and, hopefully, you. we focus on telling the stories of the american experience, from full cart, photography, painting, sculpture, craft, and media arts. our exhibition can be viewed on the second floor in the graphic arts gallery and it is a premier event among many organized by the kennedy presidential library. i am the director of the smithsonian art museum and we call ourselves sam for short. you are in for a special treat this evening. we have assembled a group of historians and scholars to talk about the kennedy administration and the legacy. many of you remember the kennedy administration and the arc of history. we have members of congress and i want to recognize them and their staff for doing the people's business. please join me in recognizing congressman jim banks, david cicilline, and steny hoyer. [applause] we have asked representative hoyer, the house minority whip, to introduce our moderator this evening. he is the head of the foundation. i want to note that this is being live-streamed and recorded by c-span. please turn off your digital devices so that we can enjoy the program. thank you for being here tonight with us. [applause] >> thank you for the work that you do. stephen i was told to introduce , you. they did not say "graciously." [laughter] i will try. david cicilline is a great leader in the united states and represents rhode island as a former mayor of providence. thank you for all that you do. let the word go forth, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of an scum of foreign in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by piece, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the undoing of human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed to today, at home and around the world. i am a part of the inspired generation who listened to those words and whose life was changed. we are here to celebrate the life and legacy of the man who showed political courage by writing about it and living it. the life of our 35th resident reappropriated -- he was a gift outright. he gave of himself at every turn. from his bravery in the south pacific to his steadfastness during the cuban missile crisis. for those of us who remember him, it was a time of promise, renewal, progress. for those of us who do not, and his legacy has shaped our national understanding of what public service means. in my office at the capital, kennedy and it is a miniature of the bust that is in the kennedy center that was given to me by my mother in 1973 and i was a member of the maryland state senate and she gave it to me. -- she gave it to me for my birthday, because she knew what an impact kennedy made on my life. it was a reminder of the values thewhich he stood and courage with which he stood for them. john kennedy came to the campus of the university of maryland in and he spoke, as i'm sure he 1959, spoke to hundreds of thousands of young people in this audience, about what we could do to make a difference and what we ought to do to make a difference. in short, ask not what our country could do for us, but what we could do for our country. when president kennedy went to amherst college to eulogize robert frost, he observed that a nation reveals itself by the men it produces and by the men it honors. i am sure that we would all add, "the women." let us reveal, in our tributes, the vision that he espoused -- a positive vision, a hopeful vision, a vision of partnership and mutual responsibility. america bolstered by the courage of its people. an america that is confident enough to say to our adversaries, "let both sides joined in a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just, the weak are secure. the man i'm about to introduce -- this evening when gage in our ongoing work of honoring president kennedy and his legacy. the man i'm about to introduce graciously is charged with leading the institution who has the mission of preserving the legacy. stephen serves as the executive director of the foundation that supports the work of the kennedy presidential library in boston and he arrived at the kennedy library foundation and brought with him a wealth of experience successfully leading academic, private sector, and government institutions. like others inspired by the call of kennedy, he has pursued public service in many different forms. at the start of his career, he worked with joseph kennedy ii to make citizens energy corporation to help low-income families. why didn't he let you get in the ads? as a state official, he oversaw programs serving the mentally ill. john kennedy had something to say about disabled children and he said that the children may be the victims of fate, they shall not be the victims of our neglect. thank you for your work with the mentally ill. he wants to private sector firm to expand green energy technology. for a decade, he served as the director for the school of the blind. he did god's work. thanks to his leadership, the school is the largest teacher of students who are blind. he led citizens schools, a national nonprofit that helps middle schools provide low income students the opportunity to learn science, technology, engineering, and math. there is steam in this institution, because the arts are so important. or king to promote safer communities and safer schools. president kennedy would have been deeply proud that his memorial levirate is being led by a man who has his life spent in service of building a better america for all. please join me in welcoming him to the podium. [applause] host: let's hear it again for congressman steny hoyer for his leadership. we are better because of the work that you and your colleagues do on the hill. it is a challenging time, but you are there and are moving us forward. that lets us sleep at night. thank you for your service. we really appreciate it. stephanie, thank you so much. i really appreciate everything that you and the team have done. if you have not had a chance to see the photograph upstairs, take a look. i have seen them before and they are a remarkable collection of some fascinating views of john kennedy and his family. from an artistic perspective, it is well worth it. i will cut down my remarks. they are distinguished academics and scholars. they are about to come out and you have to stick with me for a minute. i will be quick and we will get to the guests in a minute. keep in mind that 80% of the people alive today were born after the kennedy administration. 