November 22, 1963: two perspectives
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Other than the museum at the former Texas School Book Depository, the only two permanent museum exhibits in the US to cover the assassination of President John F. Kennedy are those at the presidential libraries of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. They are very different from one another.
The Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum never made a point to commemorate or discuss President Kennedy’s death. However, near the end of the permanent exhibit is a small area about November 22, 1963. It is austere and solemn; the date is the only exhibit or caption text.
The short, dark corridor has a lowered ceiling. There are five small television screens showing news coverage of the weekend.
Included is Walter Cronkite’s emotional announcement of the president’s death (though no footage of the assassination).
It is all very brief.
Visitors exit through a small, well-lit rotunda commemorating President Kennedy’s lasting legacy, showcasing places around the world dedicated to him.
Past the rotunda is a warm, wood-paneled corridor that invites visitors to explore, in detail, the Kennedy Family Legacy.
Leaving this corridor, visitors enter the a beautiful glass pavilion, which, earlier — upon entering the building — appeared to be a dark box, but is in fact a space full of light and hope, with a commanding view of the sky, the harbor and Boston. The effect is dramatic and effective.
The permanent exhibit at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum also includes a section on President Kennedy’s assassination.
It is considerably different, in scope, content, and tenor, from the exhibit at the JFK Library. In addition to explaining the assassination, it contains the perspectives of both Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson (whose audio recollection, recorded a few days later, plays as visitors enter the gallery).
Coming near the entrance to the museum’s main exhibit, it serves less as a commemoration of a horrible tragedy in United States history and more (considerably more, I think) as a lynchpin in the LBJ Origin Story.
The Gerald Ford museum told the story of Watergate at the beginning of the exhibit on his life, to sort of get all that out of the way, but the tenor of the November 22 exibit at the Johnson Library is different — and, in my opinion, strikes exactly the opposite tone as does the one at the Kennedy Library.
I believe that a presidential library operated by the government should not primarily serve the interests of that president and his family and private foundation. Along those lines, I believe the proper place for the “main” exhibit about November 22 is at the Kennedy, and not the Johnson — one that explores not only the event, but its aftermath, and its lasting effects.
Perhaps in time, as the most loyal of the imagekeepers fade, exhibits at presidential libraries — operated by our government with our tax dollars and in our name — can focus on good, balanced public history, presenting meaningful examinations of issues and events for our citizens and the world, and cease being part of political, legacy-burnishing machines.
