american visionary john f. kennedy’s life and times · summer 1926 joe sr. rents what will become...

AMERICAN VISIONARY JOHN F. KENNEDY’S LIFE AND TIMES

Information is

excerpted from the book

JFK: A Vision for America (HarperCollins),

available in the museum store.

Information is

excerpted from the book

JFK: A Vision for America (HarperCollins),

available in the museum store.

MAY 3 – SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

JFK Timeline 1906–1963

jfk_SAAM_01-16_DP_CS55_v6.indd 1 3/2/17 11:04 AM

— John F. Kennedy Greenville, North Carolina, February 8, 1963

“ A MAN MAY DIE, NATIONS MAY RISE AND FALL, BUT AN IDEA LIVES ON.”

In the early 1960s, during John F. Kennedy’s administration, America

envisioned — and began to realize — a new, modern nation. Kennedy

pushed the U.S. forward into the space race, laid the foundation for

the environmental movement, outlined legislation to protect civil rights,

advocated equal pay for women, and promoted federal health insurance

for the elderly as well as immigration laws that would make America

more diverse. He also focused attention on cultural issues, laying the

groundwork for the National Foundations for the Arts and Humanities.

The timeline that follows reminds us about important events in Kennedy’s

life, which are interspersed with key historical and cultural events and

accompanied by photographs and ephemera that provide a rich context

for the photographs in the exhibition.

2


Pho

to, ©

Phi

lippe

Hal

sman

, Mag

num

Pho

tos


1906 John Francis “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald is elected mayor of Boston.

October 7, 1914 Joseph Patrick Kennedy, elder son of Patrick Joseph Kennedy, marries Rose Fitzgerald, eldest daughter of Boston mayor Honey Fitz, joining two prominent political families (and former rivals).

May 29, 1917 John Fitzgerald Kennedy is born in Brookline, MA, second of nine Kennedy children.

June 19, 1917 Baptized at St. Aidan’s Roman Catholic Church.

November 11, 1918 World War I ends.

Spring 1919 Shortly before third birthday, Kennedy contracts scarlet fever. He is hospitalized for two months.

October 28, 1919 Congress passes National Prohibition Act (over President Wilson’s veto) prohibiting sale of alcohol and spawning a proliferation of speakeasies across the country.

August 26, 1920 The 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, is formally adopted into U.S. Constitution.

Summer 1926 Joe Sr. rents what will become the family summer home in Hyannis Port, MA, on Cape Cod.

July 28, 1929 Jacqueline Lee Bouvier is born in Southampton, New York, elder child of stockbroker John Vernou Bouvier III and socialite Janet Lee Bouvier.

October 29, 1929 Black Tuesday: Wall Street crash precipitates Great Depression, which will persist for 10 years.

1930–31 “Jack” Kennedy is enrolled at Canterbury, a Roman Catholic boarding school in New Milford, CT, but withdraws after developing appendicitis.

1931–35 Attends elite boarding school Choate, in Wallingford, CT, earning only mediocre grades.

1932 President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces New Deal, a series of initiatives and social programs in response to Great Depression.

June 6, 1934 Joseph Kennedy Sr. appointed by FDR as the ¡ rst president of Securities and Exchange Commission.

Summer 1935 At 18, JFK makes fi rst trip abroad, to attend London School of Economics, following in footsteps of older brother, Joe.

January 1936 President Roosevelt names Joseph Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.

Fall 1936 Kennedy begins fi rst year at Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA.

He’s the man who put the “Fitzgerald” in “John Fitzgerald Kennedy.” A Democratic congressman and two-term mayor of Boston, JFK’s grandfather was known for a

persuasive charm that earned him the nickname “Honey Fitz.”

The second born into a family of nine children, Kennedy began life in the suburbs of Boston, then resided in Riverdale and Bronxville, New York; boarding schools in Connecticut; and the family summer home in Hyannis Port.

Kennedy’s education was often interrupted with bouts of illness and periods of recovery, though he still managed to graduate cum laude from Harvard in 1940.

4


Of privilege, and public service; Joe Kennedy’s appointments under President Roosevelt infl uenced a young JFK with an early life of world travel and close contact with political leaders and world dignitaries.

