Commemoration, Memorialization, and Legacy: An Exploration of the Public and Private Memory of John F. Kennedy and His Presidency

Essential Question

How do we remember leaders?

Objective

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to answer the following questions:
In your opinion, would President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) agree or approve of the way he has been remembered, memorialized, or commemorated?
What do you think is the best way to remember, memorialize, or commemorate him? Why?

Background

While John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site was created by an act of Congress, the design, furnishing, and early interpretation of the site was done largely by President Kennedy’s mother, Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy. This lesson will allow students to explore the theme of commemoration, memorialization, and legacy through reading of primary and secondary sources. They will engage in a consideration of how historical memory is shaped and how we commemorate people and places. The lesson will also allow students to make connections about their own thoughts and feelings regarding history and how it is commemorated.

Procedure

After completing the opener and discussing it, students will be divided into groups. Each group will be assigned a different reading/primary source to examine and answer questions. They will then present their findings to the class. Each student will record their findings during the presentations. They will discuss the ways that John F. Kennedy has been memorialized or commemorated. As a class, they will watch the site film "The Shaping of a President, The First Home of John F. Kennedy". They should record what they think is most significant about JFK and why. The class will then hold a general discussion about the legacy of John F. Kennedy. Lastly, they will use the new information they have learned to connect back to the first quote they analyzed.

The following question can be used as an exit ticket or closer: In your opinion, would JFK agree or approve of the way he has been remembered, memorialized, or commemorated? What do you think is the best way to remember, memorialize, or commemorate him? Why?

Grade Level

High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade

Standards

Common Core English Language Arts Standards/ History/ Social Studies Grades 9-10

Key Ideas and Details:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.

Craft and Structure:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.5 Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.7 Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.8 Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claims.

Massachusetts Social Studies Curriculum Frameworks

USI.T6 Rebuilding the US: Industry and Immigration
USHII.T2 Modernity in the US: Ideologies and Economics
USHII.T4 Defending Democracy: The Cold War and Civil Rights at Home

National Council for Social Studies
National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies

1. Culture

2. Time, Continuity, and Change

3. People, Places, and Environments

4. Individual Development and Identity

5. Individuals, Groups, and Institutions

6. Power, Authority, and Governance

7. Production, Distribution, and Consumption

8. Science, Technology, and Society

President John F. Kennedy and President of Yale University, Dr. Alfred Whitney Griswold walk to the commencement exercises at Yale University. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. June 11, 1962

Cecil Stoughton (Harold Sellers). White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston

Opener

“As every past generation has had to disenthrall itself from an inheritance of truisms and stereotypes, so in our own time we must move on from the reassuring repetition of stale phrases to a new, difficult, but essential confrontation with reality.

For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
- John F. Kennedy, Commencement Address, Yale University, June 11, 1962

According to President Kennedy what are lies? What are myths? Why do we “hold fast” to myths? Why might myths be problematic? How do ideas in the second paragraph connect with the first? Why does each generation have to question the “truisms and stereotypes” of the past and have an “essential confrontation with reality?” How does all of this connect with learning and understanding of history?

The entire text of the speech and an audio recording can be found here.

Source 1 - President Lyndon B. Johnson

Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill Establishing the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site. Lyndon B. Johnson. May 27, 1967

Some buildings become landmarks because their architecture is imposing; others, because they are meant by a nation or a people to be monuments and symbols.
Still others are set apart through no quality of their own. They become famous because they evoke the name and the memory of great men—or one great man.
So it is with the two-story frame house at 83 Beals Street, Brookline, Massachusetts.
On May 29, 1917, John F. Kennedy was born in that house.
Today we establish it as a national historic site.
President Kennedy's family bought that house not long ago and presented it to the people of the United States. Through the generosity of his family, it will be restored in a style reflecting his boyhood years there, 1917-1920.
I am happy to sign this bill today. For years to come, for great numbers of visitors it will make more rich, more vivid, and more meaningful the memory of a great American.

Additional Resources: That same day, President Johnson gave a speech at the dedication of the Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. John F. Kennedy. Watch a short clip of his speech (video begins at 23:29). The full text of his speech can be found here.

1. According to President Johnson, why do buildings become “landmarks?”

2. What is important about the “two-story frame house at 83 Beals Street?”

3. According to this document, how did the house mentioned above become a National Historic Site? Why is that important?

Source 2 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy

Read "A Wife's Experiences" from the "Commemorating Camelot: Three Women Who Shaped JFK’s Legacy" Site Bulletin.

An excerpt from For President Kennedy: An Epilogue, Theodore White's December 1963 interview with Jackie Kennedy

“When Jack quoted something, it was usually classical,” she said, “but I’m so ashamed of myself—all I keep thinking of is this line from a musical comedy.

“At night, before we’d go to sleep, Jack liked to play some records; and the song he loved most came at the very end of this record. The lines he loved to hear were: Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.”

She wanted to make sure that the point came clear and went on: “There’ll be great Presidents again—and the Johnsons are wonderful, they’ve been wonderful to me—but there’ll never be another Camelot again.

“Once, the more I read of history the more bitter I got. For a while I thought history was something that bitter old men wrote. But then I realized history made Jack what he was. You must think of him as this little boy, sick so much of the time, reading in bed, reading history, reading the Knights of the Round Table, reading Marlborough. For Jack history was full of heroes. And if it made him this way—if it made him see the heroes—maybe other little boys will see. Men are such a combination of good and bad. Jack had this hero idea of history, the idealistic view.

