Jackie Kennedy once expressed fear that the Kennedy Center would “fall into the realm of political patronage” in a letter that’s making rounds in the wake of the cultural institution’s MAGA makeover.
An October 1964 letter penned by the then-first lady to the center’s chairman, Roger Stevens, detailed her apprehensions about naming the Washington, D.C. institution after her husband, John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated the year before.
“Last winter, when the decision was made to name it after him, I was not capable of making any decision — and so many people were pressuring me,” she wrote. “I don’t think he needs any memorial — his grave and his Library are that. The Center was a problem he inherited — and he would have done it differently had he initiated it. All I care about now is sparing him controversy. He has a right to peace now. So you must understand my hesitancy.”
But Jackie said she was willing to make it work on the condition that she have a say in selecting the center’s director, its trustees, and her representative to the Kennedy Center board.
“If these things cannot be granted — then I will ask in the next session of Congress that the Center’s name be changed,” she said. “If you will grant me these things — I will work with you with dedication. I do not think that I am difficult to work with.”
When it comes to the selection of trustees, Jackie wrote that “the list should gradually be honed down to people who will care and work for the Center.”
“The appointment of trustees must never be allowed to fall into the realm of political patronage,” she said. “If the incumbent President has a friend who is interested in the arts — fine — he should be on the board — as he can help — but someone who is being repaid for past favors (George Brown) or named in hope of campaign contributions — should not be on it.”
Six decades later, Jackie’s concerns have borne fruit. A month after he returned to the White House, President Donald Trump installed himself as chairman of the Kennedy Center and appointed MAGA loyalists to its historically bipartisan board. Ric Grenell, a Trump loyalist, was named president, and Sergio Gor, a confidant of the president, was appointed secretary.
Trump also slapped his name on the exterior of the Kennedy Center, despite needing congressional approval to formally change its name.
The response from artists and audiences was resounding: several renowned acts pulled out, many in protest of the Trump takeover, and ticket sales plummeted.
Last week, Trump announced that he was shuttering the “tired, broken, and dilapidated Kennedy Center for two years beginning July 4th to make way for his gaudy renovation.
“If we don’t close, the quality of Construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruption from Audiences from the many Events using the Facility, will be much longer,” he claimed in a Truth Social post.
