The Kennedy Challenge | Special Topics (Summer PD 2024)

The Kennedy Challenge: Inspiring a Divided Nation as Candidate and President

Date and Time: July 23, 1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m. ET

About This Session

On January 14, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy, less than two weeks after launching his presidential campaign, asked an audience at the National Press Club “. . . what do the times—and the people—demand for the next four years at the White House?” Join The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza for an examination of President Kennedy’s leadership during the early years of the 1960s, a time marked by change and division in the country. This session will explore how Kennedy used the presidency to challenge Americans to become engaged citizens while defining the role of the modern president. Educators will examine how President Kennedy used the ideas set out in his 1960 speech to approach issues facing his administration as outlined in the remarks he planned to deliver to the Texas Democratic State Committee in Austin on November 22, 1963.

Watch the recording of The Sixth Floor Museum’s 2023 Special Topics in History session below.

Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

This session is sponsored by the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Located inside the former Texas School Book Depository Building in downtown Dallas, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey attracts visitors from all over the United States and across the world. In 1989, the main exhibit, John F. Kennedy and the Memory of a Nation, opened to the public on the sixth floor where critical evidence was found linked to President Kennedy’s Assassination on November 22, 1963. The exhibit is divided into key historical sections with contextual overlays following the path of John F. Kennedy’s life, death, and legacy. The museum encourages visitors to examine the evolution of today’s global society through Kennedy’s presidential legacy.