By Tom McClimon
January 31, 2011

Addressing the nation's mayors on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of her father's inauguration as President, Caroline Kennedy thanked the mayors for embracing her father's call for public service and for "making it real in your communities."

Speaking exactly 50 years ago to the day that President John F. Kennedy was sworn in as President, Kennedy spoke of how the President inspired and transformed a generation of Americans to enter public service who have then passed this inspiration on to their children and grandchildren and that this "legacy" still continues to resonate 50 years later. Young people need examples of public service and "mayors are in the forefront " of providing those examples of how to solve common problems through public service.

Kennedy announced the establishment of a new website: JFK50th.org that is designed to encourage young people to go into public service and to do volunteer work. In addition, a number of public service announcements on public service are also being launched. She thanked the over 100 mayors who participated in the program — Mayors Ask What Youth Can Do — where mayors visited middle and high schools and discussed their own paths to public service and why it is important for young people to be engaged in their communities. (A special supplement on what mayors did in their communities will be featured in the next issue of U.S.MAYOR.)

Prior to Kennedy speaking, a special Conference of Mayors-produced video was shown highlighting 25 mayors and Conference CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran describing how President Kennedy influenced them to go into public service. Interwoven throughout the video with the mayors' comments are pictures of President Kennedy and excerpts from his remarks on public service. Inclusion of rare footage of President Kennedy addressing the nation's mayors at their 31st Annual Meeting in Honolulu in June, 1963, where the President first addressed the issue of race relations and was "inspired by the willingness of many mayors to move ahead and to set an example in your communities" was a highlight. The video was introduced by Cochran who spoke on what President Kennedy meant to him and to the organization, especially in promoting political civility, "something which is still being discussed today." The special JFK 50th anniversary with the mayors can be viewed on the Conference of Mayors website: usmayors.org.