The publication of Kennedy’s Harvard thesis and his brief but distinguished military career proved invaluable to shaping his political identity.

Summer 1937 Spends 10 weeks traveling through England, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands with child-hood friend Lem Billings.

July 4, 1938 Sails to England with brother Joe Jr. to live at American embassy in London, where both work with Joe Sr.

Winter 1939 Spends second semester of junior year working at American embassy in Paris. Travels throug h Poland, Moscow, and Berlin.

March 12, 1939 The Kennedy family attends the coronation of Pope Pius XII in Rome, and granted private audience with Pope the following day.

August 1, 1939 His Harvard thesis, “Appeasement at Munich,” is published as his fi rst book, Why England Slept.

September 1, 1939 Listens from visitors’ gallery at House of Commons as British prime minister Neville Chamberlain declares war on Germany. World War II begins.

September 1940 Briefl y attends Stanford as graduate student, taking classes in business, economics, and political science.

Spring 1941 Assists father in writing his memoir on years as ambassador. Spends several weeks traveling South America: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile.

September 25, 1941 Enlists in U.S. Navy.

December 7, 1941 The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. United States enters World War II.

August 2, 1943 Japanese destroyer rams PT-109, patrol torpedo boat Lieutenant Kennedy commands, while it is on active duty in the Solomon Islands’ Blackett Strait, sinking the vessel and killing two crew members.

August 8, 1943 Kennedy and his 10 surviving PT-109 crew members are rescued.

June 11, 1944 Awarded U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Medal and Purple Heart for actions while in command of PT-109.

August 12, 1944 Navy pilot Joe Jr. is killed in Europe when his plane explodes shortly after takeo¤ .

April 1945 JFK works as reporter for Hearst Newspapers, covering the creation of United Nations in San Francisco, the Potsdam conference, elections in London, and developing relationships with top-level U.S. offi cials.

August 15, 1945 Following the August 6 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the August 9 bombing of Nagasaki, Japanese announce surrender. Surrender documents signed on September 2o¥ cially end World War II.

5


Kennedy was encouraged by his father to run for U.S. representative from Massachusetts in 1946; Joe Sr. was the driving force behind JFK’s entire political career, pulling favors, providing funding, and promoting the image.

The loss of Kathleen Kennedy at age twenty-eight was particularly profound for JFK; the two shared the closest relationship among the Kennedy siblings.

September 1946 Kennedy is diagnosed with Addison’s disease, potentially fatal disorder

of adrenal glands. He is prescribed regimen of medications; the condition is kept from the public.

November 5, 1946 Elected U.S. representative for Eleventh Congressional District in Boston.

December 19, 1946 War breaks out in Indochina as President Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi.

April 22, 1947 Congressmen Jack Kennedy and Dick Nixon travel to western Pennsylvania for their little-known fi rst series of debates.

June 25, 1947 The ¡ rst edition of Anne Frank’s diary is published in the Netherlands, as Het Achterhuis.

November 20, 1947 Appealing to Italian voting bloc in Massachusetts, JFK makes speech in Congress supporting $227 million aid package to Italy, calling it “the initial battleground in the communist drive to capture Western Europe.”

May 13, 1948 Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy Cavendish dies in plane crash on ¦ ight from French Riviera to Paris.

October 1, 1949 Mao Zedong proclaims People’s Republic of China; it is recognized by USSR the following day.

June 25, 1950 President Harry S. Truman orders U.S. Air Force and Navy into Korean con¦ ict one day after North Korea invades the South.

December 19, 1950 Tibet’s Dalai Lama ¦ ees Chinese invasion.

February 22, 1951 Fresh from fi ve-week European tour, Kennedy testifi es before Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees on how best to defend Europe against Soviet infl uence and control.

May 1951 Meets Jacqueline Bouvier at dinner party.

October 6, 1951 Stalin announces that USSR has atom bomb.

May 9, 1951 JFK introduces bill to Congress seeking to restrict American and allies’ trade with “Red China.”

6


October 15, 1951 Arrives in Saigon, Vietnam, traveling with brother Robert and sister Patricia on extended trip to Far East.

April 6, 1952 Tapes ad for Senate campaign, voicing support for government-sponsored low- and middle-income housing.

