By an act of Congress — Public Law 88-260 signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson — it was originally planned to be called The National Cultural Center. But in January of 1964, it officially became the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
On January 23, 1964, President Johnson said, “All those who worked in this cause can now know that they are not only honoring the memory of a very great man, but they are enriching our whole American life.”
President Kennedy was not an artist. He was a champion of the arts. “If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him,” he said in 1961. “We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.”
He recognized that if the United States was to continue to grow and flourish, it would have to continue to develop its culture, declaring, “To further the appreciation of culture among all the people. To increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art — this is one of the fascinating challenges of these days.”
His time in office was all too brief. But in those 35 months, President Kennedy brought us safely through the Cuban Missile Crisis. He began the political work that led to the passage sweeping civil rights legislation. And he set the goal that pointed us toward the moon.
But perhaps his greatest achievement was to be a visionary leader who understood the value of supporting the visions of others; that enriching and supporting the arts was the means to make our nation into the best version of herself. With his eyes always on the future, he said in 1961, “I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty.”