WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama together with Bill and Hillary Clinton will visit the grave site of John
F Kennedy next week, to mark the 50th anniversary of his assassination.
The three Democratic Party champions, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, will lay a wreath close to the eternal flame that marks the resting place of the 35th US president at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.
The poignant moment of remembrance will come two days before the November 22 half-century anniversary of Kennedy being gunned down in an open top limousine in Dallas, in a crime which traumatised the world.
The White House said Obama would also give a speech on Wednesday evening honouring Kennedy’s legacy of service at a dinner honouring awardees of the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
The event is expected to be attended by members of John Kennedy’s family.
His daughter, Caroline Kennedy is however setting off on a new chapter of her life, having just arrived in Japan as the new US ambassador to Tokyo.
The annual award of the medals was initiated by Kennedy, and also on Wednesday Obama will present this year’s honorees at a White House ceremony.
Former president Clinton, former Washington Post editor and Kennedy confidant Ben Bradlee and talk show queen Oprah Winfrey are among those getting medals this year.
The presence of Obama and the Clintons at the gravesite together is certain to spark new speculation about whether the president favors Hillary Clinton as his political heir. The two former rivals buried their differences from a bitter 2008 primary campaign to serve together when Obama picked Clinton to be his secretary of state in his first term. AFP
