In 1963, Civil Rights protests became increasingly confrontational as Birmingham, Alabama's police commissioner, Eugene "Bull" Connor, crushed a nonviolent protest with extreme force. In June 1963, Alabama Gov. George Wallace refused to allow two black students to enter the University of Alabama forcing President Kennedy to use the National Guard to ensure the safety of the students. On June 11, President Kennedy made the decision to give a televised evening speech announcing his civil rights bill proposal. Although Kennedy delivered part of the talk extemporaneously, it was one of his best speeches--a heartfelt appeal in behalf of a moral cause that included several memorable lines calling upon the country to honor its finest traditions.
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In 1961, East German authorities began construction of a 12 foot high wall which would eventually stretch for 100 miles around the perimeter of West Berlin, preventing anyone from crossing to the West and to freedom. Nearly 200 persons would be killed trying to pass over or dig under the wall. President Kennedy arrived in Berlin on June 26, 1963, following appearances in Bonn, Cologne and Frankfurt, where he had given speeches to huge, wildly cheering crowds. In Berlin, an immense crowd of 120,000 Berliners gathered in the Rudolph Wilde Platz near the Berlin Wall to listen to hear President Kennedy speak. They began gathering in the square long before he was due to arrive, and when President Kennedy finally appeared on the podium after having made a visit to Checkpoint Charlie at the Berlin Wall, they gave him an ovation of several minutes.
In June 1963, President John F. Kennedy, America’s first Irish-Catholic president, journeyed to his ancestral homeland of Ireland, a homecoming he later described as “one of the most moving experiences” of his life. The President’s eight great-grandparents all migrated to Boston, Massachusetts during the devastating Potato Famine of the late 1840’s, seeking to take advantage of the economic opportunity offered in America. On June 28, the President was invited to address a joint session of the Seanad and the Dail in Leinster House. His Dáil speech was full of references to Irishmen who fought in the American War of Independence and he championed the important place for small nations in the pursuit of world peace. Kennedy’s speech to the combined houses of parliament was the first ceremony in the Dail’s legislative chamber ever seen on national television.
Following the peaceful resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev sought to reduce tensions between their two nations. Both leaders realized they had come dangerously close to nuclear war. In a series of private letters, Khrushchev and Kennedy reopened a dialogue on banning nuclear testing. Kennedy selected Averill Harriman, an experienced diplomat known and respected by Khrushchev, to resume negotiations in Moscow. On July 25, 1963, after only 12 days of negotiations, the two nations agreed to ban testing in the atmosphere, in space, and underwater. The following day, in a television address announcing the agreement, Kennedy claimed that a limited test ban “is safer by far for the United States than an unlimited nuclear arms race.”
At the end of October 1963, President Kennedy flew to Amherst College in Massachusetts to take part in a ceremony in honor of the poet Robert Frost who had died in January of that year. In deciding what he might say, the President decided upon Frost’s inaugural theme of poetry and power and the significance of Robert Frost and of poetry for the United States and for the world. In the thousand days of his administration, President and Mrs. Kennedy had sparked a revival of national interest in matters cultural and intellectual. In this speech delivered on October 26, 1963 before an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, President Kennedy made clear the need for a nation to represent itself not only through its strength but also through its art.
President Kennedy was determined to improve relations with Latin America through peaceful economic cooperation and development—which would also inhibit the rise of communist-leaning insurgents such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Kennedy proposed, through the Agency for International Development and the Alliance for Progress, both launched in 1961, to loan more than $20 billion to Latin American nations that would promote democracy and undertake meaningful social reforms, especially in making land ownership possible for greater numbers of their people.
President Kennedy recognized, in the ever-present context of Cold War politics, that Africa was on the cusp of a historic revolution; if the U.S. continued to side with the colonialists there was no doubt which side would be chosen by the Soviet Union. Kennedy was particularly careful about selecting skilled and open-minded ambassadors to the newly emerging independent African states and made a special effort to personally meet with them during their periodic consultations at the State Department.
The records of the Kennedy administration, including 248 hours of meeting tapes and 12 hours of telephone dictabelts, were moved to the National Archives in Washington and later transferred to the Federal Records Center in Waltham, Massachusetts. Finally, in 1976, the tapes were legally deeded to the Kennedy Library and the National Archives. Many of the tapes, most significantly more than 20 hours of recordings from the ExComm (the Executive Committee of the National Security Council) meetings during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, were gradually declassified over the next two decades.
