Good evening. Did you know that president John F Kennedy was the most photographed leader of his day. This may not surprise you since he used photography strategically to share his values of america. It was also the golden age of photography in america and thats why this subjec is of interest to us at the Smithsonian International art museum. We focus on telling the stories of the American Experience, from folk art to photography as well as painting and sculptor and crafts and media arts. Our exhibition, american visionary John F Kennedys life and times which you can view on the second floor in the graphic arts gallery is a premier event, among many organized by the kennedy president ial library. Im the mary and director of the smithsonian apaircon art museum and sam is what we call ourselves for short. Youre in for a special treat this evening as weve assembled a distinguished group of historians and scholars debating the Kennedy Administration and its legacy. Many of you likely remember it Kennedy Administration and the arc of history. We also have several members of congress in the room with us and i want to pause for a moment and acknowledge them and thank them along with their staff for their work in doing the peoples business. Please join me in recognizing congressman jim banks, representing indianas Third District, congressman representing Rhode IslandsThird District and a member of the congressional art caucus and finally congressman representing the fifth district. Weve asked them to graciously introduce our moderator this evening who is the edhad of the Kennedy Library association. In closing i want to note that tonights program is being live streamed and also recorded by net fet. Cspan so kindly turn off your digital devices so we may all enjoy the program tonight. Thank you and i appreciate your being with us. Thank you, stephanie, for it work that you do. Steven, i was told to introduce you. They didnt say graciously introduce you but i will try to do that. Dave utd a great leader on the democratic side of the aisle who represents rhode island and former mayor of providence. Thank you for all you do. From this time and this place to friend and foe alike that torch has been passed to a new generation of americans tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace. Proud of our ancient heritage and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. I am [ applause ] i am a part of the inspired generation who listened to those words, who listened to john kennedy and whose life was changed. Not only by writing about it but by living. The life of our 35th was to renocorporate the gift outright. He was, to my generation and to many generations, a gift outright. For he gave of himself at every turn, from his bravery during the war to his steadfastness in our nation and worlds most dangerous hour during the cuban missile crisis. For those of us that who remember him, it was a time of promise, renewal, progress. For those that do not, it has nonetheless shaped our understanding of what Public Service means. In my office at the capitol sits a bust of John F Kennedy. It was given to me by my mother in 1973. I was then a member of the maryland state senate. And she knew what an extraordinary impact john kennedy made on my life. It is a reminder not only the values for which he stood but the curage from which he stood for them. And for me personally its a reminder of what drove me from Public Service. He spoke as im sure he spoke to hundreds of thousands of young people. A lot of young people in this audience and he spoke about what we could do to make difference and further what we ought to do to make a difference. To 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 eulogyize robert frost reveals a nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but by the men it honors and im sure we all would add by it women we honor. So as we honor the centennial, of the birth of let us reveal in our tributes the vision of america that he dispouzed, a positive vision. A hopeful vision. A vision of partnership and mutual responsibility. An america secure in its sense of purpose. An america bolstered by its people. An america constdant in it itself to say to adversaries and i quote let both sides join in a new endeavor. Not a new balance of power. Bought new world of law. Where the strong are just and the weak secure. And the peace preserved. This evening we engage in our ongoing work of honoring president kennedy and his legacy. The preservation of that legacy. Rothsteen serves as executive director which supports the work of the president ial library in boston. When he arrived at the Kennedy Library foundation in august, he brought with him a wealth of experience successfully leading academic private sector and government institutions. Like others inspired by president kennedys call to give back to their communities and their country, steven has pursued Public Service in many different forms. At the start of his career he partnered with president kennedys nephew joseph p. Kennedy ii to found Citizens Energy corporation. A first ever Nonprofit EnergyCompany Helping low income families afford heating, oil, gas and electricity. Steve, why didnt they let you get any ads . As a massachusetts state official, steven over saw programs helping the mentally ill. John kennedy had something to say about disabled children. He said although these children may be the victims of fate, they shall not be the victims of our neglect. Steven, thank you for your work with the mentally ill of which Patrick Kennedy has been such a great leader. Launched a private sector firm for green energy technologies. He served as the president of the perken school for the blind. And the number of students online and in person from 40,000 to nearly a million. He did gods work. Thanks in large part to his leadership, the perkins is now the largest trainer of teachers and parents of the blind. Between his departure from perkins and last year, steven led citizens schools, help hadding middle schools provide low if hadcome students to learn din mand science, engineering and math skills. And certainly we would call it steam he continues to serve on the indoor director of the brady campaign. Working to promote Safer Communities and schools. Steve no doubt would have been proud that his life is being led by a life spent to service of those in needs and building a better america for all. