Raamie Barker talks with Logan County Emergency Services Director Roger Bryant at the opening of the Kennedy History exhibit in the Museum in the Park on Wednesday night. The exhibit features photos from Barker’s collection of the Kennedy family visits to Logan. (Photo/Michael Browning)
The exhibit, which will travel around the state, features photos of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy on their many campaign stops in Logan and other areas of West Virginia.
State Museum Director Charles Morris said he believes the Kennedy exhibit will be popular throughout the state, but especially in Logan County, where the Kennedys are still popular today for their attention to the area.
"Several people realizing the 50th anniversary of the primary election of John F. Kennedy started getting the ball rolling," Morris said. "We started out talking about the Kennedy primary and Kennedy campaigning here and the problems he had in the beginning with the anti-Catholic sentiment. He ended up winning the election easily and he became such an advocate for West Virginia. He had a special place for West Virginia in his heart.
"Once he became president, the relationship with West Virginia continued. He came back in 1963 for West Virginia's centennial and talked about all the changes that had been made through his programs."
Morris said Kennedy's brothers also valued the people of West Virginia.
"Bobby and Teddy Kennedy both spent time in West Virginia," Morris said. "Bobby campaigned here in Logan, particularly. All three spoke in downtown Logan."
The City of Logan recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of JFK's 1960 primary campaign visit to Logan by renaming the courthouse square as Kennedy Square.
"The people here identified with the Kennedy family because John F. Kennedy really did care about them. He got to know them and spent time here," Morris said.
"He kept his promises to bring down poverty and generating programs to help people. He even talked about how West Virginia and it's problems were recognized on a federal level."
Raamie Barker provided many of the photos featured in the exhibit. Barker, the former editor of The Logan Banner and the Williamson Daily News and currently the chief of staff for Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, introduced Robert Kennedy at his 1968 campaign in Logan.
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