In this episode, we explore how President Kennedy’s call to public service helped shape a generation of dedicated government leaders. His vision for a professional and expert-driven public sector laid the foundation for decades of democratic progress. Historian Fredrik Logevall joins us to reflect on the lasting impact of JFK’s New Frontier. This episode is part three of a four-part series taking a closer look at what made President John F. Kennedy a strong democratic leader, not as a leader of ...
Jun 05, 2025•21 min•Season 14Ep. 3
In this episode, we look back at how President Kennedy understood the needs of his roles as a diplomat abroad and a strong negotiator at home. Historian Fredrik Logevall joins a conversation as we look at events that tested Kennnedy’s skills as a negotiator. This episode is part two of a four-part series taking a closer look at what made President John F. Kennedy a strong democratic leader, not as a leader of the Democratic Party, but as the leader of a modern democracy....
May 16, 2025•29 min•Season 14Ep. 2
Democracy requires leaders who understand the responsibility they hold as elected leaders. In this episode, we will return to the speech President Kennedy made in Massachusetts, now referred to as the “City on a Hill” speech. Historian Fredrik Logevall joins a conversation that will look at the four specific qualities of leadership Kennedy highlighted as essential for a healthy democracy. This episode is part one of a four-part series taking a closer look at what made President John F. Kennedy a...
Apr 17, 2025•29 min•Season 14Ep. 1
For more than 150 years, women have put their name forward to run in a presidential election. Of them, only three have made it on the ticket for a major party, and just two have made it to the top of the ticket. We discussed the history of women running for the top job with UMass-Boston Center for Women in Politics Director Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson and the state of the 2024 campaign with NPR political reporter Asma Khalid . This episode of JFK35 contains adult language that may not be appropriate ...
Oct 31, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 13Ep. 6
Presidential campaigns, from John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960 to today’s candidates, have strategically sought endorsements from celebrities and social influencers. We'll look at the history of campaigns using pop culture and technology to create viral moments.
Oct 24, 2024•34 min•Season 13Ep. 5
From the 1960 campaign to today, black and latino voices have played important roles in presidential campaigns. In this episode, we speak with Columbia Journalism School Dean Jelani Cobb and Lincoln Project Co-Founder Mike Madrid about how presidential campaigns have made special efforts to earn the vote of the nation’s Black and Latino communities.
Oct 17, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 13Ep. 4
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson told the nation he would not seek re-election as President. This year, President Joe Biden stepped down in the middle of the 2024 presidential campaign. In this episode, we speak with LBJ Foundation President and CEO Mark Updegrove along with presidential historian Alexis Coe about presidents who chose to “pass the baton” and the country’s legacy of ensuring peaceful transitions between presidents for nearly 250 years.
Oct 03, 2024•52 min•Season 13Ep. 3
In John F. Kennedy’s Presidential Campaign, there were many concerns over the high costs of running for president. Still, the money required to run in 1960 is dwarfed by the expenses of today’s presidential and congressional campaigns. Former Senator Russell Feingold , a chief architect of bipartisan campaign finance reform, discusses how our elections got to this point and how America can still untangle the mess of financing political campaigns.
Sep 26, 2024•29 min•Season 13Ep. 2
For the first time in more than 40 years, a president was fired on and injured by an assassin’s bullet. In this episode, we speak with presidential historian Alexis Coe about the history of violence against presidential candidates and author and writer Tom Nichols about how the country’s intensely partisan politics have spurred violent acts across American communities.
Sep 19, 2024•50 min•Season 13Ep. 1
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy was the mother of a 20th century political dynasty. In this episode, we’ll explore her history through the museum she helped create at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site and speak with historian Barbara Perry , author of Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch .
May 16, 2024•59 min•Season 12Ep. 6
This Earth Day, the JFK Library Foundation announced the Earthshot Innovation Challenge: Northeast U.S. Edition. The challenge is a $100,000 prize to ignite regional innovations to address climate change. Foundation Executive Director Rachel Flor discusses the award and when winner’s will be announced.
May 02, 2024•19 min•Season 12Ep. 5
In 1934, the National Archives and Records Administration was created to oversee the protection and dissemination of governmental and historic records of the United States. In this episode, we speak with the Dr. Colleen Shogan, the 11th Archivist of the United States.
Apr 18, 2024•33 min•Season 12Ep. 4
The Hemingway Letters Project seeks to publish a comprehensive edition of the writer Ernest Hemingway’s letters. In this episode, we talk with two of the project's editors, Verna Kale and Sandra Spanier, in advance of the publication of volume 6 of the series. We talk about the detective work they’ve done and how Hemingway’s letters give a deeper understanding of the man.
Apr 11, 2024•48 min•Season 12Ep. 3
What did President Kennedy think of the presidency himself? And what makes a president? In this episode, we hear from JFK himself and talk to historian Alexis Coe about her project at New America on the presidency, as well as her work as an historian.
Mar 21, 2024•43 min•Season 12Ep. 2
On August 28, 1963, 250,000 people of different races, religions, and economic backgrounds convened on the nation’s capital for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The man behind organizing the event – Bayard Rustin – is profiled in a new Oscar-nominated film “Rustin.” In this episode, we speak with producers of the film, Tonia Davis and Bruce Cohen , and historian Dr. Clayborne Carson of Stanford University.
Feb 29, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 12Ep. 1
In February 1963, President Kennedy said, “A man may die, but an idea lives on.” In this episode, we look at the legacy JFK left behind and how some are continuing the spirit of his work. We speak with NASA astronaut Victor Glover who represents the new generation of space explorers and is set to be the first black man to travel to the Moon. We also have a conversation with JFK Presidential Library Director Alan Price and JFK Library Foundation Executive Director Rachel Flor about their work pre...