November 4, 1952 Wins Senate seat, beating incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

September 12, 1953 Jack and Jackie’s wedding in Newport, RI, is social event of the season, attended by 1,200. Jacqueline’s stepfather, Hugh D. Auchincloss, walks her down the aisle.

October 30, 1953 The newlyweds are interviewed from their Boston apartment on Edward R. Murrow’s Person to Person TV show.

October 24, 1954 Eisenhower pledges support to South Vietnam.

February 25, 1955 Following highly risky back surgery that brought him near death, Kennedy is taken by plane to Palm Beach, FL, to begin convalescence.

May 23, 1955 Returns to the fl oor of Senate.

December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, AL, for refusing to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger and move to the back of the bus.

September 9, 1956 Elvis Presley makes debut TV appearance as guest on The Ed Sullivan Show.

November 6, 1956 Eisenhower is reelected, defeating Adlai E. Stevenson.

May 6, 1957 Profi les in Courage is awarded Pulitzer Prize for biography. Kennedy maintains he wrote the book, yet he offers adviser Ted Sorensen half the royalties for fi rst fi ve years of publication.

November 27, 1957 The Kennedys become parents with birth of fi rst child, Caroline, named after Jackie’s sister, Lee.

March 27, 1958 Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet premier and ¡ rst secretary of Communist Party.

April 1, 1959 First fully organized campaign meeting for JFK’s 1960 presidential bid is held in Palm Beach, FL.

By the time he took offi ce as U.S. senator, Kennedy had traveled extensively through Europe, South America, and the Middle and Far East.

Social prominence kept the Kennedys under the watchful eye of the press as early as 1957. The North American Newspaper Alliance broke the news of Jackie’s pregnancy with Caroline, writing, “A vital element has been added to the well-planned and generously fi nanced campaign to make Senator Jack Kennedy President of the United States.”

7


January 2 Senator Kennedy announces candidacy for president.

February Frank Sinatra records altered version of his hit song “High Hopes,” with pro-Kennedy lyrics, which becomes the uno¥ cial song of the Kennedy campaign.

February 1 Four black students stage ¡ rst civil rights sit-in at a Greensboro, NC, lunch counter.

April A pregnant Jackie is advised against travel due to prior miscarriage, so Kennedy sisters Eunice, Pat, and Jean take active roles in campaign.

April 5 Kennedy defeats Hubert Humphrey in Wisconsin primary by more than 106,00 votes, though party bosses remain skeptical of his broader appeal.

May 1 American spy plane shot down over Soviet Union.

May 4 Humphrey and Kennedy appear in televised debate.

May 10 Wins West Virginia and Nebraska primaries. The following day, Humphrey withdraws from race.

June 10 Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt endorses Democrat Aldai Stevenson, though he is not o¥ cially seeking party nomination.

July 5 Johnson o¥ cially announces candidacy.

July 9 Kennedy arrives in Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention.

July 10 Addresses a meeting of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, initially receiving boos from crowd; vows to end segregation.

July 10 Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland perform at dinner for Kennedy’s big donors, held at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills for nearly 3,000 guests.

July 13 JFK wins the nomination with 806 votes, exceeding 761 needed. Johnson secures only 409.

July 14 Going against advisers and Bobby, Kennedy invites Johnson to be running mate. To his surprise, Johnson accepts.

July 15 Delivers “New Frontier” nomination acceptance speech.

July 23 Briefed by CIA director Allen Dulles and General Charles Cabell on planned guerrilla and military action in Cuba, but won’t learn of plan for full-scale invasion until after taking offi ce.

August 14 Meets with major Democratic power Eleanor Roosevelt and promises to take a fi rm stand on civil rights; Eleanor agrees to support him.

By the time Kennedy formally announced his run, he’d already made several “unoffi cial” campaign swings through four states and had rented, nearly a year prior, a suite of Washington offi ces to serve as campaign headquarters.

Kennedy sisters Eunice, Pat, and Jean’s vigorous campaigning for JFK, along with sister-in-law Ethel, prompted a defeated Hubert Humphrey to grouse, “I feel like an independent merchant competing against a chain store.”

8


September 3–5 General campaign begins, with stops in Maine, Alaska, Michigan, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon; by Election Day, Kennedy will have visited 32 states.

