Our conference hosted an evening reception at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. We loaded up on busses at the hotel and were raced across the city of Boston by police escort through rush hour traffic. If you live in Boston I am sure you were not happy to see us. From our vantage, it was pretty cool.
The library and museum is stunningly beautiful in design and situated right on the water for a great view. Our evening was a walk through the exhibits, drinks in the large windowed area, then on to an upper lounge for the private party.
I was very disappointed in the exhibits. Most Presidential Libraries provide a history of the President’s life, a sense of how he developed as a man, the challenges he faced. Perhaps it was due to the nature of the evening, but we were dropped right into the election. More than half of what we toured was about winning the office, the advent of televised debate, and the electoral process. The remainder of the tour included select gifts the Kennedy’s received, a closet sized room about the space program, and the fashions of the first lady.
At the end of this walk is a stark black room designed to give you a sense of sadness. It includes television screens recounting the assassination of the JFK. Following this is a turn in the corridor with 20 yards of exhibit encouraging you to donate to the JFK foundation with a slice of the Berlin wall at the end.
The food at this event was amazing! The place is beautiful. But for having grown up hearing so many wonderful things about JFK, I did not learn anything new. It was disappointing.
I genuinely want to like JFK. I would have enjoyed learning about how he grew up, the family, PT-109, his time in the House of Representatives, and details about his roughly 34 months in office.
One of the largest challenges I see in our observation of those who serve in this office is the constant re-interpretation of history. Depending on what is happening in the news that week people will justify a current presidents actions/inactions by one of his predecessor’s decisions. Some weeks I will hear that Lincoln did not support slavery, other weeks some will say that certain inactions meant he was for slavery.
