The Kennedy era through the looking glass
Third floor – Arts and society
The JFK presidency represented one of the peak achievements in the relationship between politics and aesthetics. It is probably also the one in a democratic perspective, as the “aestheticization of politics” is instead a practice of totalitarian regimes: Walter Benjamin, probably the most important political philosopher of the 20th century alongside Simone Weil, rejected it, proposing instead a “politicization of aesthetics”.
No doubt, Kennedys’ need to live in a world of beauty is also an extension of the upperclass lifestyle of their family universe; when they reached power, however, and extended this style to the presidential residence, they democratized it, and offered its fruition to the citizens. By saying “the Kennedys”, we especially refer to the active role played by Jackie, who was not only an icon of style (not just in her public life), worshipped as such by the media, but also the person responsible for the complete restyling of the White House, with the objective of making it a repository of the entire history of the US. The extraordinary “film” by Franklin Schaffner A Tour of the White House, aired by CBS on February 14, 1962, with one of the highest shares of viewers ever recorded in the history of television, appears to us today as a veritable monument, impeccable also in its script, as Jackie was its undisputed protagonist: Jack intervened only at the end, almost like a guest of the house who happily enjoys that oikos. From Jackie herself, we hear that other presidents – Theodore Roosevelt in particular – had decided to restructure their abode in order to transform it into the essence of American history. Jackie’s restyling, however, is the most organic of all. In hindsight, the fact that she had to leave those premises so prematurely adds a melancholic touch to those images.
The photographs exhibited here document the invitations extended to several artists; one of the most striking images shows two other icons of feminine beauty, Maria Callas and Marilyn Monroe. Among the greatest artists of the period who visited the Kennedys in their home was Andy Warhol, who created images of almost sacred evidence to all three icons.
Today, the White House as a place embodying a synthesis of America brings to mind the work of documentary filmmakers of the American space: Ken Burns in the mainstream channel PBS; and, at a more unregulated level of centrifugal microcosms, Frederick Wiseman, especially through his masterpiece on Kennedy’s Botson, City Hall.
For Jack and Jackie, however, the White House was also a point of escape, both towards other private dwellings and to the travels in America and worldwide. We are documenting here, in particular, Jackie’s flair for travel, as shown also through lavish volumes.
Thanks to its ability to freeze the flow of time, the photographic image appears to be the quintessential art form of the Kennedy era, even more so than cinema: alas, this era did not pause in its self-contemplation shared with the world, but was brutally suspended in its incompleteness.
All in all, the Camelot mythology cultivated by Bob (as long as he was alive) and Jackie appears to be very plausible, not just an expression of vanity; or maybe it is a “vanitas” in the deepest sense of the term. Even Joshua Logan’s cinematic version of the musical Camelot is drenched in a sincere melancholy. Modern re-readings, like Pablo Larrain’s Jackie (where he asks Natalie Portman to retrace a visit to the White House) are therefore appearing like futile post-modern renditions of the myth.
Bob Dylan
Many artists referred to John F. Kennedy as “a friend”. In most cases, their relationship wasn’t actually very close; it was, nevertheless, something more than a simple expression of mutual esteem, or the reflection of an acquaintance made on the occasion of public events. It should also be noted that some of these people held liberal or even radical beliefs, as in the case of Emile de Antonio.
Bob Dylan was deeply affected by Kennedy’s assassination, as reported by his first authoritative biographer, Anthony Scaduto. This is also attested by the “Kennedy Poems”, probably written by Dylan in late 1963 but resurrected only in 1989, when they were auctioned as the “Margolis & Moss Manuscripts”. Another proof is the controversial speech – in which Dylan seems to identify himself with Lee Harvey Oswald – drowned by hisses and boos on December 13, 1963 at the ceremony organized for the Tom Paine Award bestowed to the artist by the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (ECLC) for his engagement with the civil rights movement; Dylan later defended his utterance with a long letter in verses, addressed to the ECLC’s director. Further evidence is provided by Dylan’s visit to the Dealey Plaza in Dallas, around mid-February 1964, on his way to a concert in Denver.
None of the poems in the Margolis & Moss Collection became a song, except for a few verses used in Chimes of Freedom (1964). Still, the reflections and emotions triggered by the tragic events in Dallas continued to flow like an underground river in Dylan’s work, up until 2020, with the longest song he ever composed, Murder Most Foul, an encyclopedic summation of the Dallas tragedy, imbued with a profound pathos.
The poems presented here also include He Was a Friend of Mine, a traditional folk tune mourning the loss of a friend. Bob Dylan rearranged the ballad with the aim of including it in his first album, released in 1962; the song, however, was eventually excised from the final cut. In 1965, the Byrds, who found celebrity through a brilliant cover of Dylan’s famous song Mr. Tambourine Man, recorded for their second album Turn! Turn! Turn a new version of He Was a Friend of Mine, with significant changes in the lyrics and a new arrangement by the band’s guitarist Jim (Roger) McGuinn, as a tribute to Kennedy. McGuinn would later recall in an interview that “I wrote the song the night John F. Kennedy was assassinated”.