September 12 In an address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, Kennedy assuages concerns over his Catholic faith: “I do not speak for my Church on public matters — and the Church does not speak for me.”

September 26 Appears in fi rst nationally televised U.S. presi-dential debate with Richard Nixon, drawing estimated 70 million viewers and 15 million radio listeners. Kennedy is considered winner. Three debates to follow.

October 12 Meets with Mrs. Roosevelt for breakfast in New York City and makes appearances at Columbus Day Parade, Long Island Fair, and East Harlem Puerto Rican rally. Delivers speech before National Council of Women in New York.

October 13 Third Nixon-Kennedy debate shows candidates on split screen, with Kennedy broadcast from New York and Nixon from Los Angeles.

October 19 After rejoining the campaign a week prior, a very-pregnant Jackie appears with her husband at ticker tape parade through New York City and at Rockefeller Plaza rally.

October 24 Life magazine endorses Nixon for president.

November 1 In TV interview, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. concedes that Kennedy “served as a great force in making my release possible” after King spent nine days in Reidsville, GA, jail.

November 4 Torchlight parade held through Chicago, with an estimated 1.5 million people along parade route and listening to JFK speak at Chicago Stadium.

November 8 Jack and Jackie vote near their Boston home and then join family, friends, and core campaign staff in Hyannis Port to monitor election returns.

November 9 Kennedy defeats Nixon in closest presidential election of 20th century after Minnesota’s 11 electoral votes put Kennedy over top. At Hyannis Armory, the presumptive winner makes brief acceptance speech to press and supporters.

November 25 John F. Kennedy Jr. is born.

November–December Over month of November and into fi rst two weeks of December, Kennedy releases names of Cabinet. One controversial appointment: his brother Bobby as attorney general.

December 11 Narrowly escapes suicide-assassination attempt outside Palm Beach home when leaving for Mass. Plan is aborted when driver of car fi tted with explosives spots Jackie seeing her husband off.

As Election Night stretched into the following morning, with a Kennedy Electoral College win likely, Nixon’s statement at 3:30 a.m., as votes were still being counted, stopped just short of a concession. “Why should he concede?” Kennedy remarked to the frustration of aides and family members gathered in Hyannis Port to watch returns. “I wouldn’t.”

John Jr.’s birth, just two weeks after his father’s presidential win, amplifi ed America’s obsession with the First Family.


From the early months of the campaign to his inauguration, Kennedy’s win pointed to a new direction in American politics, and one in which the infl uence of television proved irrevocably infl uential.

The Soviets had already launched the fi rst successful probe to the moon, and surpassed America with the fi rst human orbit of earth; the space race had accelerated.

January 3 President Eisenhower closes American embassy in Havana; United States ends diplomatic relations with Cuba.

January 11 White students riot after University of Georgia admits ¡ rst two black students, ending 160 years of segregation.

January 20 John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as 35th president of the United States.

January 25 Appears in fi rst live telecast of presidential news conference, addressing famine in Congo, plans for nuclear test ban treaty, and release of two American aviators from Soviet custody.

January 31 United States sends ¡ rst hominid, Ham the Astrochimp, into space. He returns alive after ¦ ight of 16 minutes, 39 seconds.

March 1 JFK establishes Peace Corps and names R. Sargent Shriver its director.

March 11 Barbie gets a boyfriend: Mattel introduces Ken doll at American International Toy Fair.

March 13 Kennedy proposes Alliance for Progress, a 10-year, multibillion-dollar aid program for Latin America.

March 28 Initiates largest and quickest defense buildup in U.S. peacetime history.

April 12 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes ¡ rst human to orbit Earth.

April 17 Fourteen hundred CIA-trained Cuban exiles attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro in ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion. Three days later Kennedy accepts responsibility.

April 23 Judy Garland records double album Judy at Carnegie Hall, for which she later becomes ¡ rst woman to win Grammy for Album of the Year.

May 1 Pulitzer Prize awarded to Harper Lee for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

May 25 In an address at Rice University in Houston, President Kennedy proposes landing Americans on moon before 1970.

June 3 Meets with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna. Khrushchev orders Allies to leave Berlin.

June 30 Signs bill to extend Social Security benefi ts and the most comprehensive housing bill in U.S. history.

