Thursday, 4:30 PM
Born in 1917? Admission free to JFK birthday fete
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born 90 years ago today in the master bedroom of a two-story colonial-style clapboard house at 83 Beals St. in Brookline.
To celebrate, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum & Library will cut a sheet cake frosted with the presidential seal and kickoff a day focused on the number 90.
A cup of clam chowder in the cafeteria will cost 90 cents. The 90th visitor will receive a library tote bag jammed with Kennedy memorabilia. And admission will be free to anyone born 90 years ago, in 1917. (People born on May 29th any year will also get in free.)
"We are trying to make it a fun day," Tom Putnam, the library’s director, said in a telephone interview. "But there is a serious aspect to it as well. We are trying to honor his legacy."
Kennedy was born a month after the United States entered World War I. In his inaugural address, referring to World War II, he said that his generation was "tempered by war" and that society must battle the "common enemies of man," which included tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
On the heels of a Memorial Day shadowed by the war in Iraq, Kennedy’s birthday reminded Putnam of one of the president’s last speeches, when he gave the 1963 commencement address at American University. To listen to audio of the speech, click here.
"I am talking about genuine peace," Kennedy said, "the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children -- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women -- not merely peace in our time but peace for all time."
While Kennedy spoke of the United States and the Soviet Union, the message still resonates, Putnam said. He quoted the late president: "If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity."
