Strategically to share his values. It was also the golden age of photographer in america and that is why this subject is of interest to us at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and hopefully you. Here at the museum we focus on telling the stories of the American Experience. From folk art to photographer as well as painting and sculpture and skracrafts and media arts. Our exhibition, 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 in this centennial year. I am stephanie stebich, the director of the american smithsonian art museum. Saam is what we call ourselves for short. We have assembled a group of historians and scholars debating the Kennedy Administration and its legacy. Many of you likely remember the 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 thanks 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 david salini and also a member of the congressional art caucus and congressman hoyer representing marylands fifth district. Weve asked [ applause ] weve asked representative hoyer to introduce our moderator this evening, Steven Rothstein who is the head of the Kennedy Library foundation. In closing i want to note that tonights program is being live streamed and also recorded by cspan. So kindly turn off your digital devices so that we may all enjoy the program tonight. Thank you and i appreciate your being here tonight with us. [ applause ] thank you very much, stephanie, for the work that dow. Steven, i was told to introduce you. They didnt say graciously introduce you. [ laughter ] but i will try to be that. David, one of our elected leaders on the democratic side of the aisle who represents rhode island, former mayor of providence, david, thank you for all you do. [ applause ] let the word go forth from this time and this place to friend and foe alike that the torch has been passed to new generation of americans born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by 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. [ applause ] reporter i am a part of the inspired generation who listened to those words, who listened to john kennedy and whose life was changed. We are here to celebrate the life and legacy of a man who promoted political courage not only by writing about it but by living it. A life of our 35th president was in many ways to reappropriate the title of robert frost poem a gift out right. He was to my generation and to many generations a gift outright. For 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, and his presidency, it was a time of promise, renewal, progress. For those who do not, his legacy has nonetheless shaped our National Understanding of what Public Service means. In my office at the capitol as you will not be surprised sits a bust of john f. Kennedy. It is a miniature of the bust that is in the Kennedy Center. It was given to me by my mother in 1973. I was then a member of the maryland state senate. She gave it to me for my birthday. Because she knew what an extraordinary impact john kennedy made on my life. Not only the values for which he stood but the courage for which he stood for them. And for me personally its a reminder of drove me to enter Public Service as a young man. John kennedy came to the campus of the university of maryland the spring of 1959 and 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 a 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 in october, 1963, to eulogize robert frost he observed that a nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors. And im sure we all would add by the women we honor. So as we honor the centennial of the birth of John Fitzgerald kennedy, let us reveal in our tributes the vision of america that he espoused, a positive vision, a hopeful vision, a vision of partnership and mutual responsibility, an american secure in its sense of purpose. An american bolstered by the moral coverage of its people. An america competent enough in itself during the cold war to say to our adversaries, and i quote, let both sides join in a new endeavor. Not a new balance of power, but a 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 in his legacy and the man im about to introduce graciously has been charged with leading the institution Whose Mission it is the preservation of that legacy. Steven roth ste roth design. When he arrived he brought a wealth of experience 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 with whom i served in the president of the United States to found Citizens Energy corporation. The first ever Nonprofit EnergyCompany Helping low income families afford heating and oil, gas and electricity. Steve, why didnt he let you get in the ads . As a massachusetts state official in the late 1980s, steven oversaw programs serving the mentally ill. John kennedy had something to say about disabled children. He said that 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, of course, has been such a great leader. He launched a private sector firm focused on promoting and expanding green energy technologies. For a decade he served as president of the Perkins School for the blind expanding its programs to 30 countries in the number served in person and online from 40,000 no nearly a million. He did gods work. Thanks in large part to his leadership, perkins is now the largest trainer of teachers and parents of the blind. Between his departure from perkins and his arrival at the Kennedy LibraryFoundation Last year, steven led citizen schools, a National Nonprofit helping middle schools provide low income students with opportunities to learn in demand science, technology, engineering, and math skills. And certainly we would call it steam in this institution. Because arts are so important. He continues to serve on the board of directors of the brady campaign. And the brady center for the prevention of gun violence working to promote Safer Communities and safer schools. President kennedy, steve and i have no doubt, would have been deeply proud that his Memorial Library is being led by a man whose life has been spent in service to those in need and to building a better america for all. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Steven Rothstein to the podium. [ applause ] lets hear it again for congressman hoyer for the leadership. [ applause ] our country is better off today, each and every day because of the work that you and your colleagues do on the hill and the challenging times. But knowing that youre there fighting the fight on big issues and small issues and helping to move us forward lets us sleep at night. Thank you for your service each and every day. Really, we really appreciate it. Again, for our distinguished leader. Thank you. [ applause ] and stephanie, thank you so much for everything except for having to follow mr. Hoyer. I appreciate everything you and all the team here have done. If you havent had a chance to see the photographs upstairs at some point, take a look. Ive had a chance to see them before and theyre just a remarkable collection of some fascinating views, some public and private views of john kennedy and his family and from an artistic perspective well worthwhile. So encourage you to do that. Im going to cut down my remarks. I want to get to the speakers. When stephanie started off, she said there are distinguished, there are academics and scholars. There are two academics and scholars that are about to come up. You have to stick with me for a minute so im going to be quick to see can get to the distinguished guests. A few things to keep in mind. 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. 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. In 1962 when john kennedy was there he did as you know the first televised press conferences and over a three year period, less than three year period, he had 64 press conferences. 