During 1963 the Gettysburg National Battlefield celebrated the 100th anniversary of the pivotal American Civil War battle with a variety of special events.

For the 50th and 75th anniversaries of the battle, Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the battlefield on 4 July and gave speeches. In 1963, President John F Kennedy was invited to speak, but a previously arranged tour of Europe prevented him from doing so¹. Undeterred, the anniversary organizers recruited the closest president they could find - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania resident Dwight Eisenhower.

Kennedy did tour the battlefield in March 1963 in an Oldsmobile convertible. He is said to have impressed his tour guides by being able to read the Gaelic inscription on the monument to the 28th Massachusetts².

On Memorial Day³, Kennedy did not attend ceremonies at the battlefield and sent Vice President Lyndon B Johnson in his stead. At the time, LBJ's remarks drew little notice, but once he became president they took on special meaning as he was the first Southerner to speak at Gettysburg about Civil Rights.

The final special event at the battlefield in 1963 was to mark the 100th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's reading of his famous Gettysburg Address at the National Cemetery.

Again Kennedy declined an invitation to speak and again Eisenhower filled in admirably. Kennedy did send a message which read 'Let us remember those thousands of American patriots whose graves at home, beneath the sea and in distant lands are silent sentries of our heritage'.

The reason Kennedy could not attend the event was because he was needed in Texas to settle a political squabble between the two Texans - Governor John Connally and US Senator Ralph Yarborough. Instead of attending the ceremonies on 19 November, Kennedy flew down to Texas and stayed the weekend at LBJ's ranch.

Three days later, on 22 November, Kennedy was assassinated as he rode through the streets of Dallas.

Related h2g2 entries

Check out some of the other h2g2 entries relating to the American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg:

• Confederate Occupation of Carlisle, Pennsylvania - American Civil War
• The Burning of the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge - American Civil War
• Colonel Fremantle - An Englishman at Gettysburg
• Pennsylvania's Bucktail Regiment