80%. one of the things we will talk about is why this is important and why is -- every year, there are surveys and he is always in the top three, four, or five. he was only there for 1036 days. it was cut short. the other thing is that pew does a survey on trust in government. in 1962, when john kennedy was there, he did televised press conferences and he had 64 press conferences that were live. i will not compare that to anybody else. i wouldn't do that, but he did it every 16 days, on average. the first five press conferences were watched by 60 million americans and they got to see somebody making decisions and he did one right after they have cakes. he didn't just do them when they were good news. he believed in transparency in government. so, when pew did their survey, 75% of people had trust in government. a year ago, before the election, that 75% went to 19%. a question for society is, "what do we do about this?" before the speakers come out, we are showing a video. they both have long and distinguished backgrounds and i'm going to summarize both of them. ted directs the center at the library of congress and he taught at brown university. he is also the director of the study for the american experience and he was a speech writer for bill clinton and worked on the clinton library. he also has been the editor and author of nearly one dozen books. in 2012, he worked on the secret white house recordings. president kennedy recorded over 200 hours. they are all transparent and they are all available. he went through and put together a marvelous piece. if you have not had a chance to listen to that, i encourage that. the second person i will introduce in just a minute holds a joint appointment at the kennedy school and department of history. if you know harvard, this is nothing less than remarkable. the most recent book got a pulitzer prize and come if you want to learn more and you have not read this, i encourage you to. he is the president of the society of historians for american populations and he is writing a biography on john kennedy. i am really excited. i cannot wait for him to finish it, because i know that i will learn a lot. there is a 30-second video we can watch and that will kick off the program. >> never before has man had such capacity to control his thirst and, to end hunger, conquer disease, human misery. we have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world. >> come on up. [applause] we are here as part of the centennial activities and there have been over 100 events all over the country and internationally. why is celebrating this important? >> the answer is that commemorations are important -- this is my view -- for the civic health of the nation. we do this because it helps bind us together and i think that it is an extraordinary story. president kennedy had a marvelous sense of humor. if he was with us and if he was 100, he would make a comment about overstaying his welcome. we recognize this, 100 years ago, he was born. it is something that congressman hoyer referenced. he inspired us and inspired americans of an age of one it was possible to believe. this is powerful, especially as a recent citizen of the country, and reminds americans of an age when it was possible to believe that politics could speak to our highest moral yearnings, to be harnessed to our highest aspirations. that is important. that is why we celebrate him. >> history is a civic brew. we have one history. anniversaries give us a chance to remember that. this is one that is disorienting. it is hard to imagine kennedy as 100. he always looks young and unbelievably charismatic. there is a presence to john f. kennedy that is unusual. congressman hoyer read the lines from the opening sentences of the inaugural. there is an immediacy to the words of kennedy that lives with us. >> he was a student of history, studying in school, preparing for the profiles of courage, and, if we don't learn from history, we will repeat. >> i think the historical sense of what, in my research -- historical sensibility is so powerful and comes out, even when he is basically young guy. there was not cell phones, ipads, or anything else. he had one thing he could do, read. very early on, as you say that , historical sensibility was manifest and it shines through. >> we remember him and he was quite shy. he is talking about himself and he said it was hard. he said that he would rather read a book and then talk a -- talk to a person. i think it was not arrogance, it was genuine shyness. he was smaller than his older brother. his older brother was supposed to go into politics. there was a reserve that came from his reading that made him attractive, like he was holding something back and not giving you everything every second of the day. that is sometimes how it feels to us. we cannot even escape it, especially days like yesterday and this week. there was something cerebral about him. he said what you needed to hear and not more. that was attractive. >> he is one of the most popular presidents. you think about washington, roosevelt, he is right up there. why is that? he had little time there. johnson got more legislation passed. why do you think this is? >> a great question. we cannot escape the tragic end of the presidency. it haunts all of us and i have thought about what i wanted to say and i think we should avoid the trap of thinking everything was utopian and perfect in the 1960's and politics disintegrated. we had serious problems and political hatred at the end of his presidency. there was a lot achieved. most of us historians feel that the cuban missile crisis was the greatest crisis and it is an existential crisis that, if he had not led