A statue of John F. Kennedy (sometimes called ''John F. Kennedy'') by Isabel McIlvain is installed outside the

Massachusetts State House The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the state capitol and seat of government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. The buildin ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, United States.

Description

The

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

with green patina measures approximately 8 ft. 2 in. x 3 ft. x 18 in., and rests on a granite base that measures approximately 27 x 72 x 87.5 in. It cost $180,000, and weighs 600 lbs.

History

The memorial was designed in 1988 and dedicated on May 29, 1990, the date that would have been Kennedy's 73rd birthday. The ceremony attracted a crowd of 2,500 that included Kennedy's widow

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A p ...

, his brother

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

and other family members. The statue, which depicts Kennedy in midstride, quickly became a tourist attraction on the State House grounds. It was surveyed by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

's "

Save Outdoor Sculpture! Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. History Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Herit ...

" program in 1994. Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

in 2001, however, police closed the gates to the State House lawn, cutting off public access to several statues, including Kennedy,

Anne Hutchinson Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury; July 1591 – August 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her ...

Henry Cabot Lodge Henry Cabot Lodge (May 12, 1850 November 9, 1924) was an American Republican politician, historian, and statesman from Massachusetts. He served in the United States Senate from 1893 to 1924 and is best known for his positions on foreign polic ...

Horace Mann Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts Sta ...

and

Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison ...

. These statues were still visible at a distance from the Beacon Street sidewalk, through a fence. Only the

equestrian statue of Joseph Hooker An equestrian statue of Joseph Hooker (sometimes called ''General Joseph Hooker'') is installed outside the Massachusetts State House, facing Beacon Street in Boston, in the United States. Hooker, a native of Hadley, Massachusetts, was a Unite ...

and the

statue of Mary Dyer A statue of Quaker religious martyr Mary Dyer by Sylvia Shaw Judson is installed outside the Massachusetts State House, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Description and history The bronze sculpture was commissioned by the Commonwealth of ...

remained open to close public inspection, as they are located in the pedestrian plaza of the building's main public entrance. For two days in 2013, on the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination, state officials allowed visitors to get close to the statue, with a park ranger present. Starting in 2015, they made access to the statue a regular feature during business hours, on weekdays, in spring and summer. There is still no direct access from the street; visitors must first enter the State House and go through security screening, then exit the building from a door near the statue where security officers are stationed. Public access to the statue was again cut off in March 2020, when visitors were barred from the State House amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In October 2020, officials announced plans to move the JFK statue closer to Beacon Street, so that it can easily be seen from the public sidewalk, which forms a portion of the Freedom Trail.

References

External links

John F. Kennedy Sculpture – Boston, MA
at Waymarking 1988 sculptures 1990 establishments in Massachusetts Bronze sculptures in Massachusetts Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy Granite sculptures in Massachusetts Monuments and memorials in Boston Outdoor sculptures in Boston Sculptures of men in Massachusetts Statues in Boston Statues of presidents of the United States {{Massachusetts-sculpture-stub

Description

History

See also

References

External links