The Byrds
He Was a Friend of Mine
He was a friend of mine
He was a friend of mine
His killing had no purpose
No reason or rhyme
He was a friend of mine
He was in Dallas town
He was in Dallas town
From a sixth floor window
A gunner shot him down
He died in Dallas town
He never knew my name
He never knew my name
Though I never met him
I knew him just the same
Oh he was a friend of mine
Leader of a nation for such a precious time
He was a friend of mine
Robert Frost
The Gift Outright
First published in 1942 but possibly written in 1936, the poem The Gift Outright by Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 1st, 1963) was recited from memory by its eminent author during Kennedy’s presidential inauguration ceremony on January 20, 1961. For the first time in US history a poet had been invited to recite his or her own verses on the day of the presidential oath, pronounced by Kennedy in front of the Chair of Supreme Court, Earl Warren. Frost had presented for the occasion a new composition titled Dedication (it was later renamed For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration). After reaching the podium, however, the poet could read only the first few lines: the blinding light of the sun reflected on the snow (a storm that hit Washington on the previous afternoon became known since then as “the Kennedy inauguration snowstorm”) prevented the “grand old man” – he was almost 87 years old – to see what was written on the sheets he was holding in his hands. Vice-president Lyndon Johnson tried to help him, to no avail. Frost eventually gave up, telling his audience that he would commit to read “a poem I can say to you without seeing it”. That poem was, indeed, The Gift Outright.
It is worth noting that Frost offered some of his most beautiful verses to the 1977 post-cold war masterpiece Telefon, directed by Don Siegel, a late gem of the Kennedy era.
Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel with the World
(USA, 1063) dir. Shirley Clarke; with Robert Frost, John F. Kennedy; sc. Robert Hughes; ed. Charlotte Zwerin, 41’
The film shows the meeting between the greatest American poet and the presidents who gives him an award, in the last year of their life. This beautiful documentary represents one of the highest points in the aesthetic universe of the Kennedy era. It is also, however, also a zenith in political terms: the great poet is a committed member of the Democratic party, and does not mince words about the politics of the other major American poet, Ezra Pound. On the other hand, Frist had been the first American poet to recite a poem at the inauguration ceremony of a US president (JFK himself).
The film, scripted by an important writer such as Robert Hughes, is directed by one of the greatest American experimental filmmakers, Shirley Clarke, who would later turn to a more radical stance in her political beliefs. It is also worth noting the name of Charlotte Zwering as the film’s editor, later co-director with the Maysles Brothers of Gimme Shelter, the tragic document of a Rolling Stones’ concert with which – together with the Bel Air massacre – the utopia of the 1960s came to its end.
Frost reads and improvises marvelous poems; the film’s universe of splendor, however, is also enriched by reaction shots of beautiful female students who are listening to him. Shirley Clarke proves herself to be – together with Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino – one of the women filmmakers who are able to convey a sensual look of the female identity.
The FRIAM Collection – Friuli Arts and Monuments
Held by the City of Udine at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Casa Cavazzini, this remarkable collection was established after the 1976 catastrophic earthquake that destroyed Gemona and many other towns in Friuli. On that occasion, over one hundred personalities from the United States – including some of the most important personalitites of rhe contemporary art scene – donated one of their works to the people of the region.
Mario Micossi, born in Artegna – a small town near Udine – and a longtime resident of New York, took to Friuli the message of this extraordinary mission of solidarity. Part of these works was supposed to be sold in order to raise substantial funds in view of the reconstruction of the ravaged area.
The New York Times art critic Thomas B. Hess and sculptor Carl Andre spearheaded the initiative. A show titled “Project Rebuild. An Exhibition to Aid Earthquake-Damaged Udine” was held in New York between August 11 and 27, 1976, featuring more than one hundred works to be later sent to Friuli, at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Udine. Maria Laura Vinci, wife of the Italian ambassador at the United Nations, was among the most notable representatives of the Friuli Arts and Monuments Committee in New York. She managed to obtain support to project from a number of notable personalities of political, entrepreneurial, and financial milieu in the US, beginning with the Rockefeller e Kennedy families.
The idea of selling the works transferred to Friuli was soon abandoned because of the uncertainties on the financial benefits of the operation (many of the avant-garde artists who had adhered to the initiative were not yet as famous as they are today); fortunately, the paintings became part of one of the best collections of modern and contemporary art in the city, with works from artists of the caliber of Carl Andre, Christo, Donald Judd, Sol Le Witt, Frank Stella, and Willem de Kooning.