”But she came back to the idea that transfixed her: “Don’t Let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot—and it will never be that way again.”

The full article, as well as Theodore White’s notes about the interview, can be found at the John F. Kennedy Library.

Additional reading if time allows: Jackie Kennedy’s Post-Assassination Interview With LIFE

1. What was “Camelot” and how did it become associated with John F. Kennedy’s presidential administration?
2. The interview was conducted less than a month after the President’s assassination. What impact do you think this timing had on Jackie Kennedy’s responses?

Source 3 – Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

Read “A Mother’s Memories” from the "Commemorating Camelot: Three Women Who Shaped JFK’s Legacy" Site Bulletin.

• Mrs. Kennedy Audio Tour: Living Room

  
  

  Mrs. Kennedy's audio created for the living room at John Fitzgerald Kennedy NHS.

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

  Audio Transcript

  Welcome to our home. Mr. Kennedy and I bought and moved into this house when we were married in 1914. Our eldest son was born at Hull, Massachusetts, a summer resort, but our next three children, including the president, were born here, and this house holds many happy memories. Life was so much simpler then. Here we had space and air, for there were no houses across the street or to the right of this one. At first there were few automobiles and the trolley lines were a fifteen minute walk away. I shall try to point out to you some of the things as we go through the house that were important in our lives. Since the living room in the days before radio and television was the place for the family to be together, we shall start here. We spent a lot of time in this room in the evening. Mr. Kennedy was president of a bank and this was his one opportunity to read the newspaper or his favorite detective stories. He would sit in that red chair by the gate-leg table. We all read The Boston Transcript in the evenings in those days. Papers only cost a penny. Usually I would sit in the wing chair there by the table opposite him. I cant see that chair without remembering the holes in the childrens stockings. They wore knickers then and the boys knee stockings always had holes in them. They had to be darned once or twice a week When the children were ready for bed and had said their prayers they would come to the living room and play for a little while before we put them to bed. Usually after the children were tucked in, Mr. Kennedy and I would take a long walk. It was an hour we both enjoyed. I spent a good deal of the time reading to the children from books carefully selected from a list submitted by the school twice a year or from the Womens Industrial Union. I remember that I would make no engagements outside in the evening so that I could be with the children to help them with their school work, to doctor their colds, or to find out what activities they had been interested in during the day. The piano was a wedding gift and at Christmas, with the tree over there by the south window, I would play and we would all sing Christmas carols. The children did not do too well with their piano lessons. Radio was a new thing then and they said that people wouldnt want to listen to them play when they could hear the same songs on the radio. The pictures are copies of famous paintings I had studied in the European galleries. It gave me great pleasure to have these copies in my home and I thought it an inspiration for the children to grow up with them. Now shall we go upstairs to the master bedroom? On the way you may want to take notice of the old-fashioned telephone in the hall.

Additional Resources: Mrs. Kennedy's Full Audio Tour

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1. How did Rose Kennedy’s memories shape the re-creation of President Kennedy’s birthplace?
2. What items were in the Kennedy household that Rose Kennedy hoped would influence her children? Why were mealtimes so important to this family?
3. Which book did Mrs. Kennedy highlight as being particularly influential in the life of a young John F. Kennedy? Why do you think she chose to highlight this book?

Source 4 – Caroline Kennedy

Read “A Daughter’s Ideals” from the "Commemorating Camelot: Three Women Who Shaped JFK’s Legacy" Site Bulletin.

1. Who was Caroline Kennedy? How has she helped to commemorate her father’s life and legacy? Watch this video on the Profile in Courage Award and take notes on the content.

2. In your opinion, who are some of the most notable people who have been honored by this award?

3. How does the creation of the Profiles in Courage Award connect with the way that we remember President Kennedy?

4. Who are some people in your community or state that would be worthy of this award? Why?

Source 5 – Kennedy Half Dollar

Read Minting a Legacy: The History of the Kennedy Half Dollar Site Bulletin

1. Why do you think conversations about creating a John F. Kennedy coin started so soon after his assassination?

2. Why do you think a coin was created with John F. Kennedy’s face on it?
3. Who do you think should be on a bill or coin? Why?
4. Create a design for your bill or coin. Feel free to use elements of existing coins/bills or create your own symbols, signs, and language. Explain why you selected each of these elements.

Source 6 – Creating the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site

Read “A House of a Different Color” Site Bulletin.

1. What were some of the challenges that Rose Kennedy faced as she re-created President Kennedy’s birthplace?

2. What kind of studies did the National Park Service conduct in the 1970s? What did they discover?

3. What did the National Park Service do in 2012? Why? What do you think about this decision? Why?

4. What does this decision tell you about history and memory?

Conclusion

Duration:

12 minutes, 39 seconds

The site film, "The Shaping of a President, The First Home of John F. Kennedy," was made in 2017, the centennial year of President Kennedy's birth. The film explains the historical significance of the site and provides an understanding of the formative influences that shaped the boy who became president. Click the picture to play the video.

1. In your opinion, would JFK agree or approve of the way he has been remembered, memorialized, or commemorated?

2. What do you think is the best way to remember, memorialize, or commemorate him? Why?