DORCHESTER – Cape Codders were among the invited guests at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate yesterday.
Leaders of the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum have in the past year formed ties with both the institute and the nearby John F. Kennedy Library and Museum and several of them attended the A-list event.
“It was really incredible,” said Dick Neitz, president of the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum Foundation, which runs the museum. “It was a gathering of political leaders from both sides of the aisle, from the United States Senate . . . but it was really a memorial to Senator Kennedy and kind of an inspirational event for the country to talk about bringing people together and discussing issues and coming to some kind of a consensus agreement on major issues of the day, which is kind of the essence of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.”
BRUCE T. MARTIN/COURTESY OF THE EDWARD M. KENNEDY INSTITUTE
The exterior of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Dorchester. The institute opens to the public on Tuesday.
Besides Neitz, Foundation Vice President Wendy Northcross, and board members Lynne Poyant, Betty Penn, and Rob Sennott were among the Cape Codders at the dedication.
Members of the foundation board were also invited a couple of weeks ago to take an early look at the new Senate institute, according to Nietz.
Having lived in Washington, D.C., Neitz has spent some time in the real Senate chambers and he said he was impressed with the replica of the Senate chambers, which forms the heart of the institute.
“I walked in here with the director of the institute and it’s absolutely incredible to walk into the room that is just exactly like the Senate chamber in Washington. And I think that’s the type of inspiration that these young people that will be coming here to experience the institute will find,” Neitz said.
DAVE READ PHOTO
Senator Edward Kennedy at the dedication of the statue of his brother John F. Kennedy in front of the JFK Hyannis Museum in May 2007.
The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate is also the owner of the main house in the Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport that Senator Edward Kennedy inherited from his parents.
The home was purchased by Senator Kennedy’s father, Joseph Kennedy, back in 1928. Joseph Kennedy’s widow Rose Kennedy continued to live in the house year-round until her death in 1995.
“They’ve been gracious enough to offer it to us a couple of times for functions,” Neitz said. “And we expect to have a continuing relationship because we can be the mainstay of their presence on Cape Cod.” Neitz said the museum could perhaps be used as a place for people to meet before going to the compound for a function, because the surrounding area of the compound is residential and parking for large groups cannot be accommodated.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for us and we expect we’ll be doing some cooperative fundraising efforts as well as programs,” he said.
Neitz said the relatively high attendance numbers at the JFK Hyannis Museum have gotten the attention of the JFK Library.
“The people at the Kennedy library here in Boston were amazed that we get 60,000 people a year coming to our little museum that’s mostly seasonal, where they get 200,000 at a museum that’s probably a hundred times the endowment and a hundred times the square footage and recognition,” he said.
Neitz said there have always been open lines of communication between the Hyannis museum and the JFK library. “We’ve had wonderful cooperation since the very beginning of our museum 25 years ago,” he said.
The Hyannis museum is currently looking a improving programs as well as improving the facility, which is located in the former town hall building on Main Street in Hyannis. “We’ll be launching a capital campaign to do that in the next few months,” he said.
