JFK, Frost, and the Role of the Artist in a Democratic Society
On the eve of the 2021 presidential inaugural, join us for a virtual screening of a new film JFK: The Last Speech, which explores the dramatic relationship between two American icons—John F. Kennedy and Robert Frost. On October 26, 1963, President Kennedy dedicated the library at Amherst College to Robert Frost, who had famously recited a poem as part of JFK’s inauguration in 1961. In honoring Frost, John Kennedy paid tribute to the role of the arts and humanities in democratic societies. “When power corrupts, poetry cleanses,” JFK remarked. “For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.” The documentary chronicles how what was to be JFK’s last speech in his home state of Massachusetts inspired a group of Amherst College classmates to lives of service. Immediately following the film, Tom Putnam, Director of the Concord Museum and former Director of the Kennedy Library, will moderate a conversation with Amherst College professor Rhonda Cobham-Sander, filmmaker Bestor Cram, presidential historian Ellen Fitzpatrick, and Frost biographer Jay Parini.
This program is co-sponsored by the Concord Museum, Mass Humanities, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and The Umbrella Arts Center.
Advanced reservation required.