Naomi Shihab Nye reflects on the concept of "borders" during an authors' panel at Crossing Borders through Literature, Poetry and Personal Stories. About the author: Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself
Linda Sue Park reflects on the concept of "borders" during an authors' panel at Crossing Borders through Literature, Poetry and Personal Stories. About the author: Linda Sue Park became a published
In the spring of 1963, South Vietnamese forces suppressed Buddhist religious leaders and followers, which led to an ensuing political crisis for the Diem government and became known as the “Buddhist crisis.” President Ngo Dinh Diem was passive in his response to the crisis and later promised reforms. His brother and closest advisor, Ngo Dinh Nhu, was thought by many to be the actual decision maker of the Saigon government and the person behind the Buddhist suppression.
James Rumford reflects on the concept of "borders" during an authors' panel at Crossing Borders through Literature, Poetry and Personal Stories. About the author: James Rumford combines his life-long
John F. Kennedy with fellow members of the Muckers Club at the Choate School. Left to right: Ralph Horton, Lem Billings, Butch Schriber, and John f. Kennedy. (c. 1934) Date: c. 1934
Although he had not formally announced his candidacy, it was clear that JFK was going to run and he seemed confident—though not over-confident— about his chances for re-election. At the end of September, the President traveled west speaking in nine different states in less than a week. While the trip was meant to put a spotlight on natural resources and conservation efforts, JFK also used it to sound out themes -- such as education, national security, and world peace -- for his run in 1964. In particular, he cited the achievement of a limited nuclear test ban, which the Senate had just approved and which was a potential issue in the upcoming election. The public’s enthusiastic response was encouraging.
When John F. Kennedy became president in 1961, African Americans faced significant discrimination in the United States. Throughout much of the South they were denied the right to vote, barred from public facilities, subjected to violence including lynching, and could not expect justice from the courts. In the North, Black Americans also faced discrimination in housing, employment, education, and many other areas.
During World War II, despite mutual suspicion and distrust, the United States and Great Britain joined the Soviet Union in an effort to defeat their common enemy, Nazi Germany. The alliance began to crumble immediately after the surrender of the Hitler government in May 1945. Tensions were apparent during the Potsdam Conference in July, where the victorious Allies created the joint occupation of Germany. Determined to have a buffer zone between its borders and Western Europe, the Soviet Union set up pro-communist regimes in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Albania and eventually in East Germany. Recognizing that it would not be possible to force the Soviets out of Eastern Europe, the United States developed the policy of containment to prevent the spread of Soviet and communist influence and power in Western European nations such as France, Italy and Greece.
During the period between the election and his inauguration, JFK was briefed on a CIA plan developed within the Eisenhower administration to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of their homeland. The United States was distrustful of Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba, and wary of his relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet premier. The plan anticipated that support from the Cuban people and perhaps even from elements of the Cuban military would lead to the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government friendly to the United States.
John F. Kennedy was elected president in one of the closest elections in United States history. Kennedy's popular vote margin over Nixon was 118,550 out of a total of nearly 69 million votes cast. His success in many urban and industrial states gave him a clear majority of 303 to 219 in the electoral vote. Kennedy was the youngest elected president, the only Catholic and the first born in the twentieth century.
About the Puzzle For President Kennedy's 46th birthday, Jacqueline Kennedy and White House staff surprised him with a small party in the Mansion’s Navy Mess Hall. Have a go at the puzzle below
About the Puzzle “From my first race on Nantucket Sound many years ago to my most recent outing as a weekend sailor, sailing has given me some of the most pleasant and exciting moments of my life.” –
Solve the puzzle of a young JFK with his friends in the Muckers Club.
On April 9, 1959, during President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration, seven men were selected to become Project Mercury astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Leroy Gordon Cooper, John Glenn Jr., Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr., and Donald “Deke” Slayton. The goals of the Project Mercury program were specific: to orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth; to investigate man's ability to function in space; and to recover astronaut and spacecraft safely.
Letter dated January 24, 1961 from Roy Wilkins to President Kennedy after attending his inauguration. Date: January 24, 1961 Creator: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
The following information about Jacqueline Kennedy is listed alphabetically by topic. For more information please contact Kennedy.Library@nara.gov. Have a research question? Ask an Archivist. Birth