Eleven days before the tragic assassination that shook the world, President John F. Kennedy visited Arlington National Cemetery to honor veterans. This visit, on Veterans Day 1963, was a poignant moment before his untimely death on November 22, 1963, in Dallas. His connection with Arlington would become even more profound as it became his final resting place.
President Kennedy is one of only two U.S. Presidents interred at Arlington National Cemetery, the other being William Howard Taft. While initial thoughts considered Brookline, Massachusetts, his birthplace, as a burial location, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy held a different vision. She desired a gravesite accessible to all Americans, a place where the public could pay their respects to the fallen leader. This decision, influenced by discussions with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, both now also buried at Arlington, led to the selection of Arlington National Cemetery. The original site chosen was a gentle slope on a line connecting Arlington House and the Lincoln Memorial, symbolizing a link between history and national values.
The state funeral for President Kennedy commenced on November 25, 1963, at 3 p.m., marking a moment of global mourning. Dignitaries from around the world, including President Charles de Gaulle of France, Chancellor Ludwig Erhard of West Germany, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom, attended to honor the fallen president. A flyover of fifty Navy and Air Force jets, followed by a symbolic wing dip from Air Force One, paid a final aerial tribute. Televised live to millions, the funeral drew unprecedented attention to Arlington National Cemetery, significantly increasing public interest in burials at this hallowed ground.
Initially, the gravesite was a 20-by-30-foot plot marked by a white picket fence. In the year following President Kennedy’s death, the site became a place of pilgrimage, attracting up to 3,000 visitors per hour and an estimated 50,000 on weekends. Within three years, over 16 million people had visited, demonstrating the profound impact of Kennedy’s presidency and the nation’s collective grief.
To accommodate the immense crowds and ensure a more fitting memorial, cemetery officials and the Kennedy family collaborated on a redesign. Construction began in 1965 and concluded on July 20, 1967. The redesigned gravesite features an eternal flame, ignited by Mrs. Kennedy, emanating from the center of a five-foot circular granite stone placed at the head of the grave. This eternal flame has become an iconic symbol of Kennedy’s enduring legacy and the nation’s remembrance.
The Kennedy family covered the direct costs associated with the grave area itself. The federal government, recognizing the national significance of the site and the need to manage public access, allocated $1,770,000 through the 1965 Public Works appropriation to improve the surrounding area for visitors.
The John Kennedy gravesite is also a place where other members of the Kennedy family are interred, creating a family circle within Arlington. Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated in 1968, was buried nearby in 1971. Senator Edward M. Kennedy was laid to rest in an adjacent plot following his death in 2009. A memorial marker honors Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., JFK’s eldest brother. Former First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was buried beside President Kennedy on May 23, 1994, completing the family circle at this poignant site in Arlington National Cemetery. The John Kennedy gravesite at Arlington stands not only as a memorial to a president but also as a testament to a moment in American history and a place of continued reflection and remembrance.
