Why was it called John F. Kennedy 's camelot?

Answer 1

The Camelot question has been answered since 1989 in a book titled "The Kennedy Encyclopedia (page 30) written by Caroline Latham & Jeannie Sakol. Publisher is NAL Books in Canada copyright Latham and Sakol 1989. Quote: It was not until after the death of President John F. Kennedy that the concept of Cemelot began to be associated with his administration, and the person who made the explicit association with King Arthur's Court, with its high ideals and progressive manners, was Jacqueline Kennedy. By ironic coinicidence, two days before the President's asassination, the Kennedys held a ball at the White House and the Marine Band had played selections from My Fair Lady and Camelot, both favorites of the President. The music included the tune that was later to seem a nostalgic summing-up of the Kennedy Presidency: Don't let it be forgot that once there was a spot for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot In an interview given just weeks after the President's death, Mrs. Kennedy told journalist Theodore H. White, "When Jack quoted something, it was usually classical, but I'm so ashamed of myself--all I keep thinking of is this line from a musical comedy." She then quoted the lines from Camelot, citing them as favorites of the President. There will be great Presidents again but there will never be another Camelot again. White later told biographer C. David Heymann that he realized the comparison was a "mis-reading of history," but added that it seemed a small favor to grant the former First Lady "So the epitaph of the Kennedy administration became Camelot--a magic moment in American history when gallant men danced with beautfiul women, when great deeds were done, and when the White House became the center of the universe. Unquote

Answer 2

The term "Camelot" was applied to the presidency of John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) by his wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1929-1994). Camelot refers to the seat of the court of the legendary King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; it has come to mean a place or time of idyllic happiness.

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Answer 3

Calling former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy "an iron-

willed and ferocious guardian of her husband's legacy," Joyce

Hoffman described the collaboration between Mrs. Kennedy and

journalist Theodore White that gave birth to the "Camelot

myth" in the weeks immediately following the president's

assassination, and what it has meant to our nation. Professor

of Journalism at Old Dominion University, Ms. Hoffman

discussed her recent book, "Theodore H. White & Journalism as

Illusion", at a U.Va. Miller Center forum Nov. 28.

Jacqueline Kennedy summoned the Pulitzer Prize-winning

journalist to the family compound at Hyannisport only a week

after her husband's death. Teddy White had become a confidant

of the President during the 1960 campaign, and she implored

him to "rescue" Jack Kennedy from "the bitter old men who

write history."

As Mrs. Kennedy struggled to find what she considered an

appropriate "classical metaphor" for her husband's presidency,

Teddy White slowly abandoned his journalistic objectivity and

became a willing collaborator in the creation of a heroic

national myth, according to Ms. Hoffman. In the echoes of a

favorite Broadway musical of the time, Jacqueline Kennedy

found her heroic metaphor and cast the spell of Camelot over

the American people with the help of Mr. White.

As Ms. Hoffman noted, seldom would the collaboration of myth-

seeker and myth-maker ever be quite so unconditional. White's

essay, just 1,000 words long, became a defining document in

American's political and cultural life, she said.

The durability of the Camelot myth, even in light of subsequent

revelations about the Kennedy years, remains a tribute to the

vision and determination of the former First Lady. Professor

Hoffman stressed that Jacqueline Kennedy and Teddy White did

not create the Camelot myth simply to aggrandize a fallen

president, but also out of a genuine sense of national need.

Seeing the nation locked in a desperate, dangerous Cold War

struggle with the Soviet Union, Kennedy and White believed

that a heroic national myth would help the U.S. prevail. Mrs.

Kennedy's strong desire to rename Cape Canaveral after her

husband was evidence of her wish to impart the power of the

Camelot myth to America's space race with the Soviets, Ms.

Hoffman said.

What the Camelot myth obscured, she explained, was "the

reality that Kennedy won the presidency with one-tenth of one

percent of the vote" and that at the time of the assassination,

his administration was still stained by the Bay of Pigs fiasco

and shaken by the brinkmanship of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Camelot myth was "ultimately harmful to the Kennedy

years," Ms. Hoffman believes. "The notion that the New Frontier

was some lost golden age certainly robs that period of

balanced judgments." In later years, Jacqueline Kennedy was

herself trapped by the idyllic memory she had created for her

husband and remarked that the choice of Camelot was

"overwrought," noted Ms. Hoffman. While sympathetic to the

ideals and determination that motivated both Jacqueline

Kennedy and Teddy White, Ms. Hoffman judges that the Camelot

myth was "too grand an idea for our nation.

Answer 4

both JFK and king Arthur had things in common. king Arthur had the knights of the round table and JFK had his presidential cabinet .king Arthur fought dragons and JFK fought communism .they were both killed.

Answer 5

This idea came from Mrs. Kennedy after her husband's death. The newspapers picked it up and used it. The picture it was suppose to give was a time of peace and security even though it was far from true.

Answer 6

The kennedys were reffered to as Camelot as they were a very large and talented family and many were well remembered after their death.