Dean Ellis (American, 1920 - 2009) "John F. Kennedy" Signed lower right. Original Oil painting on Masonite.

Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.

This painting is the original painting which was published on the Fleetwood Commemorative Cover for The Shapers of America series issued in 1987.

John Kennedy was already an admired national figure when he was elected to the Presidency in 1960. He had commanded a PT boat in World War II and was decorated for bravery; he served in Congress for three terms; he defeated Henry Cabot Lodge in 1952 for a seat in the Senate; then won the Presidency by the narrowest majority since 1880. Almost everything about him fired America's imagination. He was the first President born in the twentieth century, the youngest ever to be elected, and the first Catholic to win the Presidency. He brought to his office not only personal charm, but a generous humanitarianism, a political maturity, and a luminous intelligence. Kennedy championed those policies and philosophies which Franklin Roosevelt had inaugurated. He had some success with a program of urban renewal, and with his campaign for a broader interpretation of the "equal protection" clause of the Constitution and the extension of civil rights for Blacks. Around the world Kennedy was viewed as a statesman who combined patience with ardor, compassion with courage, and poetry with power. That is what he had called for in a moving address at Amherst College: "I look forward to a great future for America ... I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft ... And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength, but for its civilization as well.

Image Size: 18 x 21 in.
Overall Size: 24 x 27 in.
Unframed.
(B10496)

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