The University Center for Politics hosted a photo exhibit Wednesday evening unveiling nearly 80 previously unreleased photos of former President John F. Kennedy as part of their “JFK100” series of events to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday on May 29.
Politics Prof. Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics, opened the exhibit with a panel discussion in front of a large audience in Minor Hall. The panel featured Sabato, photo donor Lana Sherrard and Kennedy historian John T. Shaw.
“It’s hard to imagine JFK at 100,” Sabato said. “He’s frozen in time at age 46.”
Sabato, Sherrard and Shaw presented photos of Kennedy, family and colleagues on a projector, and discussed what was happening in each photo. The panel also took questions from the audience.
The panel shared anecdotes about Kennedy’s life, like his chronic health problems, his friendship with former Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater and his consistently messy desk.
“Kennedy is still the most admired president of the modern era,” Sabato said. “He was able to inspire many young people to go into politics or join the Peace Corps, and to do lots of things domestically and internationally.”
Each member of the panel then discussed their personal connections to Kennedy and the reasons why they became interested in his life.
Sabato currently teaches a politics course called “The Kennedy Half Century” and has been interested in the president since age seven, when he campaigned door-to-door for then-Senator Kennedy.
“That’s why I always encourage young people to get involved in politics and to go places when you are young and mobile and you’ve got the time and energy to do it,” Sabato said. “It can change your life.”
Shaw is the author of “JFK in the Senate: Pathway to the Presidency,” which documents Kennedy’s role as the junior senator from Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960.
“I was surprised there wasn’t a book just on Kennedy’s career,” Shaw said. “Kennedy was part of a huge group of people trying to find their way in the Senate.”
Sherrard said she became interested in Kennedy after completing a report on the Vietnam War in high school. Kennedy was president during the beginning of the Vietnam War, before Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated him in Dallas in 1963.
“I find sellers, and then I buy [the photos],” Sherrard said. “I just try my best to try to preserve JFK’s legacy.”
After the panel, attendees walked around the exhibit, which featured nearly 80 photos and additional artifacts. Sherrard loaned 60 of the photos for the exhibit and another 20 of them were donated to the center from a private collection.
Glenn Crossman, director of programs at the Center of Politics, described a series of seven events that will follow this kickoff of the JFK100 series.
“This fall, we will do Kennedy and the Space Era legacy,” Crossman said. “We are bringing in U.Va. alumni who have been astronauts, which should be fun.”
The program will partner with the Media Studies department for the next event in the series, which will cover Kennedy and the media. Other events include a re-examination of the Kennedy administration and a civics education camp for K-6 students on Kennedy.
“Many will say that in two and a half years, he wasn’t able to do that much,” Sabato said. “That’s true to a certain degree, but he remains in the memory of Americans who lived in that time, as well as younger Americans who have studied him in school … a president who inspires.”
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