JFK WELCOMES NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 29, 1962, President John F. Kennedy hosted a State Dinner in honor of the winners of the "Nobel Prize of the Western Hemisphere."
The dinner was held in the State Dining Room and Blue Room at the White House.
The President began his remarks with the following memorable words...
"I want to tell you how welcome you are to the White House. I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
President Kennedy went on to explain that at the age of 32, Thomas Jefferson...
"could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse and dance the minuet."*
*Of all his many accomplishments, the third POTUS wished to be remembered for three that are carved on his tombstone at Monticello...
"Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of American Independence...of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom...Father of the University of Virginia."
SOURCE
"Remarks at a Dinner Honoring Nobel Prize Winners of the Western Hemisphere, April 29, 1962," Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, John F. Kennedy, January 1 to December 31, 1962, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, 1963.
