JFK Library and Museum- Wicked Awesome!!

My favorite thing about this trip to Boston, aside from The Decemberist concert, was visiting the JFK Library and Museum. I can't express to you how amazing it was, I could have spent days in there looking at everything.

The museum moves along chronologically, so the first section showcases pieces that are pre-presidency; family photos of him as a young boy, report cards (he got a D in History as a kid!), college papers, and items related to his military service. There is also a 20 minute documentary of Kennedy's life leading up to the DNC wherein he is officially nominated as the Democratic candidate. The film was made especially for the museum and was put together really well, it was probably my favorite thing about the place.

As you move further along in the museum, you move into a corridor with a series of rooms that showcase some watershed moments in Kennedy's run for President. You can stop and watch his debate with Nixon or, if you move further along, watch his acceptance speech. There is also a room with the old red and blue state map that reflects the state by state returns for the election. I still can't believe that at one time Texas was Democratic and California, Washington and Oregon were Republican! Can that be right?!? Whoa JFK museum, you just blew my mind! My sister and I were both really impressed that along the corridor there were a series of newsstands from the national papers that took you through the chronology of events leading up to the victory. At the end of the hallway were all the headlines generated on inauguration day.

Next were a series of rooms showcasing items and events that occurred during JFK's presidency. They had a rooms devoted to political cartoons of the time, transcripts of his press conferences and one of his to do list (it was amazing how varied and substantive the things on the list were). There were also recreations of both JFK and Robert Kennedy's offices. My sister could not get over all of the gift that visiting dignitary's brought for the Kennedy family- a gold purse encrusted with emeralds and diamonds, or a six foot tall ivory tusk carved with the lineage of ancient African tribes. You know, small trinkets.

I really loved all the pieces dealing with Jackie O- the dresses, her travel journal, her famous white house tour. Did you know she attended the Sorbonne and worked as a photojournalist at the Washington Herald before she met John? She also loved drawing and poetry and would doodle little cartoons. Below is one she did making light of their life on the campaign trail. That's John washing his socks in the sink at their hotel room!



She also corresponded with Ludwig Bemelmans, the author of the Madeline books. Here is a postcard he sent to Carolyn:



There was also a piece of the Berlin wall, here a photo of my mom next to it:



For some reason this place had a lot of scaffolding:



I'm going to kind of glaze over the footage and news releases regarding the assassination because if I think about it too much I will get choked up. So instead, here are a few quotes that I loved:





If anyone watched Ted Kennedy's speech this year at the DNC, you might recognize the quote above. He ended this year's speech with the same words (after promising to continue battling against his brain tumor and to return to the senate floor to cast his vote for a universal health care plan- his lifelong work). Talk about getting choked up...

Anyway, what I can't really put into words is the feeling the museum evokes. I've always imagined that the Kennedy period in history was a time where hope and optimism reigned supreme and civil rights and human decency were paramount. You can't help get a sense of that by walking the halls of the library. I'm hoping that every time I put on my Youth For Kennedy t-shirt I can replicate some of that old Camelot magic.