BOSTON - The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum today announced the opening of a special new display capturing the Kennedy family’s summers on Cape Cod. "Presidential Getaway: JFK on Cape Cod" features several never-before-displayed artifacts, including the recently restored golf cart that President Kennedy used on Cape Cod for joyrides with his children and that was famously featured on the cover of Look magazine in January 1962.
“With this exhibit we wanted to offer something light-hearted and summery for our visitors-and also to see a side of JFK that they don't get to see in other parts of our museum, said Stacey Bredhoff, museum curator. “Being at the Cape, spending time with his family was an important part of who he was. Watching him behind the wheel of that golf cart--careening up and down that hill with all the kids on board--you can see the sense of fun that he had!”
Throughout his Presidency, Hyannis Port, MA was the emotional center of President Kennedy’s family life. During the summers, he would escape the pressures of the office for weekend getaways. Those weekends were taken up with swimming, sunning, sailing, golf, and most importantly, family time.
In addition to the golf cart, which is the centerpiece of the display, other items include John Jr.’s toy sailboat, a state gift from the President of Italy which JFK and his children played with on Nantucket Sound; one of the President’s golf clubs with a box of his personalized golf balls; hand-carved wooden birds indigenous to the Cape that were gifts to JFK from Jacqueline Kennedy; and iconic photographs.
Complementing the display is archival footage of the Kennedy family at Hyannis Port, filmed by White House photographer Cecil Stoughton, showing lunchtime cruises on the Presidential yacht, JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy swimming, sailing, relaxing, and playing with their children.
The display will remain open through October 31, 2014.
Press contact: Rachel Flor (617) 514-1662
rachel.flor@jfklfoundation.org
www.jfklibrary.org
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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.
Located on Columbia Point in Dorchester, 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. 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 or access www.jfklibrary.org on the Internet.
General admission to the Museum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is $14.00. Admission for seniors over the age of 62 and college students with appropriate identification is $12.00, and for children ages 13-17, $10.00. Children ages 12 and under are admitted for free.