John Carl Warnecke - Association With Kennedys - Kennedy Grave Site

Kennedy Grave Site

President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and Warnecke was chosen by Mrs. Kennedy to design the president's tomb just six days later on November 28. Ironically, the President and Warnecke had visited the site which was to become Kennedy's tomb in March 1963, and the President had admired the peaceful atmosphere of the place. On November 24, Mrs. Kennedy told friends that she wanted an eternal flame at the gravesite.

Warnecke visited the grave with Mrs. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy on Wednesday, November 28, to discuss themes and plans for the grave. He immediately concluded that the permanent grave must be simple and must incorporate the eternal flame. A few days later, Warnecke agreed that, although it was not required, he would submit the design for the permanent Kennedy grave site to the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts.

The grave design process was placed under tight secrecy. An extensive research project was conducted in which hundreds of famous tombs (such as the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and Grant's Tomb) as well as all existing presidential burial sites. Warnecke discussed design concepts with more than 40 architects, sculptors, painters, landscape architects, stonemasons, calligraphers, and liturgical experts—including the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, architectural model maker Theodore Conrad, and the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts. Noguchi counseled Warnecke to add a large sculptural cross to the site and to eliminate the eternal flame (which he felt was kitschy). Warnecke consulted with Mrs. Kennedy about the design of the grave many times over the following year. Hundreds of architectural drawings and models were produced to explore design ideas. On April 6, 1964, Warnecke sent a memorandum to Mrs. Kennedy in which he outlined his desire to retain the eternal flame as the centerpiece of the burial site and to keep the site's design as simple as possible. In the course of the research and conceptualization effort, Warnecke considered the appropriateness of structures or memorials at the site (such as crosses, shafts, pavilions, etc.), the history of Arlington National Cemetery, the vista, and how to handle ceremonies at the site. By August 1964, Warnecke and his assistants had written a 76-page research report which concluded that the gravesite was not a memorial nor monument, but a grave. "This particular hillside, this flame, this man and this point in history must be synthesized in one statement that has distinctive character of its own. We must avoid adding elements that in later decades might become superficial and detract from the deeds of the man," Warnecke wrote For some time in the spring and summer of 1964, the design process appeared to slow as Warnecke and his associates struggled to design the actual graves. But in the summer of 1964 Sargent Shriver, President Kennedy's brother-in-law, forcefully told Warnecke that "There must be something there when we get there." This spurred the design effort forward. In the late summer and early fall, Warnecke considered massive headstones, a sarcophagus, a sunken tomb, a raised tomb, and sculpture to mark the graves. Very late in the design process, two abstract sculptures were designed but ultimately rejected.

The final design was unveiled publicly at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., on November 13, 1964. The final design had won the approval of the Kennedy family, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts, and the National Capital Planning Commission. Two overarching design concerns guided the design of the site. First, Warnecke intended the grave itself to reflect the early New England tradition of a simple headstone set flat in the ground surrounded by grass. Second, the site was designed to reflect President Kennedy's Christian faith.

As initially envisioned by Warnecke, the site would be accessed by a circular granite walkway which led to an elliptical marble plaza. The downslope side of the elliptical plaza would be enclosed by a low wall inscribed with quotes from Kennedy's speeches. Marble steps led up from the plaza to a rectangular terrace which enclosed a rectangular plot of grass in which the graves would reside. A retaining wall formed the rear of the burial site. The eternal flame would be placed in the center of the grassy plot in a flat, triangular bronze sculpture intended to resemble a votive candle or brazier. The original design won near-universal praise. The U.S. Department of Defense formally hired Warnecke to design the approaches (although this was a fait accompli).

Prior to construction, which formally began in the spring of 1965, several design changes were made to the Kennedy grave site. The retaining wall behind the grave was removed, and the hill landscaped to allow an unobstructed view of Arlington House. Concerned that the grass on the burial plot would wither in Washington's hot summers, in the fall of 1966 the decision was made to replace the grass with rough-hewn reddish-gold granite fieldstone set in a flagstone pattern. The burial plot, originally designed to be raised some height above the surrounding terrace, was lowered so that it was just three to four inches above the fieldstones. The bronze brazier shape for the eternal flame was also replaced. Instead, a 5 feet (1.5 m) wide beige circular fieldstone (found on Cape Cod in 1965) was set nearly flush with the earth and used as a bracket for the flame.

The permanent John F. Kennedy grave site opened with little announcement or fanfare at 7:00 AM on March 15, 1967, in a driving rain. The ceremony, which took 20 minutes, was attended by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Mrs. Kennedy, and members of the Kennedy family.

According to Warnecke (and others), during the design work on the Kennedy gravesite he became romantically involved with Jacqueline Kennedy. At one point, the couple contemplated marriage. They ended their involvement in December 1966.

Warnecke's term on the U.S. Fine Arts Commission ended in July 1967, and he was not reappointed after President Johnson expressed his desire to have his own preferred architects on the board.