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming steven rothsteen to the podium. Lets hear again to the leadership our country is better off each and every day because of the work you and your colleagues do on the hill. These are challenging times but knowing youre there fighting the fight on big issues and small issues and helping to move us forward lets us sleep at night. So thank you for your service each and every day. We really appreciate it. Again for our distinguished leader again. And stephanie, thank you so much for everything except for having to follow hoyer. I appreciate everything you and all it team have done and if you havent had had a chance to see the photographs up stairs, take a look. Ive had a chance to see them before and theyre just a remarkable collection of some fascinating views, public and private views of john kennedy and his family and from an artistic perspective well worth while. When stephanie started off she said there are academics and scholars. There are two that there about to come up and you have to stick with me for just a minute. So we can get toure distinguished guests in a minute. Since today in the United States 80 of the people alive today were born after the Kennedy Administration. 80 . So one of the questions were going to talk about in a little while is why is the centennial important and why is he still, every year there are surveys done of popular president s and hes always in the top three, four, five depending on perspectives and why is that . Because he was only there for 1,036 days. Obviously it was cut short. The other thing to keep in mind is pugh does an annual survey of trust in government and in 1962, when john kennedy was there, he did, as you know the first televised press conferences and less than a three year period he had had 64 press conferences. Now im not going to compare that to anybody else, i wouldnt do that. But he did an average every 16 days and the first five pres conferences were collectively watched by 60 million americans. And they got to see someone making decisions and even did one literally right after the bay of pigs. So he didnt just do it when there was good news. He believed in transparency in government, in Public Service. The most noteworthy perspective. And so when they did their survey in 1962, 75 of the people had trust in government. They didnt agree in everything but they had trust in government. A year ago that 75 had had gone to 19 . So one of the questions for all of us is what do we do about that . So im going to introduce our two speakers but first again they have very distinguished backgrounds but directs the center at the library of congress. Director of the John Carter Brown library. Was also the founding director of the star center for the American Experience at American University. Before that a he was a Senior Advisor working on many fronts including the planning of the clinton library. He also has been the editor and author of nearry a dozen books and in 2012 worked on carolyn kennedy, listening in the secret white house recordings. He recorded over 200 hours. So he did have a recording system and theyre all transparent, theyre are available. But ted created a book, a marvelous piece. I encourage you to get that listening in. Fred, the second distinguished person im going to introduce in a minute is currently the professor of International Affairs at harvard where he hold as joint appointment and if you know harvard, getting one pointment is amazing. To have a joint appointment is nothing less than remarkable and his most recent book embers of war the making of americas vietnam will have won a Pulitzer Prize as well as it Frank Parkman prize and if you want to learn more, if you havant read embers of war, i encourage you to do that. Hes also the it past president of the society of historians for American Foreign relation and hes currently writing a biography on john kennedy. Ive read a lot but im really excited. I cant wait for him to finish his had. So before they come up, theres a 30 second vidio weve been playing that i think we can watch now and then well kick off the program. So never before has man had had such capacity to control his own environment, to end thirst and hunger, to conquer poverty and disease too, banish illiteracy and massive human misery. We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world. Come on up, come on up. [ applause ] so were here as part of the centennial activity and weve done with partners like smithsonian and many others over 100 events across the it country and a few internationally. Why is celebrating centennial important . Part of the answer it seems to me is kmem rashz commemorati important, this is my own view, for it civic health of the nation. Not only with John F Kennedy, but other leaders. I think it