40,000 EXPECTED TO PAY RESPECTS AT JFK'S GRAVESITE TODAY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 30, 1963, "crowds continued their pilgrimages into Arlington Cemetery*...to view the flower-banked grave of President John F. Kennedy."
Five hundred people gathered in the cold outside the Cemetery Gate before it was opened at 8 a.m. A total of 40,000 were expected to visit the late President's gravesite before closing.
One visitor, The Evening Star reports, Frank Nagy of Bridgeport, Connecticut, rode his bicycle on the last leg of his journey (Philadelphia to Arlington) arriving at the cemetery in the early morning hours.
*JFK's graveside service began at 3 p.m. on Nov 25, 1963. The initial plot, surrounded by a white picket fence, was 20 by 30 feet & included The Eternal Flame which Mrs. Kennedy, RFK & EMK lit at the closing of the service. Three years later 16 million people had visited.
A new memorial gravesite was constructed 1965-1967. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was buried beside JFK while RFK & EMK are buried nearby.
SOURCES
"Crowds in Wind, Cold Visit Kennedy's Grave," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., November 30, 1963, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's Gravesite," Arlington National Cemetery, www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/
