John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
On the 19th of October 1963, President John F. Kennedy and architect John Carl Warnecke walked a plot of land next to the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. They stood where the Charles River flowed just feet away from dormitories like Winthrop House. This was the site Kennedy chose for his future library before he died in November that same year. He wanted the building close to scholarly resources unlike existing presidential libraries scattered across small towns. The complex would include both papers and a museum to create a complete record of his administration. A committee formed after his death advised his widow Jacqueline on how to proceed with construction.
I. M. Pei received unanimous selection as the library's architect on the 13th of December 1964 despite being relatively unknown among candidates. Mrs. Kennedy described her choice as an emotional decision based on his promise and imagination. She noted he approached each commission thinking only about it while developing something beautiful. Budget constraints forced him to use concrete instead of stone which he preferred for its nicer finish. The final structure cost $20.8 million and included a concrete tower standing tall alongside a circular section housing two theaters. Over thirty million people contributed to the construction costs while more than 225 workers labored to complete the project by late 1979.
Massachusetts governor John A. Volpe signed legislation allowing state purchase of land from the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority in January 1966. The original plan envisioned completion by 1970 but heavy machinery remained until that year when soil studies finally began. Construction costs had risen to over twenty million dollars by then leaving insufficient funds for sixty percent of original plans. Cambridge residents opposed the Harvard Square location citing traffic concerns and environmental impacts from over a million annual tourists. Stephen E. Smith decided the library should open without discord so plans moved to Columbia Point in February 1975. That site was once a garbage dump where Pei found old refrigerators emitting methane gas under the soil.
President Jimmy Carter dedicated the building on the 20th of October 1979 during a ceremony held outside on a green with yellow chrysanthemums. Caroline Kennedy introduced her brother John F. Kennedy Jr. who read lines from Stephen Spender's poem I Think Continually Of Those Who Were Truly Great. Carter spoke openly about weeping upon hearing Kennedy died something he had not done since his own father passed ten years prior. Critics generally liked the finished structure while architect I. M. Pei felt it lacked its original passion due to years of compromise. He considered this commission the most important in his life despite believing it could have been greater. The building now stands as part of the Presidential Library System administered by the National Archives and Records Administration.
Seven permanent exhibits fill the first floor including Campaign Trail featuring memorabilia from the 1960 Democratic National Convention. The Space Race exhibit displays Mercury-Redstone 3 Freedom 7 capsule which Alan B. Shepard flew into space in 1961 before moving to the Smithsonian in 2021. Visitors watch orientation films narrated by President Kennedy himself in one of two cinemas or view documentaries on the Cuban Missile Crisis elsewhere. Artworks include a 1962 portrait of Robert F. Kennedy by Lajos Markos plus watercolor sketches by Jamie Wyeth and Felix de Weldon sculptures. Kennedy's 25-foot Wianno Senior sailboat Victura sits on grounds from May through October having played an important role in sibling bonds after his death.
The oral-history project began recording interviews with Jacqueline Kennedy and Robert Kennedy in January 1964 when Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy announced its launch. Originally expected to feature about 150 participants the collection now contains over 1,100 interviews continuing to this day. It modeled itself after Columbia University Oral History Research Office programs that started in 1948 as the world's oldest such initiative. Audiovisual archives hold over four hundred thousand still photographs taken between 1863 and 1984 alongside film shot from 1910 to 1983. Eleven thousand reels of audio recordings span from 1910 to 1985 covering decades of American history and presidential activity.
A room dedicated to Ernest Hemingway opened the 18th of July 1980 following letters exchanged between Mary Hemingway and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The library holds ninety percent of existing manuscript materials including hand-written drafts of The Sun Also Rises plus alternate endings to A Farewell To Arms. Thousands of letters connect him to writers like Sherwood Anderson John Dos Passos William Faulkner and artists such as Marlene Dietrich. In 2013 a fire started in a mechanical room unrelated to the Boston Marathon bombing occurring simultaneously nearby. Two years later a window washer fell to his death inside the building's glass pavilion during routine maintenance work.
Common questions
When did President John F. Kennedy choose the site for his library?
President John F. Kennedy chose the site on the 19th of October 1963 while walking a plot of land next to the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Who designed the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston?
I. M. Pei received unanimous selection as the library's architect on the 13th of December 1964 despite being relatively unknown among candidates at that time.
Where is the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum located today?
The complex moved to Columbia Point in February 1975 after Cambridge residents opposed the original Harvard Square location due to traffic concerns.
When was the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum dedicated?
President Jimmy Carter dedicated the building on the 20th of October 1979 during a ceremony held outside on a green with yellow chrysanthemums.
How many interviews are included in the oral-history project at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum?
The collection now contains over 1,100 interviews continuing to this day although it originally expected to feature about 150 participants when it began recording in January 1964.