ably, there is a strong chance the world would have ended. it is a special achievement that overshadows most presidential achievements. it was high noon of american empire and culture. everyone was doing interesting things. there was a new liberalism and a new conservatism. he represented the hopes and aspirations of a generation that was coming on the world stage and has not left. even if he was president for only 1000 days, they were and 10 and he was an intense leader. -- they were intense days and he was an intense leader. >> they inspired us. and, i don't just mean americans. i am from sweden. i have talked with parents and other relatives about -- before i started this book project -- john f. kennedy. the answer to your question is that it is not just americans. -- not just americans who took something from what he said. it was not just the assassination. i have spoken to people about this. some of this is what he did as president. i suspect that, if we had a global poll, he would still figure very highly. it seems to me that barack obama brought some of that, not just in the united states and abroad. there are interesting similarities. >> i agree, there are very few presidential speeches that we reread. there are not many outside of lincoln, roosevelt, kennedy. it is a small number. it is not just because he was handsome and young. there is great substance in those speeches. there is great wit. there is great perception of irony and brevity. he talks about mortality in the great american university speech in 1963. that may be his best speech ever. one fact that historians have learned more about is that he had a difficult lifelong struggle with health and had serious health problems and he knew that a 100th birthday was out of the question. he would not have made it to this. he knew that life was short and precious and that feeling in his speeches. >> there is a certain authenticity that is kind of an elusive concept often. for me, it means taking things seriously and expanding empathy. i think, for many americans, he made his share of mistakes, there were ups and downs, but there was an authenticity there that i think explained that popularity. >> you think about the mistakes and authenticity, and one of the things i admire about him is that he was self reflective and willing to learn. between that and the cuban missile crisis, so much happened. we see pictures of the situation room and the hotline to russia. he started that. the navy seals, the green berets. the daily security briefings. it was, "how can i do better and how can the system be better?" that is a refreshing element that i have great respect for. >> we want the president to change in office. we do not want them to govern the way they campaigned. it is an impossible job. he really grew effectively and, without bail takes, he would not have survived the cuban missile crisis. gs, hehout the bay of pick would not have survived the cuban missile crisis. it was a terrible mistake and it gave him the confidence and irritation to rethink his system of governance and the mistakes are crucial to growth. he grew beautifully in his thinking about the cold war and it allowed him to go further. he grew a lot on civil rights and as a person was open to different ideas of a country that was extremely diverse and he was always listening. >> what do you think are the top accomplishments of the 1000 days? >> his handling of the cold war, broadly speaking, was an accomplishment. it seems that there are interesting things that happened in the year that followed the missile crisis. khrushchev, he started something that would later be called detente. it grows out of a conviction from long before he became president. american power, american military power, geopolitical power, it was greater than any nation and it was limited. he had a sense that the prospect of nuclear war -- let me put it this way, the prospect of superpower war in a nuclear age was an impossibility. that last year is here he important, in that regard. though he was late in coming to the civil rights issue in a serious way, a remarkable speech on june 11, i give him credit for making civil rights a moral issue and that would be important later on. i think that the space program and his commitment to the space program would be another example of success in his administration, even if the fruits would not be seen until later. >> i agree with those three and i would add that he projected a sense of confidence and people picked up on that host up james was inspired by his inaugural address. david mcauliffe was inspired to write history. people do different things. we can trace a lot of the great governance in the 1960's and 1970's. there is a book that we are celebrating that came out about his significance and there was an essay about the immigration act that can be directly linked to him and his strong interest in immigration that was lifelong. we will never be the same country or go back to time -- go back in time to a country that was more uniform in color and more boring. we have a wonderful and diverse multi-chromatic society, even with all the problems. he made it more exciting. >> you have to include the peace corps. what is being spoken to is the excitement about -- infectious, it would turn out -- public service and what it can mean. i am worried that we have lost our confidence in ourselves in a way and it seems to me that they success of this administration was public service and making people excited about it. >> clearly. one way was the space program. you can talk more about that. our country and so little about this and, to put it in perspective, this was less than half of the computing power of anyone in the audience and when they said we would go to the moon, the reality is that they were not sure. how do you think they organize a country. there have been so many advantages. literally dozens of technology advances. how did he have the instinct to do that at every level. >> he was a highly accomplished and he had written the first book at a very young age. he was interested