The Camelot question has been answered since 1989 in a book titled "The Kennedy Encyclopedia (page 30) written by Caroline Latham & Jeannie Sakol. Publisher is NAL Books in Canada copyright Latham and Sakol 1989. Quote: It was not until after the death of President John F. Kennedy that the concept of Cemelot began to be associated with his administration, and the person who made the explicit association with King Arthur's Court, with its high ideals and progressive manners, was Jacqueline Kennedy. By ironic coinicidence, two days before the President's asassination, the Kennedys held a ball at the White House and the Marine Band had played selections from My Fair Lady and Camelot, both favorites of the President. The music included the tune that was later to seem a nostalgic summing-up of the Kennedy Presidency: Don't let it be forgot that once there was a spot for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot In an interview given just weeks after the President's death, Mrs. Kennedy told journalist Theodore H. White, "When Jack quoted something, it was usually classical, but I'm so ashamed of myself--all I keep thinking of is this line from a musical comedy." She then quoted the lines from Camelot, citing them as favorites of the President. There will be great Presidents again but there will never be another Camelot again. White later told biographer C. David Heymann that he realized the comparison was a "mis-reading of history," but added that it seemed a small favor to grant the former First Lady "So the epitaph of the Kennedy administration became Camelot--a magic moment in American history when gallant men danced with beautfiul women, when great deeds were done, and when the White House became the center of the universe. Unquote
The term "Camelot" was applied to the presidency of John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) by his wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1929-1994). Camelot refers to the seat of the court of the legendary King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; it has come to mean a place or time of idyllic happiness.
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Calling former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy "an iron-
willed and ferocious guardian of her husband's legacy," Joyce
Hoffman described the collaboration between Mrs. Kennedy and
journalist Theodore White that gave birth to the "Camelot
myth" in the weeks immediately following the president's
assassination, and what it has meant to our nation. Professor
of Journalism at Old Dominion University, Ms. Hoffman
discussed her recent book, "Theodore H. White & Journalism as
Illusion", at a U.Va. Miller Center forum Nov. 28.
Jacqueline Kennedy summoned the Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist to the family compound at Hyannisport only a week
after her husband's death. Teddy White had become a confidant
of the President during the 1960 campaign, and she implored
him to "rescue" Jack Kennedy from "the bitter old men who
write history."
As Mrs. Kennedy struggled to find what she considered an
appropriate "classical metaphor" for her husband's presidency,
Teddy White slowly abandoned his journalistic objectivity and
became a willing collaborator in the creation of a heroic
national myth, according to Ms. Hoffman. In the echoes of a
favorite Broadway musical of the time, Jacqueline Kennedy
found her heroic metaphor and cast the spell of Camelot over
the American people with the help of Mr. White.
As Ms. Hoffman noted, seldom would the collaboration of myth-
seeker and myth-maker ever be quite so unconditional. White's
essay, just 1,000 words long, became a defining document in
American's political and cultural life, she said.
The durability of the Camelot myth, even in light of subsequent
revelations about the Kennedy years, remains a tribute to the
vision and determination of the former First Lady. Professor
Hoffman stressed that Jacqueline Kennedy and Teddy White did
not create the Camelot myth simply to aggrandize a fallen
president, but also out of a genuine sense of national need.
Seeing the nation locked in a desperate, dangerous Cold War
struggle with the Soviet Union, Kennedy and White believed
that a heroic national myth would help the U.S. prevail. Mrs.
Kennedy's strong desire to rename Cape Canaveral after her
husband was evidence of her wish to impart the power of the
Camelot myth to America's space race with the Soviets, Ms.
Hoffman said.
What the Camelot myth obscured, she explained, was "the
reality that Kennedy won the presidency with one-tenth of one
percent of the vote" and that at the time of the assassination,
his administration was still stained by the Bay of Pigs fiasco
and shaken by the brinkmanship of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Camelot myth was "ultimately harmful to the Kennedy
years," Ms. Hoffman believes. "The notion that the New Frontier
was some lost golden age certainly robs that period of
balanced judgments." In later years, Jacqueline Kennedy was
herself trapped by the idyllic memory she had created for her
husband and remarked that the choice of Camelot was
"overwrought," noted Ms. Hoffman. While sympathetic to the
ideals and determination that motivated both Jacqueline
Kennedy and Teddy White, Ms. Hoffman judges that the Camelot
myth was "too grand an idea for our nation.
both JFK and king Arthur had things in common. king Arthur had the knights of the round table and JFK had his presidential cabinet .king Arthur fought dragons and JFK fought communism .they were both killed.
This idea came from Mrs. Kennedy after her husband's death. The newspapers picked it up and used it. The picture it was suppose to give was a time of peace and security even though it was far from true.
The kennedys were reffered to as Camelot as they were a very large and talented family and many were well remembered after their death.
Camelot
John Kennedy is the one associated with Camelot.
John F. Kennedy
Camelot.
New Frontier was the term he used for his program. Camelot was also used to describe the Kennedy presidency.
JF Kennedy's administration was often referred to as Camelot.
Words that describe Camelot are a peacefulness, idealized beauty, and enlightenment during a particular place and time. When John F. Kennedy was in office, the period was known as the Camelot era.
This is called the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Camelot
Formally he's referred to as John F. Kennedy or sometimes John Kennedy; his friends and family called him Jack, so he was known to some as Jack Kennedy. But he is only very rarely referred to as Jack F. Kennedy. The most common names are President Kennedy, John F. Kennedy and JFK.
John F. Kennedy went to a boarding school called the Choate School for high school.
"Ike" was his nickname. President Kennedy's predecessor was President Dwight D. Eisenhower.