The presidency of JFK, 50 years ago
Fifty years ago this month, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. He held the office for just over 1,000 days before his assassination, but they were significant days, and the man and his family became iconic around the world, especially capturing the imagination of Americans at home. This year, a four-year, $10 million effort to digitize the JFK Library and Museum’s archives is nearing completion, and LIFE Magazine has just released a series unpublished photos of the president. Collected here are a sampling of these photos, most from the JFK Library, some from LIFE and other press agencies, looking back 50 years ago
President John F. Kennedy addresses the nation from the Oval Office during the Berlin Crisis on July 25th, 1961. (Cecil Stoughton, White House/ John F. Kennedy Library)
While part of every candidate's retinue, security was simply not the pressing, public concern in 1960 that it would suddenly and necessarily become within a few short years. Here, seemingly alone in a crowd in Logan County, West Virginia, JFK speechifies from a kitchen chair as, mere feet away, a young boy absently plays with a jarringly realistic-looking toy gun. (Hank Walker/TIME & LIFE Pictures)
On a drive through Illinois during the 1960 campaign, photographer Paul Schutzer turns his camera on his colleagues in the press. (Paul Schutzer/TIME & LIFE Pictures)
Vice President Lyndon Johnson, President John F. Kennedy and Special Assistant to the President Dave Powers during Opening Day of the 1961 baseball season at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C. (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Watching the lift-off of the first American in space on May 5th, 1961. From left to right, Vice President Johnson, Arthur Schlesinger, Adm. Arliegh Burke, President Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy. (Cecil Stoughton, White House/ John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy sailing aboard the U. S. Coast Guard yacht "Manitou" on August 26th, 1962 in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. (Robert Knudsen, White House/John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy's address to the people of Berlin, Germany on June 26th, 1963. (Robert Knudsen, White House/John F. Kennedy Library)
In Miami, Florida, after President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy address the 2506 Cuban Invasion Brigade at the Orange Bowl Stadium, Mrs. Kennedy informally speaks with some of the members on December 29th, 1962.
President Kennedy with his children, Caroline and John Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House on October 10th, 1962. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy's arrival in Hyannisport, Massachusetts on May 11th, 1963. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
A large group of photographers, including White House Photographers Cecil Stoughton and Abbie Rowe, crowd around the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to document President Kennedy's signature in the Treaty Room on October 7th, 1963. (Robert Knudsen, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy confer outside the West Wing of the White House on October 3rd, 1962. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President John F. Kennedy peers into space capsule at the presentation ceremony of NASA Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) to Astronaut and Colonel John Glenn, Jr. at Hangar 'S' at Cape Canaveral, Florida on February 23rd, 1962.
Florida Senator George Smathers and President John F. Kennedy at NASA's Cape Canaveral, Pad B, Complex 37, where they were briefed on the Saturn rocket by Dr. Werner Von Braun (not pictured) on November 16th, 1963
President John F. Kennedy signs the Equal Pay Act on June 10th, 1963.
Mrs. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr., late 1962 in the White House Nursery.
President Kennedy speaks at Rice University Stadium in Houston, Texas on September 12th, 1962.
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and her sister Princess Lee Radziwill ride an elephant while on tour in India in March of 1962. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office of the White on July 11th, 1963. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy appears in a motorcade in Cork, Ireland on June 28th, 1963. (Robert Knudsen, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
November 22nd, 1963 - President Kennedy reaches out to the crowd gathered at the Hotel Texas Parking Lot Rally in Fort Worth, Texas. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
Moments after he was shot, the limousine carrying mortally wounded President John F. Kennedy races toward the hospital in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd, 1963. Secret service agent Clinton Hill rides on the back of the car, Mrs. John Connally, wife of the Texas governor, bends over her wounded husband, and Mrs. Kennedy leans over the president.
President Kennedy's casket is loaded onto Air Force One at Love Field in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd, 1963. Onlookers include Lawrence "Larry" O'Brien, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Dave Powers.