in achievers and he was not afraid of ideas. this is a thing i personally honor about kennedy. there is a confidence with which he walked across the stage. there was a poll in the past auple of days that showed how big section of our country now thinks it is a bad thing to go to college, and not a good thing. i don't want to get into partisanship at all. william f buckley was a champion of ideas on the right and kennedy was a champion of ideas where he lived. sometimes on the left, sometimes in the middle. the space program was exciting and it was an exciting scientific idea. i wish we could think of something similar. i think we have something and it is the fight to save our planet, which is not so different from the space effort. there is a photograph of the earth as a fragile blue marble in a dark universe and it reminded people that we have to take care of this place. it would be great to see of bipartisan, global effort with signs and ideas along similar lines. >> in fact, we recently interviewed caroline kennedy and her three kids and therefore john f. kennedy's grandchildren. we asked them about the grandfather and he said, if my grandfather was alive today, he would have taken this idea concept and directed it at the environment. whether it is a company or a country thinks of a really big idea, they call it "a moon shot." he literally brought us the first moonshot. i think we need to do more of that and it seemed unreachable as a way to rally the country. >> i agree completely and i was not aware that his grandson articulated that. i agree with that observation. >> the research spins off of other research. the moon shot is always a good idea. i think early technology that ultimately led to the internet came out of that. nonexclusively. other parts of the military and government, but the earth catalog later in the 1960's included that massive photograph of earth and stewart brand and others were issued metal in -- instrumental in developing the california version of the internet in the 1960's. we don't say that john kennedy brought us the internet and he didn't, but the moon shot was out there. >> what about the peace corps? how much of a risk was there? eisenhower called it the kiddie corps. do you think -- there was a debate about the size -- about the political capital? >> it didn't require a great deal of political capital on his part. there was a cold war component. this was perceived by him and others as a means of waging a cold war. it was not all idealistic motives. there was uncertainty about whether it would succeed and the response you would get run americans. would young people signed up? what would they find russian mark all that was unknown. my sense of research is that he had a faith and advisers around him had a faith that this was an idea they should pursue right away and it was one of those things decided on in the first 100 days. the results speak for themselves. >> he makes a good point when he says that the cold war played into the soft power elements. he was trying to win the hearts and minds of the world and he loved the celebration of art and poetry. there was cold war elements to this. the peace corps was an extraordinary idea and nothing like it had ever come through u.s. foreign-policy. it was mostly middle-aged men from the same background wearing the same suit a lot like what i am wearing and he made things more exciting and he opened it up to young people and interesting people came out of the peace corps. i was with the head of netflix, a peace corps alumnus. elaine chao was in the peace corps earlier in her life. people went into that and they grew. there is an element of danger. it is not quite political danger, i think there is actual danger to the men and women who went to those countries and we didn't know that and we send people out without any protection and we have seen that with attacks on the embassies. there was a naivete. but there was a wonderful idealism which justified itself. >> kennedy told a story of rising in the dominican republic. he is going to the town he will be stationed. joe said, how did you know that stop he said, gringo, red hair. the gentleman want to say that a peace corps volunteer wrought water and, for 30 years, they have had water. they never had a chance to thank him. so i want to thank you. you think about the ripples of hope. the other thing i have seen is that there are about a quarter million people who have been in the peace corps and it has impacted their lives. it is enormous impact. the question is, how can we galvanize that in today's environment? there are great programs out there. >> we conduct for policy by thinking about our enemies and there are a lot of people who thought it was the blue part of the world against the red part of the world and i think that the peace corps helped him and he was on his way to see the world in great complexity and he thought a lot about latin america. he thought a lot about africa. not too many of the presidents have done that. he had state visits from the brand-new presidents of african-american countries -- of african countries coming out of colonialism. he thought about asia and the way it did or did not fit in to the cold war and he was a voice for people who did not have a strong voice on the world stage and i think we are a better country when we hear the voice of smaller countries. >> you heard the phrase, "soft power." my colleague coined that and it has great power in explaining why the united states prevailed in the cold war and the things we are talking about are excellent examples and that is to say it is not military or economic power. it is about american culture, institutions, ideals. here, and in other ways, kennedy personified this and i come back to my swedish relatives. there is a belief that this was a very special leader who was american and they could look up to and, on some level, emulate him. >> his daughter just returned from vassar in japan, and she said she met people who were born way after the administration who said the same thing. what are some of