about 1950, the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families documented their lives on nitrate photographic film. They were part of a new generation of amateur photographers utilizing a new medium that enabled them to produce numerous snapshots of everyday life – of friends and relatives, trips, holidays, and other celebratory occasions. When nitrate film became commercially available in the late 1880s, it made possible technical advancements in amateur roll film for smaller, more mobile cameras, ushering in the practice of family photography.
More than a century later, the surviving nitrate negatives from the Kennedy Family Collection have been digitized due in part to the inherently fragile and unstable nature of the medium but also to provide greater access and ensure future use while the physical objects remain safely preserved in their original format and condition.
The JFK Library is pleased to announce the completion of an 18-month grant project to catalog and provide online access to these newly digitized materials. Archivists created robust descriptions and metadata records for all of the nitrate negatives in the collection so that users can browse, search, and discover these historic photographs. Over 1,700 photographs are now available on the Library’s website. The nitrates represent a subset of photographic materials in a collection that provides access to the more personal, private moments of this prominent family not found in other historical sources.
These photos – the first in a series of posts to highlight images from this cataloging project - feature the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families in more informal settings, at home and at play.
Photographs © John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
KFC233N. John F. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy, and Patricia Kennedy in Brookline, Massachusetts, May 1926
KFC576N. John F. Kennedy, Patricia Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Friends in Palm Beach, Florida, April 1936.
KFC51N. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy with Patricia Kennedy at Malcolm Cottage in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, 1925
KFC888N.
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and Patrick Joseph Kennedy with Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.,
at Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, ca. 1917
KFC1946N. John F. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy, and Eunice Kennedy in Brookline, Massachusetts, ca. 1924-1925
KFC530N.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jean Kennedy,
and
Edward M. Kennedy Play on Swing Set in Bronxville,
New York, October 1934
KFC2725N.
Edward M. Kennedy in Bronxville, New
York, ca. 1936
KFC2069N.
Eunice Fitzgerald with Chickens in Dorchester, Massachusetts, ca. 1910-1913
Read more about this project on the Library’s Blog.
On May 15, 1963, Major Gordon Cooper was launched in the space capsule Faith 7 to fly the last manned space mission for Project Mercury. In fewer than 35 hours, he completed 22 orbits of the Earth, each orbit taking about 88 minutes. After splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, President Kennedy called Major Cooper to congratulate him. Listen in to their conversation. JFKPOF-TPH-19A-3
PRESIDENT KENNEDY: Major, I just want to congratulate you. That was a great flight.
MAJOR COOPER: Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY: We talked to your wife and she seemed to stand it very well.
MAJOR COOPER: Very good.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY: We look forward to seeing you up here Monday, but we are very proud of you.
MAJOR COOPER: Thank you, sir. It was a good flight. I enjoyed it.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY: Good, fine; I will look forward to seeing you on Monday. Good luck.
MAJOR COOPER: Thank you.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY: Thanks, Major.