Kennedy Compound

  • Also Known As: Homes of Joseph P.,John F., and Robert F. Kennedy

  • Travel Genus: Sight
  • Sight Category: Historic District

The theologians worked for a day and a half among ourselves at a nearby hotel. In the evening we answered questions from the Kennedys and the Shrivers. Though the theologians disagreed on many a point, they all concurred on certain basics ... and that was that a Catholic politician could in good conscience vote in favor of abortion. - Academic theologian, the Rev Giles Milhaven, recalling his 1964 summer meeting in Hyannisport during a 1984 breakfast briefing of Catholics for a Free Choice

The Kennedy Compound consists of approximately six acres of waterfront property on Nantucket Sound containing the residences of Joseph P Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy, and John F Kennedy. All are white frame clapboarded structures typical of vacation homes on Cape Cod. The Joseph P Kennedy home is the largest and most impressive of the three, commanding sweeping views of the ocean from its long, shaded porches and surrounded by well-tended lawns and gardens. On the main floor are a living room, dining room, sun room, television room, sports room, the "President's Bedroom" (which President Kennedy used before buying the Irving Avenue home), and assorted kitchen, pantry, and utility rooms. On the second floor are six bedrooms, a sewing room, packing room, den, and four servants' bedrooms. There is a full attic and a full basement. In the latter is a motion picture theater and sauna. On the grounds, in addition to gardens, are a swimming pool (now enclosed), tennis court, and four-car garage. This house has been little changed, either structurally or in furnishings since the President's association with it. Immediately adjacent to the Joseph P Kennedy home stands the Robert F Kennedy home, a more modest but nonetheless spacious structure of two stories; and behind it, fronting on Irving Avenue, the still more modest John F Kennedy residence.

The reputation of the Kennedy Compound at Hyannis Port is known to virtually all Americans of political consciousness during the early 1960s. It was the home base of John F Kennedy during his campaign for the presidency in 1960 and served as the Summer White Mouse in 1961. Pierre Salinger in his book With Kennedy (1966( wrote, "Of all the places the President went to rest, his- favorite was his house at Hyannis Port." Presidential security and privacy proved difficult in its neighborhood of relatively close vacation houses, however, and President Kennedy's subsequent summer stays were in homes on nearby Squaw Island. - NRHP, 28 November 1972

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Timeline

Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
Y/M/D Person Association Description Composition Food Event
1904/00/00 Malcolm Cottage is built on the Hyannis Port beach.
1926/07/00 Joseph P Kennedy Home Joseph P Kennedy rents Malcolm Cottage on the Hyannis Port beach at 50 Marchant Ave in Hyannis Port.
1927/07/00 Joseph P Kennedy Jr Home Kennedy Family vacation at Malcolm Cottage in Hyannis Port.
1928/07/00 John F Kennedy Home Kennedy Family summer at Malcolm Cottage in Hyannis Port.
1929/07/00 Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Home After three seasons in residence with his family, Joseph Kennedy buys the property and greatly enlarges the main house originally constructed in 1904. It was in and around this house that the Kennedy children spent their summers.
1929/07/00 Joseph P Kennedy Home After three seasons in residence with his family, Joseph Kennedy buys the property and greatly enlarges the main house originally constructed in 1904. It was in and around this house that the Kennedy children spent their summers.
1960/00/00 John F Kennedy Politics Jack Kennedy uses the family Compound as a base for his 1960 US Presidential campaign and later as a summer White House and presidential retreat until his assassination in November 1963. JFK Presidential Election
1964/07/00 Democratic Party Politics Former Jesuit priest Albert Jonsen, Revs Joseph Fuchs, Robert Drinan, Giles Milhaven, Richard McCormick and Charles Curran advise the Kennedy family on how to accept and promote abortion with a "clear conscience."
1964/07/00 Catholic Church Faith Former Jesuit priest Albert Jonsen, Revs Joseph Fuchs, Robert Drinan, Giles Milhaven, Richard McCormick and Charles Curran advise the Kennedy family on how to accept and promote abortion with a "clear conscience."
1995/01/22 Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Died Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy dies at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port of complications from pneumonia at the age of 104. She is survived by five children, 26 grandchildren, and 42 great-grandchildren.
2019/08/01 Saoirse Kennedy Hill, Robert F Kennedy's granddaughter, dies of acute methadone and ethanol toxicity in combination with other prescription medications at the Kennedy compound. Who provided Saoirse with the Meth?

Data »

Particulars for Kennedy Compound:
Historic Use Camp
Sight Category Historic District
Level of Significance National
Criteria Person
Area of Significance Politics-government
Owner Private
Occupation Attribute US President



US National Registry of Historic Places Data »

Accurate at time of registration:

PLACE DETAILS
Registry Name:
Registry Address:
Registry Number: 72001302
Resource Type:
Owner: Private
Architect: unknown
Architectural Style: No style listed
Other Certification: Designated National Landmark
Nominator Name: National Historic Landmark
CULTURAL DETAILS
Level of Significance: National
Area of Significance: Politics-government
Applicable Criteria: Person
Criteria Consideration: Significance of less than fifty years
Period of Significance: 1950-1974, 1925-1949
Significant Year: 1904, 1929, 1961
Associated People: Kennedy,John F.,et al.
Historic Function: Domestic
Historic Sub-Function: Camp
Current Function: Domestic
Current Sub-Function: Camp

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