Existing comment:
Inaugural Guests
America's Poet:
Robert Frost
Kennedy called Robert Frost “the great American poet of our time.” Kennedy admired Frost for his poetry which he felt embodied the individualism of American creativity. Frost admired Kennedy as well and supported his presidential campaign.
Kennedy awarded Frost the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 and Frost joined Secretary Stewart Udall on a goodwill mission to Russia. In Kennedy’s most important speech on the arts, delivered at the opening of the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College, he said, “I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist...art is not a form of propaganda, it is a form of truth.” |