Former US President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy watch the first of the 1962 America's Cup races aboard the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., off Newport, Rhode Island, in this handout image taken on September 15, 1962.President Barack Obama will visit John F. Kennedy’s gravesite and honour two of Kennedy’s lasting initiatives as the US observes the 50th anniversary of his assassination in the coming week.
Mr Obama and his wife Michelle will be accompanied by former president Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton at a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday afternoon.
Also that day, Mr Obama will be joined by scores of prominent Americans who have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Kennedy established the modern version of the medal, the highest award the US bestows on civilians, in the months before his death.
He was killed two weeks before he planned to honour the inaugural group of recipients, and it fell to president Lyndon Johnson to preside over the ceremony at the White House on the day Kennedy’s family was moving out.
Since then more than 500 people have received the medal.
Mr Obama will present the award on Wednesday to the 2013 recipients, including Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, the late astronaut Sally Ride, women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem, baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, country music singer Loretta Lynn and 10 others.
On Wednesday evening, Mr Obama plans a speech on Kennedy’s legacy of service with a dinner at the Smithsonian American History Museum attended by current and past recipients of the medal, including baseball’s Hank Aaron, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, singer Aretha Franklin, economist Alan Greenspan, activist Jesse Jackson and former secretary of state Henry Kissinger.
Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, is to introduce Mr Obama at the dinner. Other Kennedy members plan to attend, including Robert Kennedy’s daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and former diplomat Jean Kennedy Smith, a former medal winner and John Kennedy’s last surviving sibling.
Friday marks 50 years to the day since Kennedy was killed by a gunman in Dallas. Mr Obama will meet privately at the White House that day with leaders and volunteers from the Peace Corps programme Kennedy established.
Details of Mr Obama’s plans were provided by the White House to the Associated Press.
President Harry Truman established an early version of the Medal of Freedom in 1945 to recognise those whose actions overseas advanced the national security of the US or its allies, but it could also be bestowed by other top US officials.
By executive order in February 1963, Kennedy made bestowing the Medal of Freedom a presidential privilege and expanded its scope to honour contributions to world peace, culture and other public interests.
After Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson decided to move forward with the lunchtime ceremony in the State Dining Room and surprised the dignitaries in attendance by adding Kennedy and the recently deceased Pope John XXIII as posthumous recipients.
“In the shattering sequence of events that began 14 days ago, we encountered in its full horror man’s capacity for hatred and destruction,” Johnson said at the ceremony. “There is little we do not know of evil, but it is time to turn once more to the pursuits of honour and excellence and of achievement that have always marked the true direction of the American people.”
Jacqueline Kennedy declined Johnson’s plans to also award a medal to her. She watched from an anteroom as Attorney General Robert Kennedy accepted the medal on his brother’s behalf. That afternoon, Mrs Kennedy and her children moved out of the White House.