Sep

Today in Smithsonian History: September 2, 1958

Model of the exterior of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Center is located on the Potomac River and opened in 1971.

September 2, 1958 The National Cultural Center is established by the U.S. Congress as Public Law 85-874. The Smithsonian is given responsibility for overseeing its initial planning. The center will present classical and contemporary music, opera, drama, dance and poetry; present lectures; develop programs for children and the elderly; and provide facilities for other civic activities at the center. In January 1964, it will be renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The Kennedy Center at night, as seen from the Potomac River. (Photo by Carol Pratt)

The idea for the center dates to 1933 when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt discussed ideas for the Emergency Relief and Civil Works Administration to create employment for unemployed actors during the Great Depression. In 1935, Congress held hearings on plans to establish a new Department of Science, Art and Literature and to build a monumental theater and arts building on Capitol Hill near the Supreme Court building.

A congressional resolution in 1938 called for construction of a “public building which shall be known as the National Cultural Center near Judiciary Square, but nothing materialized.In 1950, the idea for a national theater resurfaced when U.S. Representative Arthur George Klein of New York introduced a bill to authorize funds to plan and build a cultural center. The bill included provisions that the center would prohibit any discrimination of cast or audience. From 1955 to 1958, Congress debated the idea amid much controversy until the summer of 1958 when a bill was finally passed in Congress.

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives