National Archives October 25 Panel Discussion Features Secret JFK White House Tapes
Press Release · Monday, October 22, 2012

Washington, DC

Archives Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Cuban Missile Crisis with Special Program/Exhibit

Washington, DC…To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis - and in conjunction with its new exhibit “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” - the National Archives presents a special expert panel discussion of JFK’s secret White House recordings from the crisis on Thursday, October 25, at 7 p.m.

Panel Discussion: The Fourteenth Day: JFK and the Aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis/The Secret White House Tapes
Caroline Kennedy will offer opening remarks for the discussion. Timothy Naftali, former director of UVA’s Miller Center Presidential Recordings Project, will moderate panelists David G. Coleman, author of The Fourteenth Day; Philip Zelikow, former director of the Miller Center; and Ted Widmer, co-author of Listening In: The Secret White House Tapes of John F. Kennedy. Speakers will sign books following the program.

The program is free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, located on the National Mall at Constitution Ave. and 7th Street, NW. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on the corner of Constitution Avenue and 7th Street, NW.

Related Exhibit: “To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis”
Secretly recorded White House tapes form the centerpiece of this exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Visitors listen in as the President and his advisers work furiously to avert a nuclear war. Original documents, artifacts, and photographs complement the tapes, breathing humanity into this milestone 20th-century event. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, runs through February 4, 2013, in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery of the National Archives Building. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., daily, except Thanksgiving and December 25.

To verify the date and times of the program, the public should call the Public Programs Line at: 202-357-5000, or view the Calendar of Events online. To request an accommodation (e.g., sign language interpreter) for a public program, email public.program@nara.gov or call 202-357-5000 prior to the event.

“To the Brink: JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis” was created by the National Archives and its John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and made possible in part by the Foundation for the National Archives, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, and the generous support of Lead Sponsor AT&T with special recognition to the Lawrence F. O’Brien Family.

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For press information, contact the National Archives Public Affairs Staff at 202-357-5300.

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