John Fitzgerald Kennedy Marker

On November 22, 1963, I was nine years old, and learned about it from a school crossing guard as we walked home from Public School 95 in the Bronx. I was the only kid in the group who knew that our Vice President’s name was Lyndon Johnson. But he wasn’t our Vice President any more.
As we approach the 50^th anniversary of that terrible day, I want to remember the wit and charm and charisma of JFK. When he was running for President, he made a campaign stop in Waterbury on November 6, 1960. A crowd of over 40,000 packed the Waterbury Green at 3:00 AM to welcome him to Waterbury. He was elected President two days later.
In 1962, Kennedy returned to Waterbury. This marker commemorates those historic days when the President visited. A JFK quote from that second visit (there was no third visit although it was promised) is inscribed on the plaque:
«I must say, having been here at three o’clock in the morning and now at six-​thirty in the evening, that Waterbury is either the easiest city in the United States to get a crowd in, or it has the best democrats in the United States. In any case, our meeting here two years ago at three in the morning was the high point of the 1960 campaign, and we will meet at three o’clock in the morning the last week of the 1964 campaign and see what’s going to happen then.»
The second inscription reads:
This plaque is presented to the
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Memorial Library
By the townspeople of Wolcott, Connecticut,
In gratitude to the only president in
history to honor the Waterbury area by
his continued promises to return
His pledge was fulfilled in the fall of 1964
by the late president’s brother
Robert F. Kennedy
Who has accepted this plaque on the
anniversary of that promise. We hope that
his library and the examples set therein,
Will serve as an
«Eternal Flame»
By which future generations of
Americans will be guided
Presentation made at
The Kennedy Memorial Library Ball
State Armory, Waterbury, Conn.
The plaque is not in the best of shape and is rather faded. It’s located at the base of an exterior wall at the Hotel Elton building, and is very easy to miss, which is a real shame.