64 live televised press conferences. Im not going to compare that to anybody else. I wouldnt do that. But he did it on average every 16 days and the first five press conferences were collectively watched by about 60 million americans. And they got to see someone making decisions and he even did one literally right after the bay of pigs. He didnt just do them when there was kind of good news. He believed in transparency in government. He believed in Public Service. Its the most notable and note worthy perspectives. And so when pugh did their survey in 1962, 75 of the people had trust in government. They didnt agree with everything, but they had trust in government. A year ago before the elections, that 75 had gone to 19 . So one of the questions for all of us in society is what do we do about that. So im going to introduce our two speakers. Before they come up, were going to show a 30 second video. But first, again, there are both have very long and very distinguished backgrounds. Im going to summarize both of them. Ted widmer taught at brown university. Was also the founding director of the Cv Star Center for the study of the American Experience a at washington university. Before that he was a speech writer and adviser to bill clinton working on many fronts including the plans of the clinton library. He also has been the editor and author of nearly a dozen books and in 2012 worked with Carolyn Kennedy of listening in. President kennedy recorded over 200 hours so he did have a recording system and theyre all transparent. Theyre all available. But ted went through and prepared a book, really a marvelous piece. If you havent had a chance to get that yet, i encourage you to get that listening in. Fred logevall, the second person im going to introduce is currently the Lawrence Bell profe professor of International Affairs at harvard. If you know harvard, to have a joint get be one appointment is amazing. Having a joint appointment is nothing less than remarkable. His most recent book of many, embers of war, the fall of an empire and the making of americas vietnam won a p pulitzer prize. If you havent read it, i encourage you to do it. His essays have appeared in many newspapers and journals. Hes currently writing a biography on john kennedy. Ive read a lot but im really excited. I cant wait for him to finish this because i know im going to learn a lot from that become. Before they come up, theres a 30 second video that weve been playing as part of the centennial that i think we can watch now and then well kick off the program. Never before has man had such capacity to control his own environment, to end thirst and hunger, to conquer poverty and disease, to banish ill lit ras see and massive human mystery. We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world. Come on up. [ applause ] so were here as part of the centennial activities and weve done with partners like the smithsonian, Kennedy Center over 100 events all over the country. Why is celebrating the centennial important . Well, i think part of the answer it seems to me is that commemorations are important, this is my own view, are as important for the civic health of a nation. One of the reasons we do this not just with john f. Kennedy but other political leaders, it helps bind us together. I also think in this particular case its an extraordinary story. President kennedy had a marvelous sense of humor. I suspect that if he were with us today, if he had lived to be 100, he will make some remark about having overstayed his welcome. But we recognize this extraordinary day 100 years ago that he was born in brooklyn in 1917. Because of some of the things congressman hoyer said and you that referenced, that we saw in the film, i think he inspired us. He inspired americans. He reminds americans 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 when it was possible to believe that politics could speak to our highest moral yearnings. Could be harnessed to our highest aspirations. And thats important. Thats certainly one of the reasons why i think we celebrate him. I agree with everything fred just said. Anniversaries are very important. History is a kind of civic blgl. Were living in a political time but we do have one history and anniversaries give us a chance to remember that. This one is a little bit disorienting because its very hard to imagine john f. Kennedy at 100 years old. He always looks young. He looks unbelievably charismatic in the new campaign with the sunglasses. Theres kind of a presence to john f. Kennedy thats i think unusual. When congressman hoyer read the lines from the opening sentences from the inaugural, the guest sitting behind me said thank you. There was a kind of immediacy to the words. Absolutely. He was also a student of history himself, both his study in school, preparing for the profiles in courage that saw history as so important. If we dont learn from history, we are going to repeat some of them. It is important. I think that historical sensibility of kennedys, in my research for this back, that dimension which i knew something about when i started the book, but its so powerful. It comes out even when he is a sickly young guy. In those days there were no cell phones or ipads or anything else. He had one thing he could do to occupy his time and it was to read. I think very early as you say that historical sensibility was manifest and i think its there right through to the end. We remember him as just about the most natural politician any of us have ever seen. He was quite shy and he there was a line in one of the tapes i listened to for that book where hes talking about himself and he said this is really hard. I would rather read a book on an airplane than have to talk to the person sitting next to me. That wasnt arrogance. I think it was genuine shyness. He was smaller physically than his older brother. His older brother was the one who was supposed to go into politics. But there was a reserve that i think came from his reading that made him even more attractive as if he was holding Something Back and not giving you everything every second of the day which is sometimes how the incessant t torrent information feels to us. We cant escape it. And there was something very cerebral about him. He said exactly what he wanted you to hear and not more. That was very attractive. Why do you think as i alluded to earlier hes in the polls, he is one of the most popular president s . If you think about after washington and roosevelt and lincoln, hes sometimes number four or up there. Why is that when he had so little time there . And clearly others, johnson got more legislation passed. Why do you think that is . Its a great question. I mean, we cant ever escape the tragic end of the kennedy presidency. 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 utopian and perfect and our politics have disintegrated. Obviously we have very Serious Problems in the early 60s and deep political hatreds in the way his presidency ended stemmed from that. But there was a lot achieved. Most of us i think feel, most historians feel that the cuban missile crisis was the greatest crisis of the last 60 years and a crisis that if it had not been led if he had not led us as he did theres a strong chance the world as we know it would have ended. Thats a special kind of achievement that overshadows most president ial achievements. It was high noon of american empire, american culture. There was a new kind of liberalism coming out. Also a new kind of conservativism coming up. He represented the hopes and isoperations of a very important generation that was just coming on to the world stage and has not left the world stage. So for all those reasons, even if he was president for only a little over 1,000 days, they were intense days. He was an intense leader during that time. I think the only thing i would add to what ted has said