A small private letter from 1964 is back in the news and it is making people raise their eyebrows. Jackie Kennedy wrote to the founding chairman of the Kennedy Center asking for guardrails to keep politics out of a national arts place.
She warned she had been pushed into a choice she did not want. βLast winter, when the decision was made to name it after him, I was not capable of making any decision β and so many people were pressuring me,β she wrote.
She made clear that she did not want the center to be a memorial that drew fight and fuss. βI donβt think he needs any memorial β his grave and his Library are that. The Center was a problem he inherited β and he would have done it differently had he initiated it. All I care about now is sparing him controversy. He has a right to peace now. So you must understand my hesitancy.β
Jackie said she would help only if she had real power over who ran the place. βIf these things cannot be granted β then I will ask in the next session of Congress that the Centerβs name be changed,β she said. βIf you will grant me these things β I will work with you with dedication. I do not think that I am difficult to work with.β
She also urged care when picking trustees. She wanted people who would love the arts, not people who owed favors. βThe appointment of trustees must never be allowed to fall into the realm of political patronage,β she said. Her worry was plain and simple.
Fast forward six decades and the quiet plea reads like a warning that was ignored. After returning to the White House, President Donald Trump moved to make himself chair of the Kennedy Center and put allies in key roles. The moves included naming a former ambassador as leader of the centerβs staff.
Many in the arts world saw this as politics taking over a place meant for art. Big name performers and groups pulled events or said they would not appear, and attendance dropped at the center. The loss of artists and audiences has been sharp and public.
Last week the president announced the center will close for two years starting July 4 to allow a major rebuild. He said the work must happen while the building is empty or the end result will be worse. He put the plan and his reasons on social media and in public statements. βIf we donβt close, the quality of Construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruption from Audiences from the many Events using the Facility, will be much longer,β he wrote.
That plan has stirred more anger and more questions. Congress helps fund the center. Many people say such a long closure and big change should not happen without clear oversight. Others say the move looks like a way to avoid more bad headlines. The centerβs name and spirit are now part of a fight the place never asked for.
Jackie Kennedy wanted a calm place that could stand above the fights of the day. Her private letter asks for trustees who will care for art, not politics. Now, people read her words and ask if a decision made in grief has been turned into something else.
Featured image via X screengrab
