The John F. Kennedy National Historic Site provides public access to the birthplace of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th President of the United States. The home has been restored to its 1917 appearance by Kennedy's mother, Rose Kennedy. Kennedy is the nation's only Catholic President, and the only President to have been awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Events during his administration, cut short by his 1963 assassination, include the Cuban Missile Crisis, Bay of Pigs Invasion, Space Race, Civil Rights Movement, and the building of the Berlin Wall.
The site offers period rooms, 30-minute guided tours, self-guided audio tours, self-guided neighborhood tours, guided neighborhood walking tours, Junior Ranger activities, and teacher workshops. The audio tour consists of the words and memories of Kennedy's mother; and is available in English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese. Reservations are required for guided neighborhood walking tours. The site is currently inaccessible by wheelchair.
A panel discussion including former U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig, special counsel to JFK Theodore Sorensen, and special assistant to LBJ Jack Valenti looks at presidential policies during the Vietnam War. This discussion follows the discussion "Vietnam and the Presidency: Inside the White House I."
34th president Jimmy Carter (through a taped interview) discusses his experiences with the aftermath of the Vietnam War during his presidency. A panel discussion including former U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig, special counsel to JFK Theodore Sorensen, and special assistant to LBJ Jack Valenti on presidential policies at the time follows. Daughter of JFK and JFK Library Foundation president Caroline Kennedy introduces the event.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has digitized thousands of formerly secret documents declassified to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests.
Keyword search capabilities are provided for the complete site. In addition, there are eight collections designated as "frequently requested records" that total nearly 8,000 documents. These collections cover a number of Cold War topics: CIA involvement in the 1954 coup in Guatemala; convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg; the 1961 Bay of Pigs affair; and two well-known espionage incidents.
Additional topics include POW MIAs in Vietnam, human rights abuses in Latin America, and UFOs. A disclaimer notes that some material cannot be disclosed due to national security laws, and released pages often have material deleted or blacked out. Still, the material offered is voluminous and useful for studying Cold War foreign policy and military history.