“American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’s Life and Times” – New Photo Exhibition

Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts, 1957 (Photo Philippe Halsman/Magnum Photos)

Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts, 1957. (Photo Philippe Halsman/Magnum Photos)

A new exhibition commemorating President John F. Kennedy’s life and work will be on view at the History Meeting House from May 20 through June 18. “American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’s Life and Times” is one of the most exhaustively researched collections of Kennedy photos ever assembled and it is based on the book JFK: A Vision for America.

Kennedy’s administration coincided with a golden age of photojournalism in America. No single politician was photographed more than Kennedy at that time—from his first congressional bid as a decorated war hero in 1946, his fairytale marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953, his run for the White House in 1960 and role as commander in chief, to the tragedy of his death in Dallas in 1963. Documentary photographers captured the optimism and challenges of the early 1960s in some of the finest and most vivid images of the period. Some of the photographs on display are iconic; others have never before been published. The exhibition brings together images culled from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, Getty Images, private collections and the Kennedy family archives that capture the dramatic scope of Kennedy’s life.

This exhibition in Warsaw is organized by the U.S. Embassy Warsaw’s American Center in Warsaw in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The exhibit will also be displayed at American Spaces and other venues throughout Poland until February 2019.

As part of the John F. Kennedy Centennial Celebration, the U.S. Embassy Warsaw’s American Center in Warsaw is organizing a series events that will accompany the photo exhibition aimed at inspiring new generations to find meaning in the enduring values that formed the heart of the Kennedy presidency— courage, freedom, justice, service and vision.