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Senator Kennedy campaigning in Dallas, Texas 1960. 

Happy Valentine’s Day ❤️❤️

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Senator Kennedy campaigning in Dallas, Texas 1960. 

Now a noble heart is breaking. Good night, sweet prince. May hosts of angels sing you to sleep.

                                 John Fitzgerald Kennedy

                                            1917~1963

“It lasted but an instant. The momentum of the pageant had caught them up again, and even as she firmly put John to her left, in front of the Attorney General, the band struck up “Hail to the Chief.” This was the last time it would be played for President Kennedy. Soldiers snapped from parade rest to present arms. Officers, policemen, and the lead rider of the matched grays saluted. The clergy folded hands; laymen straightened. Jacqueline Kennedy, remembering how the boy had loved to play soldiers with his father, leaned over and took the booklet from him. She said, “John, you can salute Daddy now and say good-bye to him.” The small right hand rose stiffly. Behind him Robert Kennedy’s face crinkled in pain, and Bishop Hannan, glancing across the street, saw the spectators there crumple as though struck. Of all Monday’s images, nothing approached the force of John’s salute. Mrs. Kennedy, standing erect, missed it, and when she was shown the photographs afterward she was astounded. She had expected an unimpressive gesture; in the past his saluting had been both comic and, in her words, “sort of droopy.” But not now. Somehow the mood and meaning of the day had reached the President’s son. His elbow was cocked at precisely the right angle, his hand was touching his shock of hair, his left arm was rigidly at his side, his shoulders were squared and his chin in. His bearing was militant, and to see it in a three-year-old, with his bare legs stiff below his short coat, his knees dimpled and his blunt red shoes side by side—to hear the slow swell of the music, and recall how the President had idolized him—was almost insupportable. Cardinal Cushing looked down on the small face. He saw the shadow of sadness crossing it and felt a burning sensation in his chest. Eight months later he could scarcely speak of it. “Oh, God,” he whispered hoarsely, “I almost died.” -Excerpt From: Manchester, William. “The Death of a President"

“For millions this was the breaking point. Even the tone-deaf knew there was something different about the Navy’s rendition. The Presidential march is usually a jaunty tune, played 120 beats to the minute. Now the country heard it as a dirge adagio, 86 beats to the minute, slower than a man’s heartbeat. Each soaring strain was drawn out tragically.“ -Excerpt From: Manchester, William. “The Death of a President.”

"As the notes ring out, Jackie Kennedy’s heretofore incredible public poise crumbles, her head bows beneath the mantilla of black lace, she sobs openly. It is a scene that brings a nation to its knees.” -Excerpt from: Bugliosi, Vincent. “Reclaiming History.”

President Kennedy’s body leaves the White House for the final time on it’s way to lie in state at the Capitol Building. November 24, 1963.

Reporter Sid Davis stayed at the White House and on the air all night, and at about 4 a.m., saw the flashing lights of the motorcade bearing Kennedy’s body enter the White House grounds. “I could see Mrs. Kennedy sitting in the back with the casket. It was one of the saddest things I’d ever seen.” Before breaking down in tears Davis gave his last report of the night.

“There is very little more we can say, in a matter of speaking perhaps, John F. Kennedy has come home. Um, he liked to quote from Robert Frost many times on the campaign. One of the President’s favorite quotations, and I believe it went something like this, "I have promises to keep and many miles to go before I sleep.”

Hear the emotional tribute here.

The President and First Lady arriving at Love Field in Dallas, November 22, 1963.

Never Forget: 13 Photos from September 11, 2001

Today, we remember the events of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, when radical Islamist terrorists hijacked four planes and flew them into buildings, killing nearly 3,000 people, both civilians and government officials.  We also remember the bravery of Flight 93, whose passengers overwhelmed the terrorists and downed the plane in a field near Shanksville, PA before it could reach Washington DC.

An Issue Close to the Heart

The state of the mentally handicapped community in 1960 was pretty dismal. Patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar syndrome, and even autism were commonly misdiagnosed and checked into institutions around the country. Most of these patients never left those institutions. Their conditions were considered a burden to families financially and sadly, socially. The few who did not put their loved ones into these institutions were usually isolated from society. Their strife was made worse because these conditions that their loved ones suffered from were sometimes misdiagnosed or worse written off as “crazy.” So for the many who could handle these burdens alone they were left with no option but to banish a loved one to an institution. At the time, these institutions were often poorly managed, underfinanced, and many times abusive. Today a lot of people suffering from similar conditions are being treated successfully and lead fairly normal lives. The start of this change was during the election of 1960. 

