On that fateful day of November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy awoke in Fort Worth Texas prepared to speak to an eager chamber of commerce breakfast audience prior to his trip to Dallas later that morning. Looking out the hotel window he saw thousands of people gathered in the rain hoping to catch a glimpse of him. He proceeded outside the hotel and spoke impromptu to the crowd before coming back in to deliver what would be the last speech of his life. As the people of Forth Worth listened to him, no one in the crowds that day had any inkling that the president's vision for America and the course of the nation would abruptly altered just hours later at Dealy Plaza in the West End District of downtown Dallas. President Kennedy's remarks that morning in Fort Worth became his final public speech as the 35th president of the United States, giving his Fort Worth visit heightened significance.

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To recognize the importance of the president's moments in Fort Worth, as well as the ideals he championed, a public-private partnership raised $1.5 million dollars to create a permanent exhibit to honor President Kennedy. Rather than memorialize his assassination later that day in Dallas, Fort Worth wanted to pay tribute to him in the city where he last spoke of his ideals for America as a world leader, and his courage in challenging Americans to embrace civil rights legislation; combat third-world poverty through his Peace Corps initiative; put an American on the moon within the decade; and to provide more jobs for people willing to work and better education for the new generations. In 2001, Texas sculpture Lawrence Ludtke (1929-2007) was commissioned to create an eight foot-tall statue of President Kennedy. The bronze sculpture was cast at the Shidoni Foundry in Tesuque, New Mexico. For Ludtke, well known for sculptures of well-known personalities, this was the last of his heroic scale sculptures to be cast in bronze. The sculpture was held in storage for eight years prior to the selection of a designer for the JFK Tribute. In 2009, the city formed a committee through downtown Fort Worth, Inc., to find a solution for location of the JFK Tribute and how to fund it.

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The selection committee was looking for a passionate designer who could help them realize their vision, one that would be able to deliver a design worthy of the president's legacy. The committee's vision for the tribute was a design that would "allow for access by all visitors, be visible from various site lines, evoke and inspire the energy of the morning President Kennedy was in Fort Worth, speak to the vitality, life, excitement and optimism of the times, and provide further education and space for reflection of the nation's youngest elected president."

In 2009, the committee held a design competition. The winning landscape architect was Randy Sorensen, FASLA, a design principal with Jacobs Inc., in Dallas. He and his design team took the challenge to heart and designed the tribute as a storybook of sorts, with photos and text of the speeches that tell the story and preserve the history of that meaningful day, capturing the mood and feeling of the historic moment for future generations.

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A Simple, Restrained Design
The tribute was designed to be simple, which required restraint in the design approach. The challenge was to keep the sculpture as the main focus, but at the same time create a sense of place that captured the significance of JFK's Forth Worth visit. To do this, the sculpture was placed within an elegant round tiled plaza encircled by an 11-foot tall curving granite wall resembling a giant scroll unfurling, giving the space a feeling of fluid movement. The wall features photographic displays of the day's events pressed between panes of glass and set flush with the granite.

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The large scale of the photos immerses the visitor, giving them the opportunity to experience being in the moment. The three historic photos of that allow visitors to experience the events in sequence. The first photo shows the president speaking to the crowd outside the hotel; the second photo shows JFK among the crowd shaking hands; and the third photo is JFK next to First Lady Jackie Kennedy inside the hotel, with Jackie dressed in that memorable pink suit. Sculptor Ludtke had envisioned the JFK statue standing on a six-foot pedestal. Landscape architect Randy Sorensen strongly believed the figure needed to be at ground level so that people could approach and interact with the "president," just as people from the Forth Worth area had the day JFK mingling with the crowds. The artwork was place at ground level so that people could stand next to the statue of JFK. As you might expect it's rare to find a moment when someone isn't standing next to the statue to have their photo taken. Behind his statue a cascade of water escapes from the top of the granite wall and glides down its facade to disappear into the pavement. The water symbolizes a sense of life and vitality, as well as a welcome relief on a hot Texas summer day. There are two curved benches inset in the front wall that face inwards towards the sculpture completing the outer edges of the circle.

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Here, visitors can take a moment to rest and contemplate the history and the words of his speeches. President Kennedy's last speech, the words he spoke in Fort worth, is engraved in the back wall in English and Spanish.

At the end of the benches are granite plinths that contain JFK's life history. Here, engraved in glass, are also his most often quote words, which were delivered on January 20, 1961 during his inaugural address that marked him becoming the 35th president of the United States: "Ask not what your country can do for you"?uask what you can do for your country." Other famous quotes by JFK are engraved in the granite paving at the entrances to the plaza.

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The designer wanted this tribute to have a special, magical feeling at night, thus the lighting effects were critical. At night, JFK's circular pedestal and the wall behind him appear as if they are floating off the ground on a layer of light. Of particular importance to the designer was the lighting of the photos, which required a uniform lighting level with no cold or hot spots. A unique lighting system inside the wall was used behind each photo, and as a result the photos look as vivid at night as they appear during the day.

While the project design might look simple, the construction of the JFK Tribute was not. It was built atop the city park's underground parking garage, which was originally built as two separate structures at two different rooftop elevations. The project bridges the two structures, which created some difficult design challenges, including: the weight of the proposed wall and structural capacity; waterproofing; drainage; and depth of the surface to the garage top. The project also included the renovation and upgrade of the urban park, General Worth Square, in which the Tribute is located. The lighting was enhanced with hundreds of small LED lights that hang in the tree branches. New furniture was specified, paving repaired, and new lawns and irrigation installed.

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The JFK Tribute is truly interactive. Visitors may experience the plaza via a guided audio tour accessible by a smart phone app at www.JFKTribute.com, which also contains web-based educational materials and archival film of JFK's visit.

The JFK Tribute's mission is to remind us all that, even in death, President Kennedy's ideas live on. His words and ideas for a future America and a free world still resonate. They are as relevant today as they were that day over 52 years ago. To gauge the success of the tribute's mission, one only needs to go there and observe. Visitors take photos and the Baby Boomers share stories about where they were that day when they heard the startling news. "I was 13, and in Mr. Bigelow's English class in Palo Alto, Calif.," recalls LASN editor Steve Kelly. "The announcement came over the room's speaker that the president had been shot. That's all we knew. Mr. Bigelow grasped his head in both hands and "wailed,' an anguished sob that startled me. I knew the news was important for the county, but his painful cry of distress impressed in my mind further how significant it was. When I think of JFK today, I also think of my mother; both were born the same year"?u1917, an impossible long time ago, it seems, but my mother is still alive and will celebrate here 99th birthday this year."

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As JFK's quote on the water walls says, "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." President Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963 changed many things, but for one brief moment in time the excitement of that day, and what he represented, is captured at the JFK Tribute.

Project Team
Client: Downtown Fort Worth Inc. Andy Taft, President;
Melissa Konur, Planning Director
JFK Committee Chairs: Taylor and Shirlee Gandy
City of Fort Worth Parks and Recreation Dept.: Richard Zavala, Director

Design Team
Design Firm: Jacobs Inc., Dallas
Jacobs Design Principal: Randy Sorensen, FASLA
Jacobs Design Team: Lori Gordon, ASLA, Justin Kmetzsch, and Matt Durkovich
Sculpture: Lawrence Ludtke

Consultants
Fountain Design: Greenscape Pump Services, Carrollton, Texas
Exhibit Design: Museumscapes, Richardson, Texas
Lighting Design: The Lighting Practice, Philadelphia

Contractor
General Contractor: AUI Contractors, Fort Worth

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