This exhibit is a 2013 tribute to JFK's legacy. It recalls both his life and untimely passing during 1963. In July of that year, the President visited North American College in Rome as part of a Vatican tour that culminated in his meeting the newly elected Pope Paul VI.

It portrays the alternatingly profound joy and intense sorrow experienced by the community of American clergy and seminarians abroad who witnessed a brief glimpse of "Camelot" before that era came to an abrupt end.

The November 1963 correspondence and July 1963 images are from the Archbishop Martin J. O'Connor Collection. O'Connor was rector of the North American College in Rome, from 1948-1964, and a top social coordinator to the pontiff. The collection contains literally thousands of documents and photographs of visiting clergy, dignitaries and heads-of-state. 

(The exhibit may be accessed by clicking the captions on the right. For closer examination, all images may be enlarged as PDFs by double-clicking)