10


Forever wary of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Kennedy was nonetheless genuinely concerned about the Communist threat in Southeast Asia, and increased America’s role in the region.

Of his fi rst meeting with Khrushchev in Vienna, Kennedy later confessed that it was “the worst thing in my life. He savaged me.”

July 20 Lee Harvey Oswald, his wife, and daughter apply to Soviet Union for exit visas after living and working for two years in Minsk.

July 23 Nicaraguan leftists Carlos Fonseca, Silvio Mayorga, and Tomás Borge found Sandinista National Liberation Front.

August 7 First U.S. national seashore park established. Kennedy signs Cape Cod National Seashore Act, fi rst major addition to park system in 16 years.

August 13 Construction of Berlin Wall begins in East Germany.

August 30 Citing increased international tensions, Soviet Union resumes atmospheric nuclear testing.

September 23 JFK names NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall to U.S. Court of Appeals.

October 3 The Dick Van Dyke Show premieres on CBS.

October 4 President Kennedy appoints bipartisan commission to study campaign fi nance reform.

October 6 Encourages American families to build nuclear fallout shelters.

October 18 The ¡ lm adaptation of Tony Award–winning musical West Side Story is released.

November 2 Kennedy announces United States will resume atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons.

November 11 Joseph Heller’s satirical World War II novel, Catch-22, is published.

November 22 Kennedy approves plan authorizing 15,000 military advisers for Vietnam.

December 2 Fidel Castro declares he will lead Cuba into communism.

December 11 Elvis Presley’s album Blue Hawaii hits No. 1.

December 12 Martin Luther King Jr. and 700 demonstrators are arrested in Georgia during e¤ ort to desegregate public facilities.

December 14 By executive order JFK establishes Commission on the Status of Women.

December 16 First Lady addresses crowds in Spanish on presidential visit to Venezuela and Colombia.


Astronaut John Glenn helped even the score in the U.S.-Soviet space race, taking America one step closer to Kennedy’s goal to put a man on the moon.

Jackie’s tour of the White House drew 80 million viewers and earned the First Lady an honorary Emmy. All three major TV networks carried the special.

The JFK birthday tribute was Marilyn Monroe’s last major public appearance before her death on August 5.

January 18 United States begins spraying Agent Orange over Vietnamese jungles to expose Viet Cong guerrillas.

February 3 JFK bans all trade with Cuba, with the exceptionof food and drugs.

February 14 The First Lady leads 80 million American TV viewers on unprecedented tour of newly renovated White House. The broadcast earns her an honorary Emmy Award.

February 20 Aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, circling the globe three times during a flight lasting 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds.

March 4 World’s only nuclear power plant is activated in Antarctica.

March 12 Jacqueline Kennedy makes goodwill tour through India and Pakistan, traveling with her sister Lee Radziwill.

March 19 Bob Dylan’s eponymous first album is released to favorable reviews.

April 21 Space Needle opens at Century 21 Exposition.

Spring Helen Gurley Brown’s book Sex and the Single Girl is published, encouraging women to pursue single life, a career, ¡ nancial independence, and sexual liberation.

May 19 Marilyn Monroe sings “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy at a Democratic Party fund-raising event in Madison Square Garden.

June 4 Lee Harvey Oswald departs Rotterdam on SS Maasdam to United States.

June 8 Kennedy creates Offi ce of Science and Technology, building on Truman’s Science Advisory Committee.

June 13 Stanley Kubrick’s ¡ lm Lolita, based on Nabokov’s controversial novel, is released to adult audiences.

June 25 Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, Supreme Court rules school prayer unconstitutional in Engel v. Vitale.

June 29 The Kennedys travel to Mexico for 48-hour state visit, meet with President Adolfo López Mateos.

12


One month after establishing a U.S. Special Forces camp to monitor the North Vietnamese Army in Khe Sanh, the urgency of the Cuban Missile Crisis required a U.S. naval blockade around Cuba. Kennedy disclosed the details in a televised address.

The youngest of the Kennedy siblings enters the political fray; in a special election, Ted Kennedy fi lls the Senate seat once held by his brother John.

James Meredith’s hard-fought legal battle against the state of Mississippi was a fl ash point of the civil rights movement.

July 9 Andy Warhol shows his Campbell’s Soup Cans in his ¡ rst one-man exhibition as pop artist.