On November 22nd, 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson takes the oath of office on Air Force One following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. From left to right: Mac Kilduff (holding dictating machine), Judge Sarah T. Hughes, Jack Valenti, Congressman Albert Thomas, Marie Fehmer (behind Thomas), First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Evelyn Lincoln (eyeglasses only visible above LBJ's shoulder), Congressman Homer Thornberry (in shadow, partially obscured by LBJ), Roy Kellerman (partially obscured by Thornberry), Lem Johns (partially obscured by Mrs. Kennedy), former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Pamela Tunure (behind Brooks), Congressman Jack Brooks, Bill Moyers (mostly obscured by Brooks) Date 22 November 1963(1963-11-22) (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
The body of President John F. Kennedy lies in state in a casket in the East Room, at the White House as the Honor Guard stands guard on November 23rd, 1963. (Robert Knudsen, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
Family members and others march in the Funeral Procession of President John F. Kennedy in Washington D.C. on November 25th, 1963. Image includes: Robert F. Kennedy, Mrs. John F. Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, R. Sargent Shriver, Stephen E. Smith. (Robert Knudsen, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
Fifty years ago this month, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. He held the office for just over 1,000 days before his assassination, but they were significant days, and the man and his family became iconic around the world, especially capturing the imagination of Americans at home. This year, a four-year, $10 million effort to digitize the JFK Library and Museum’s archives is nearing completion, and LIFE Magazine has just released a series unpublished photos of the president. Collected here are a sampling of these photos, most from the JFK Library, some from LIFE and other press agencies, looking back 50 years ago
President John F. Kennedy addresses the nation from the Oval Office during the Berlin Crisis on July 25th, 1961. (Cecil Stoughton, White House/ John F. Kennedy Library)
While part of every candidate's retinue, security was simply not the pressing, public concern in 1960 that it would suddenly and necessarily become within a few short years. Here, seemingly alone in a crowd in Logan County, West Virginia, JFK speechifies from a kitchen chair as, mere feet away, a young boy absently plays with a jarringly realistic-looking toy gun. (Hank Walker/TIME & LIFE Pictures)
On a drive through Illinois during the 1960 campaign, photographer Paul Schutzer turns his camera on his colleagues in the press. (Paul Schutzer/TIME & LIFE Pictures)
Vice President Lyndon Johnson, President John F. Kennedy and Special Assistant to the President Dave Powers during Opening Day of the 1961 baseball season at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C. (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Watching the lift-off of the first American in space on May 5th, 1961. From left to right, Vice President Johnson, Arthur Schlesinger, Adm. Arliegh Burke, President Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy. (Cecil Stoughton, White House/ John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy sailing aboard the U. S. Coast Guard yacht "Manitou" on August 26th, 1962 in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. (Robert Knudsen, White House/John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy's address to the people of Berlin, Germany on June 26th, 1963. (Robert Knudsen, White House/John F. Kennedy Library)
In Miami, Florida, after President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy address the 2506 Cuban Invasion Brigade at the Orange Bowl Stadium, Mrs. Kennedy informally speaks with some of the members on December 29th, 1962.
President Kennedy with his children, Caroline and John Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House on October 10th, 1962. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy's arrival in Hyannisport, Massachusetts on May 11th, 1963. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
A large group of photographers, including White House Photographers Cecil Stoughton and Abbie Rowe, crowd around the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to document President Kennedy's signature in the Treaty Room on October 7th, 1963. (Robert Knudsen, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy confer outside the West Wing of the White House on October 3rd, 1962. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President John F. Kennedy peers into space capsule at the presentation ceremony of NASA Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) to Astronaut and Colonel John Glenn, Jr. at Hangar 'S' at Cape Canaveral, Florida on February 23rd, 1962.
Florida Senator George Smathers and President John F. Kennedy at NASA's Cape Canaveral, Pad B, Complex 37, where they were briefed on the Saturn rocket by Dr. Werner Von Braun (not pictured) on November 16th, 1963
President John F. Kennedy signs the Equal Pay Act on June 10th, 1963.
Mrs. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr., late 1962 in the White House Nursery.
President Kennedy speaks at Rice University Stadium in Houston, Texas on September 12th, 1962.
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and her sister Princess Lee Radziwill ride an elephant while on tour in India in March of 1962. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office of the White on July 11th, 1963. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
President Kennedy appears in a motorcade in Cork, Ireland on June 28th, 1963. (Robert Knudsen, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
November 22nd, 1963 - President Kennedy reaches out to the crowd gathered at the Hotel Texas Parking Lot Rally in Fort Worth, Texas. (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
Moments after he was shot, the limousine carrying mortally wounded President John F. Kennedy races toward the hospital in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd, 1963. Secret service agent Clinton Hill rides on the back of the car, Mrs. John Connally, wife of the Texas governor, bends over her wounded husband, and Mrs. Kennedy leans over the president.
President Kennedy's casket is loaded onto Air Force One at Love Field in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd, 1963. Onlookers include Lawrence "Larry" O'Brien, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Dave Powers.
On November 22nd, 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson takes the oath of office on Air Force One following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. From left to right: Mac Kilduff (holding dictating machine), Judge Sarah T. Hughes, Jack Valenti, Congressman Albert Thomas, Marie Fehmer (behind Thomas), First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Evelyn Lincoln (eyeglasses only visible above LBJ's shoulder), Congressman Homer Thornberry (in shadow, partially obscured by LBJ), Roy Kellerman (partially obscured by Thornberry), Lem Johns (partially obscured by Mrs. Kennedy), former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Pamela Tunure (behind Brooks), Congressman Jack Brooks, Bill Moyers (mostly obscured by Brooks) Date 22 November 1963(1963-11-22) (Cecil Stoughton, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
The body of President John F. Kennedy lies in state in a casket in the East Room, at the White House as the Honor Guard stands guard on November 23rd, 1963. (Robert Knudsen, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
Family members and others march in the Funeral Procession of President John F. Kennedy in Washington D.C. on November 25th, 1963. Image includes: Robert F. Kennedy, Mrs. John F. Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, R. Sargent Shriver, Stephen E. Smith. (Robert Knudsen, White House / John F. Kennedy Library)