As Senator Kennedy hit the campaign trail in 1960, his stump speeches were filled with the usual political commentary of the time. The economy and the Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and Cuba dominated his campaign rhetoric. Kennedy began bringing up the issue of the citizens of the U.S. who were suffering from mental handicaps and mental illness. He mainly focused on mentally handicapped children and their families. In these speeches he urged people that the U.S. had to start taking care of these children “living in the shadows.” He went on to say that with proper education and treatment programs these children could be saved. He claimed that a nation as affluent as the U.S. couldn’t possibly justify the neglect of the mentally ill and mentally handicapped. While people were shocked to hear a presidential candidate discussing these matters, his words garnered applause and cheers. 

Not long after taking office, President Kennedy announced in a press conference on October 1961, the creation of a panel of doctors and “outstanding” scientists. This panel would study and develop plans to solve and treat the problems of the mentally ill and handicapped. He was appalled by the findings of the panel. For instance, the U.S. had little to no research on human development, nutrition, childhood disease, and birth defects. The panel’s studies also revealed that little was known on premature birth and obstetrical difficulties. This was a matter that would directly affect the President in the near future.*  The president set to work on a solution, backed by his sister Eunice Shriver who would later become a worldwide known advocate for the mentally handicapped.** 

On Valentine’s Day in 1962, President Kennedy signed Executive Order no. 10994. This order created a committee whose sole purpose was to “facilitate the development of maximum employment opportunities for the physically and mentally handicapped.” This opened more doors for the mentally and physically handicapped to enter the workforce without prejudice. By the end of 1962, the President’s panel on mental handicapped was done with the task set before them. The President used the data from the panel as a plan to set before Congress. 

On February 5, 1963 President stood before Congress to deliver a special message. He presented the panel’s recommendations for comprehensive improvements in the mental handicapped community. He presented plans to do away with the institutions of the past and construct more community friendly facilities. These facilities were to provide more research, treatments, and solutions for the mentally handicapped and their families. He was adamant that training, special education, and rehabilitation were the key pieces of the plan. On October 24, 1963, Kennedy signed the Maternal and Child Health and Mental Handicapped Planning Amendment to the Social Security Act. This provided grants to enable states to update their mental handicapped programs. It also provided more money for prevention through maternity and infant care. Funding was also provided for the building of new facilities that provided prevention, care, and treatment of the mentally handicapped. Teachers were now to be trained how to properly care for those who were mentally handicapped. This legislation brought forth and signed by President Kennedy was the first major bill directed solely for people with mental handicaps. 

Little was known at the time of Rosemary Kennedy, the younger sister of the President. Her absence was quietly and vaguely explained away during the campaigns. She was living in Wisconsin on the grounds of the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children. She was described by the Kennedy family after the 1960 campaign as being mentally handicapped. Her life was probably the first of the many Kennedy tragedies. It was later revealed that Rosemary may have been a misdiagnosed depressive. At the time with her slowness in academics and later her outbursts, she was considered mentally retarded. This led to the lobotomy she would undergo in 1941. The procedure, ordered by her father, left her fairly incapacitated. She would now be dependent on 24 hour care by professionals. She passed away in 2005.

While President Kennedy never spoke about his sister to the press, his actions spoke volumes. He put his presidential pen to paper to help change the stigma of the mental handicapped. By making it an issue that involved legislation he brought it out into the spotlight. His goal was to change the public’s view of this issue, and in his short time in office he did just that. 

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*Kennedy’s own son Patrick died shortly after being born prematurely in August of 1963. 

**Eunice Shriver would go on to create the Special Olympics in 1968. 

“After Jack died, it was the first time we’d told Jackie about Jack’s breakdown at Patrick’s funeral, about how he didn’t want to leave Patrick alone because Brookline was so far, it was too far from them. Jackie just nodded as she listened to Dave and I speak, and then said, ‘I’ll bring them together now. I’ll bring Patrick and Arabella to their father.’ I believe in my heart that it brought her some sort of comfort, knowing that she could bring comfort to Jack whether he was there or not.”

—Kenny O’Donnell

The graves of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, flanked by the graves of Patrick and Arabella Kennedy, at Arlington National Cemetery.