Nov 30, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 11Ep. 8
President Kennedy’s trip to Texas was meant to rally support for his programs and policies and lay groundwork for the 1964 election. But instead, something happened that changed the course of history: the president was assassinated. The world seemed to stop as John F. Kennedy’s state funeral was arranged. This episode brings you into the White House in the aftermath of the assassination and historian Fredrik Logevall looks at the trip to Texas and how the country - and the world - mourned the pr...
Nov 21, 2023•42 min
Sixty years after President Kennedy’s administration, fewer than 1 in 5 people in the United States have a living memory of the President. But his legacy continues to live on in those generations that have come after him. In this episode, we speak with the next generation of leaders who will help carry the torch left by President Kennedy. This episode features interviews with Emily Cherniak , founder and executive director of New Politics, and two returning Peace Corps volunteers, Keevon Baten a...
Nov 16, 2023•52 min•Season 11Ep. 6
In 1963, President Kennedy came home to Ireland, the land of his ancestors. During that visit, he called upon the Irish to take their place among the world’s peacemakers. In the decades that followed, Ireland would experience first hand the difficulty of peacemaking. Sixty years after Kennedy’s visit, the country would live up to Kennedy’s challenge as a global peacemaker. In this episode, Ireland Tánaiste Micheál Martin T.D. and Good Friday Agreement negotiator and JFK Profile in Courage honore...
Nov 09, 2023•38 min•Season 11Ep. 5
On the heels of his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, JFK traveled northward to Ireland, where his great-grandparents emigrated from in the 19th century. The first Irish Catholic president, JFK’s visit was both meaningful for him personally and a rousing and significant event for the people of Ireland. We’ll hear about the impact of his trip and speak with Dr. Catherine Healy , Historian-in-Residence at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, about JFK’s travels in the country.
Nov 02, 2023•22 min•Season 11Ep. 4
In the summer of 1963, JFK arrived in a divided Germany with the recent construction of the new Berlin Wall nearly two years earlier. President John F. Kennedy spent his entire administration in a “twilight struggle” with the Soviet Union including averting possible total war during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Historian Tim Naftali takes us from JFK’s Presidential Campaign to his final foreign trip to West Berlin. The Atlantic staff writer and Cold War expert Tom Nichols explains how JFK’s...
Oct 26, 2023•49 min•Season 11Ep. 3
In 1963, President Kennedy gave a speech at American University outlining “a strategy of peace” on how the two superpowers, the U.S. and Soviet Union, could back off the precipice of total nuclear annihilation. In this episode, we look back at the speech with historian Fredrik Logevall and people who were there on campus. We also interview former Secretary of Energy Dr. Ernest Moniz about JFK’s legacy when it comes to nuclear arms and national security. We also look at JFK’s other legacy of peac...
Oct 19, 2023•50 min
Black Americans, particularly in the South, were denied their right to vote, with poll taxes, voter ID laws, literacy tests, intimidation, and mob violence. By 1963, the Kennedy administration was prepared to act to expand the access to the vote, though Kennedy himself would not live to see the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. This episode looks at where voting rights were in 1963, and at how the fight continues today as some states expand the franchise and others seek to r...
Oct 12, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 11Ep. 1
In 1963, President Kennedy would make decisions that would reflect on his lasting legacy. It would also be a year that he would never complete after becoming the fourth sitting U.S. President to be assassinated on November 22, 1963. In this special series, we will look at some of the President’s key trips and policy decisions from 1963 and how the legacy of those decisions continue to live on today.
Oct 06, 2023•4 min
Since the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established, Boston has been described as a “city on a hill” or a city to be looked to as an example for others. President Kennedy drew from the same material when he left for Washington D.C. In this episode, we look back at some of Boston's notable mayors who left their mark on the original “city on a hill” including President Kennedy's grandfather, John Fitzgerald. We also look ahead to Boston’s future under new mayor Michelle Wu.
May 18, 2023•40 min•Season 10Ep. 7
President John F. Kennedy was the first president to take live televised questions from the press on a regular basis and he would provide the model for what would become the modern television presidency. In this episode, we’ll take a look at Kennedy's relationship with the media at news conferences and have a conversation with members of today’s White House press corps about how different presidents have approached their relationships with the press once in office.
Apr 20, 2023•35 min•Season 10Ep. 6
It has been 60 years since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963. In this episode, we’ll hear how far the United States has come since Kennedy signed the landmark legislation, and just how far it still has to go in guaranteeing equal pay for equal work.
Mar 31, 2023•22 min•Season 10Ep. 5
Sixty years ago, President John F. Kennedy passed the Equal Pay Act of 1963. It was one of the first federal anti-discrimination laws that dealt with wage discrimination on the basis of sex. While Kennedy was the man who signed the bill into law, it was only because of a women-led movement that the act became a reality.
Mar 30, 2023•30 min•Season 10Ep. 4
The JFK Library plays an important role as a place where original documents, photographs, audio, film, and other artifacts from John F. Kennedy's presidency are preserved. While the pandemic interrupted some of the Library's normal activities, archivists used the time to reduce a large digital backlog of materials waiting to be published online. Archivists Stacey Chandler and Abbey Malangone provide an update from the archives it returns to post-pandemic operations.
Mar 09, 2023•24 min•Season 10Ep. 3
Presidents’ Day is a day to celebrate past presidents and American history. In this episode, we speak with two “living history interpreters” who have spent years portraying historical figures to the public. Audrey Stuck-Girard portrays Abigail Adams and other 18th century figures and Bill Barker portrays President Thomas Jefferson.
Feb 23, 2023•30 min•Season 10Ep. 2