the challenges? we mentioned the bay of pigs. is there anything else you wonder about? >> that is the challenge for me. as isban missile crisis, often said, is a shining moment for his presidency. it is a extraordinary level of leadership and we are all here today. this is because of the sagacity and the wisdom showed. i would like to suggest that kennedy bears responsibility for the cuban missile crisis. even after the bay of pigs, he authorized an effort to destabilize the cuban government and had the aim of overthrowing the government. we now know that that influence the decision to put the missiles in cuba. i think the record is mixed. vietnam, on which i spent a great deal of time, is mixed. on civil rights, the administration was very cautious. it is a split and i wouldn't particularly give it high marks. there were challenges. let's remember the cold war was very intense and i don't think that kennedy or anybody else knew how that would turn out. >> we all want to hear about vietnam, a tragedy that unfolds across four presidential administrations. there is a reckoning that all historians have to come to terms with. i said that we all feel that we live in a fractured country and politics is really tough for either party. the oil think they are united on is hating the other side. some of that goes back to that. i think the assassination was another reason that people's faith was shattered. we are coming to terms with the disappointment and, had he lived, it is a tall order to say he would have solved all the problems and they came at lyndon johnson and richard nixon. politics was not up to the challenge. we would have been more united as a country in 1969 when he left office and we have never quite gotten back to the idealism that we had during his presidency. we all have to reckon with this. >> let's go back to full rights -- to civil rights and he was concerned about governors and he changed. talk about what triggered the change. by the end, he made civil rights a moral issue and was committed to it. then, johnson came in and he said it was a testament to john kennedy to pass a civil rights bill. what do you think made that evolution? >> the specific answer is the children who are getting pushed around in the spring of 1963 and there is a moral outrage over the fact that children were being tortured by an unfeeling southern society and a bad police commissioner. it was growth. he was growing so fast. he came from a family of people outside of power. a family with a love children and it. he saw his vision improve and he saw that these are people he wanted to be on his side. in the spring of 1963, he wrote the letter from birmingham jail and it is a theological statement. >> there is a new book out and i think that everything he says is right. robert f kennedy's role in pushing his brother to do this matters and you are right to credit him. it speaks to something i've trying to ponder. he to put himself in the shoes of somebody else. this is important to the resolution of the cuban missile crisis and, as was suggested, it also matters here. i think that is part of it. >> that is a wonderful point. we don't often ask for empathy. we ask for strength, charisma, a perfect soundbite. into these really valuable, and, deep down, we want that with our leaders. i agree that he had it. >> talk about what you chose and what it taught you about john kennedy. it was an incredible experience. a clinton speechwriter, and that was our playbook. whenever i was sitting there and failing to come up with some original, that would happen. it is an imperfect air-conditioning. we would all start reading his speeches to get inspiration. martin luther king and robert kennedy. to hear him talking, it is a different world you go into. they had just then released and it was an incredible experience. they are playing out in real time at the cuban missile crisis. almost all of it is caught in the tapes. it is an incredible experience. they shift around a lot and it seems like it is about to invade cuba and we don't. there are fears russia might do something to us, and then they don't. sometimes, it is on purpose or accidentally. one time, he caught a military operation and it was a very innocent one. he was such a good politician that everybody went crazy because people thought it would look like that public relations that the kennedys were asking the military to build and -- to build an expensive weighing -- wing. he screamed at a military officer and threatened to send him to alaska. after the call, he hangs up and there is a chump. you know it is playacting. there is an autobiographical moment of a tape with james kennan as he is deciding to run. it is a dinner party with kennan, bradley, and jack kennedy. it is the most raw first draft of history you could ever here. it was "why do you want this?" i want this because i want a seat at the action. i'm tired of being one of 100 senators. eisenhower controls everything. i want to control everything. you hear it coming out of him how much he wants america to change and it is incredible. >> you hear the glasses clinking. i have a favorite tape that is from october 22 and one week into the missile crisis. i've played this at an event we did together not too long ago at the kennedy library and this is a conversation between kennedy and eisenhower. what you get in this tape is a sense of humor, even in this intense pressure, a sense of his deference to seniority. he is deferential to eisenhower. he finishes by saying, "hold on." there is a calm. there is a columnist in the tapes that i think you want in a leader and it comes through in the missile crisis. it suggests a grace under pressure. if i think of the tapes in totality, and again, they make mistakes. you can talk about vietnam. but that calmness, that grace comes through on the tapes. >> absolutely. i want to encourage the audience to ask questions. about them and we will talk about them later. let's talk about vietnam, both based on his role and in the impossible question of, if he had lived, what would have happened?