July 5 Algeria gains independence from France.

July 23 Jackie Robinson becomes first African American inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame.

July 24 Revising previous policy, President Kennedy issues Memorandum on Equal Opportunity for Women in the Federal Service.

September 11 Soviets threaten nuclear war if United States attacks ships carrying aid to Cuba.

September 23 ABC debuts its ¡ rst color TV series, The Jetsons.

September 27 Environmentalist Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring is published, raising awareness of harmful effects of synthetic pesticides.

September 29 JFK authorizes federal troops to integrate University of Mississippi. U.S. Marshals escort an African American Student the next day, setting off riot that kills two.

October 16 President is briefed on U-2 spy plane photos showingSoviet-made nuclear-capable ballistic missiles stationed in Cuba — 90 miles from American coastline. Cuban Missile Crisis begins.

October 28 After 13 tense days of brie¡ ngs and debates over course of action, followed by U.S. naval quarantine, one military casualty, and series of strained negotiations, Soviets agree to proposed solution, and Cuban Missile Crisis ends.

November 1 By executive order, president prohibits federal agencies from denying housing or funding for housing to anyone based on race, religion, or national origin.

November 6 Edward M. Kennedy elected U.S. senator from Massachusetts.

November 20 Soviet Union agrees to remove IL-28 jet bombers from Cuba; United States lifts blockade.

December 29 Bay of Pigs POWs released.

December 31 North Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh, promises to wage guerrilla war for 10 years if necessary.

13


Elizabeth Taylor’s record-breaking salary was starkly juxtaposed to women’s average pay of 59 cents to a man’s dollar.

January 8 As facilitated by Jacqueline Kennedy, the Mona Lisa travels to United States for three-week exhibition at National Gallery in Washington, DC.

January 11 JFK declares voting rights and medical care for elderly among top domestic legislative priorities for the year.

January 14 In State of the Union address, calls for $8 trillion tax cut, the biggest in U.S. history.

January 14 Democrat George Wallace is sworn in as Alabama governor, promising “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

January 30 Kennedy asks Congress for new $6 billion, fi ve-year education program. The funds would help states build schools and raise teacher pay.

January 30 Outlines new approach to mental illness using “new medical, scientific, and social tools and insight.” He will ask Congress to approve plans to stimulate state and private efforts.

February 21 Kennedy submits Medicare plan to Congress.

February 25 Beatles release first single in United States, “Please Please Me.”

March California Medical Association declares cigarettesmoking harmful.

March 18 Supreme Court orders states to provide free legal counsel to criminal defendants who can’t a¤ ord attorney.

April 25 Premier Khrushchev rebuffs Western effort to renew nuclear test ban negotiations. President Kennedy tells press that “time is running out” for such a treaty.

May 8 First James Bond ¡ lm, Dr. No, premieres in United States.

May 8 Kennedy offers assistance against aggression toward Israel.

June 9 Signs Equal Pay Act.

June 11 Proposes Civil Rights Act, after sending National Guard to University of Alabama; Governor Wallace promises to block admission to its first black students. Civil rights leader Medgar Evers assassinated in Mississippi the following morning.

June 11 President discusses pending legislation governing admission of immigrants to United States.

June 12 Cleopatra, four-hour epic starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, premieres in New York. Taylor is ¡ rst actress to earn $1 million for single ¡ lm.

Jacqueline Kennedy’s commitment to promoting appreciation for the arts hit a high note with the Mona Lisa exhibition, the fi rst time the painting had traveled outside Europe.

14


Possessing no talent for foreign languages, Kennedy decided to use his phonetic German notes only after he saw the size of the crowd assembled in West Berlin to hear him speak.

June 23 Kennedy begins tour through Western Europe, and delivers message of solidarity in West Berlin to crowd of 450,000: “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

July 2 Travels to Rome and Naples; meets with President Antonio Segni, makes stop in Vatican City for audience with Pope Paul VI.

July 29 France rejects nuclear test ban treaty.

August 2 JFK calls on citizens to encourage dropouts to return to classroom. He allocates $250,000 from Presidential Emergency Fund to pay guidance counselors.

August 7 Patrick Bouvier Kennedy is born by emergency C-section. He dies two days later due to complications from infant respiratory distress syndrome.

