
He held sixty-four press conferences during his 1,036-day
presidency. The usual venue was a large
auditorium in the State Department building.
Broadcast live, they attracted widespread interest. Years later when I worked in the State
Department building, I would attend meetings or simply wander by what became
the Loy Henderson Auditorium and express awe at the issues that were discussed
in that room between 1961 and 1963.
Kennedy’s use of television and his easy interaction with
the media—sometimes sparring with reporters using humor—became the basis of
what we considered normal exchanges between the president and media for over
fifty years. Several other presidents
conducted themselves well at news conferences, but JFK set the bar high.
The photo is from that first press conference. Credit:
Abbie Rowe. White House
Photographs. John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library and Museum, Boston; public domain.
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