helps bind us together and i think in this particular case its an extraordinary story. President kennedy had a marvelous sense of humor and i suspect if he had lived to be 100, he would make some remark about having over stayed his welcome. But we recognize this extraordinary day 100 years ago that he was born in brook line in 1917. Because of some of the things congressman hoyer said that we saw in the film. I think he inspired us. Inspired americans. He reminds americans, it it seems to me of an age when it was possible to believe. This is powerful to me. Especially as a recent citizen of this country. Reminds americans of an age where it was posable to believe that politics could speak to our highest moral europeanings. Could be harnessed it seems to me to our highest aspirations and thats important. Thats certainly one of the reasons why we celebrate them sfw. I agree with everything fred just said. History is the kind of civic glue. Were living in a difficult political time but we do have one history and anniversaries giving us a chance to remember this is a little disorienting because rarlts little hard to imagine John F Kennedy at 100 had years old. He always looked young, he looks unbelievably and theres a kind of presence to John F Kennedy that i think is unusual. When congressman hoyer read the lines from the guest sitting behind me said thank you and there is a kind of immediatacy to the words of John F Kennedy. They still live with us. If we dont learn from history, we are going to repeat some of it. So it is important. I think historical sensibility of kennedys in my research for this book, that dimension. I think i knew something about when i started the work but its so powerful and it comes out even when he is sickly and i think very early on that historical sensibility was manifest and i think stayed right through to the end. We remember him as one of the most natural politicians any of us ever saw. Theres a line in the book where hes talking about himself. He said this is really hard. I would rather read a book on the airplane rather than talk to the person sitting beside me. I think that was genuine shyness. He was smaller than his older brother. His older brother that was supposed to go into politics but i think all wuz a reservation that was even more attractive. Like he wasnt giving you everything. Which is somehow how the incessant torrid of Media Information feels to us. We cant escape it, especially on days like yesterday and this week. And there was something very sereeberal about imhad. He said exactly what he wanted you to hear and not more and that was very attractive. Why do you think, as i alluded to earlier, in the polls he is one of the most popular president s. If you think about roosevelt and lincoln. Why is that, when he had so little time there and clearly, others, johnson got legislation. Its a great question. We cant ever escape the tragic end of the kennedy president s. That haunts all of us as a nation and ive been thinking today about what i wanted to say i think we should avoid the false trap of thinking everything was utopia and perfect in the early 60s and our politics have disintegrated because obviously we had very Serious Problems and deep political hatreds in the way his presidency ended stemmed from that. But there was a lot achieved. I mean most of us i think feel, most historians feel the cuban missile crisis was the greatest crisis of the last 60 years and an existential crisis that had it not been if he had not led us as ably as he did, there are pretty strong chance the world as we know it would have ended. So thats a special kind of achievements that over shadows most president ial achievements. But it it was kind of a high noon of american empire, american culture. Everyone was doing interesting things. There was a new liberalism coming out and a new conservatism and he represented the hopes and aspirations of a very important generation coming on to the world stage and has not left. So for all those reasons they were if tense days. And he was an intense leader during that time. I would add to what ted has said. As we were saying earlier he inspired us. And i dont mean just america. Because in my Little Corner of the world. Im from sweden and ive often talked with not only my parents but other relatives about and this is before i started this book project about John F Kennedy. And at least part of the answer to your question is that it seems to me that it wasnt just america who took something from what John F Kennedy represented and said in his had speeches, it wasnt just the assassination because some of this and ive speaken to people about this, was about what he did as president. So at least i suspect in other words im suggesting if we had a global poll, not just one of americans, he would still figure very highly. It seems to me barack obama brought some of that, not just in the United States but abroad. There are interesting similarities. But thats maybe one thing i would add to it. I think very few president ial speeches that we reread. There really arent any outside of lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John F Kennedy. And it isnt just because he was handsome and young. There is great substance in those speeches. Theres great wit, theres great perception of lifes irony. Lifes brevty. He talked about mortality. He uses the word mortality in the Great University speech, maybe his best speech ever and so one fact that historians have learned more about in the last 10 years thanks to the Kennedy Library is that he had a very difficult life long strugual health had. He had Serio