August 13 After revisions by Treasury officials and House Democrats, Kennedy administration submits to Congress greatly revised tax program; reducing taxes of upper-income taxpayers more than originally proposed, lower-income taxpayers less.

August 28 Martin Luther King Jr. delivers “I Have a Dream” speech at March on Washington.

August 30 Teletype “hotline” between Kremlin and Pentagonis established.

September 15 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, is bombed by members of Ku Klux Klan, killing 4 young girls and injuring 22 others.

September 20 President Kennedy proposes U.S.-Soviet voyage to moon. Premier Khrushchev is noncommittal.

September 26 Lee Harvey Oswald travels by bus to Mexico, visits Cuban consulate.

October 7 Kennedy signs nuclear test ban treaty.

October 25 Anti-Kennedy “Wanted for Treason” pamphlets are distributed in Dallas.

October 26 Speaking at Amherst College, Kennedy acknowledges role of artist in society, honoring work of Robert Frost, who died in January.

November 21 President and First Lady arrive in San Antonio for a two-day, five-city tour of Texas to unify Democratic Party leaders ahead of 1964 election.

November 22 On 10-mile route through downtown Dallas, motorcade drives through Dealey Plaza. At approximately12:30 p.m., President Kennedy is assassinated. At 2:38 p.m.Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson takes oath of office.

Although the March on Washington was an unprecedented success, Kennedy initially showed little enthusiasm for the idea.

Insiders urged JFK not to make the Dallas trip due to a hostile political climate there, but he felt the visit necessary to secure support for the ’64 election.

15


Smithsonian American Art Museum

The exhibition is presented by the Smithsonian American Art Museum

in cooperation with the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Generous support for the exhibition has been provided by the Governance

Institute and the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation. Additional support

has been provided by Stephen Kennedy Smith, Wiener Schiller Productions,

and Getty Images.

The presentation in Washington, DC is made possible by the Margery and

Edgar Masinter Exhibitions Fund and the Bernie Stadiem Endowment Fund.

JFK: A Vision For America, compilation © 2017 by Stephen Kennedy Smith. Text and photographs

© 2017 by their respective copyright holders. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. No part of the

timelines may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of

HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

Timelines excerpted from JFK: A Vision for America, edited by Stephen Kennedy Smith and

Douglas Brinkley, 2017, HarperCollins (original book pages. 32-33, 54-55, 96-97, 196-197, 258-259,

350-351). Used with permission.

Page number references for timelines are listed as follows: top row, left to right, followed by subsequent rows, left to right. 1906-1945; Pages 4-5 Getty Images:

4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 5A, 5B, 5D, 5E; Heritage Auctions: 4G; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: 4A, 4F, 4H, 4I, 5C, 5F, 5G, 5H. 1946-1959; Pages 6-7 Getty

Images: 6B, 6D, 6F, 7D; Heritage Auctions: 7B, 7C, 7E, 7G; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: 6A, 6C, 6E, 7A, 7F; Private Collection: 5H. 1960; Pages

8-9 Getty Images: 8E, 9A, 9H; William Everheart: 8D; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: 8A, 8B, 8C; Private Collection: 9B, 9D, 9E, 9F, 9G; Lawrence

Schiller: 9C. 1961; Pages 10-11 Getty Images: 11A, 11B, 11D, 11E, 11G; Heritage Auctions: 10E, 10F; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: 10B, 10D;

NASA: 10C; Private Collection: 10A, 11C, 11F. 1962; Pages 12-13 Everett Collection: 12E; Getty Images: 12F, 12H, 13A, 13D, 13G, 13H, 13I, 13J; Heritage Auctions:

12C, 12G, 13B, 13K; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: 12B, 13C, 13E, 13F; Private Collection: 12A, 12D. 1963; Pages 14-15 Getty Images: 14D, 14E,

14G, 14H, 15C; Heritage Auctions: 14C, 14F, 15B, 15D; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: 14A, 15F Private Collection: 14B, 15A, 15E. All images are

copyrighted by their respective owners, who reserve all rights. In case of any inadvertent errors or omissions in credit, please e-mail [email protected]


american visionary john f. kennedy’s life and times · summer 1926 joe sr. rents what will become...

Documents