On January 23, 1964, this act was approved by President Lyndon B. Johnson, renaming the planned National Cultural Center to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as a “living memorial” to the slain president.

On January 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered his inaugural address in which he announced that “we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.”