It gives me great pleasure to sign into law H.J. Res. 424, which will permit the Administrator of General Services to accept on behalf of the people of the United States a generous gift of land, buildings, and equipment from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library to be located in Boston.
It is fitting that I take this action today. Sunday, May 29, is the 60th anniversary of the birth of President Kennedy. It is also fitting that this working memorial to President Kennedy will be located in Boston-the city which meant so much to him and to which he meant so much.
Shortly after President Kennedy's death, the National Archives accepted custody of his Presidential papers. On February 25, 1965, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy and the executors of the John F. Kennedy estate donated his papers and other historical materials to the United States for eventual deposit in a John F. Kennedy Library.
In 1969, the Kennedy Library opened in temporary quarters in the Federal Archives and Records Center in Waltham, Massachusetts. Since that time, the library has made available to researchers the documents of the Kennedy administration. The archival staff there has established an excellent record in declassifying and opening papers that are important to an understanding of recent American history. Thus, the Kennedy Library is already an active archival institution.
When the permanent library is built on Columbia Point at the University of Massachusetts in Boston Harbor, the public will be able to view historical exhibits from the Kennedy years in the museum section while researchers are at work in the research rooms.
This new library will be the sixth in the Presidential library system--all built with private funds. These combined research centers and museums have became assets to the communities in which they are located and have served to stimulate interest in our Nation's history.
Construction of the Kennedy Library has been long delayed. I am delighted that with my signing of this resolution, it is now becoming a reality.
Note: As enacted, H.J. Res. 424 is Public Law 95-34, approved May 26.
Jimmy Carter, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library Statement on Signing H.J. Res. 424 Into Law. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/243256