This is part of our sin tennuce activities. Im executive director of the john f. Kennedy library foundation. On behalf of all of my colleagues at the library, we are thrilled all of you are here. You are in for a special, special treat tonight. Before i talk about the book, a few other quick things first. First, to thank our sponsors for tonight and for the forum series, the bank of america, the lowell institute, media sponsors, the boston globe, xfinity and ber. In addition to tonight, on your chair is a brochure of different activities. As you know, a week from today is the actual centennial birthday for john f. Kennedy. We have a variety of things. We hope you come back to some or all of these as your schedule permits. We also want to welcome those that are watching this streaming or those on cspan. We appreciate their participation as well. After the presentation tonight, our authors have kindly agreed to sign books. If you dont have them, theyre also available in our gift shop for
Kennedy Center Tomorrow to open the ireland 100 festival which centerpiece of our sentration abroad our 1916 narrow. Sent we felt it had to be in the ennedy center this living memorial to president kennedy. But there are reasons why i here tely wanted to be this evening and just let me first it are with you is our tremendous sense of and respect for senator edward kennedy. The s of course as we know lion of the senate but he was a u. S. Irish s of relationships, i think we all know that. There with the role to understand and explain and interests andrish to work for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. I was very proud to be there in arch of last year at the opening of the institute. T was such a moving moment and i loved seeing the recreation of the study. T has an irish flag and signpost and many other signs of his affection for ireland. Reason is that we are remendous supporters of and believers in the mission of the institute. In addition to the emphasis on the senate ther
Centinary. We felt it had to be in the Kennedy Center this living memorial to president kennedy. But there are reasons why i absolutely wanted to be here this evening and just let me quickly share with you first it a few of them. First, it is our tremendous sense of gratitude to and respect for senator edward kennedy. He was, of course, as we know, the lion of the senate but he was a lion in terms of u. S. Irish relationships, i think we all know that. He was there always to understand and explain and advocate the irish interests and to work for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. I was very proud to be there in march of last year at the opening of the institute. It was such a moving moment and i loved seeing the recreation of the study. It has an irish flag and signpost and many other signs of his affection for ireland. The second reason is that we are tremendous supporters of and believers in the mission of the institute. In addition to the emphasis on the senate there is t
Quality her entire life. She shares about their personal relationship during on q a. Final years aided u. S. Government cuban parents in sending their children to the u. S. To escape the rise of the castro regime. Next on American History tv, author and professor Anita Casavantes Bradford discusses the legacy of the mission known as operation pedro pan. She explains the differing interpretations of the childrens exodus to the u. S. From cuba and how the 2000 custody battle over Elian Gonzalez reignited debate over operation pedro pan. After her talk, several audience members who came to the u. S. As part of the operation took part in the discussion. Florida International University hosted this 45minute event. [applause] thank you so much. Before i begin, i would like to ask if there are any pedro panists in the room. A special thank you for coming. I want to acknowledge pedro pan is not strictly or even primarily a topic for academic analysis and that you are the experts in this histor
Is not strictly or even primarily a topic for academic analysis and that you are the experts in this history. It is with that recognition that i will share a few thoughts with you today, but i do so with humility and appreciation for the opportunity to be with you today. Between the fall of 1960 and october of 1962, the parents of more than 14,000 cuban children made the heartbreaking decision to send their children alone to the United States where they were cared for by friends, relatives, foster parents, as well as in camps and orphanages. The reasons why parents did this were varied. Many feared for the spiritual wellbeing of their catholic children after an increasingly radicalized cuban revolution began to oppress religious expression, close schools, expel priests and religious orders from the island. Others feared growing interventions into family life and panicked after rumors that castro intended to deprive parents of Legal Authority over their children began to circulate. They