Kennedy Scholarships

Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the scholarship program as a way to "offer exceptional students unique opportunities to broaden their intellectual and personal horizons, in ways that are more important than ever in an era defined by global interaction.". In 2007, 163 applications were received, of which 10 were ultimately selected, for an acceptance rate of 6.1%.

Creation

Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, set about creating a national British memorial in his memory. He consulted with Harold Wilson (the Leader of HM's Loyal Opposition), Sir David Ormsby-Gore (British Ambassador to the United States), Dean Rusk (United States Secretary of State) and the Kennedy family. It was agreed that Douglas-Home would establish a committee, chaired by Lord Franks (former British Ambassador to the United States of America), to make recommendations on the form of the memorial to President Kennedy.

Following wide consultation, Franks wrote to the Prime Minister to recommend that the memorial should be in two parts: a living memorial, in the form of a scholarship to attend either Harvard or MIT, and a permanent memorial site in Runnymede, England, the site of the Magna Carta. This location was chosen because it was regarded as the birthplace of the freedoms which President Kennedy promised to uphold. The John F. Kennedy Memorial Act 1964 was passed into legislation to enact and manage the two memorials.

Kennedy family

The Kennedy family have been strong supporters of the British Kennedy memorial since its creation. Prior to the United States' entry into the Second World War, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. served as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. In 1965, Jacqueline Kennedy and Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom unveiled the memorial at Runnymede. It consists of a Portland stone memorial tablet within natural woodland and meadow, where the visitor is invited on a journey, resembling that in ''Pilgrim's Progress''; the journey through what is seen is mirrored by a deeper one into the unseen landscape of life, death and spirit. The stone is inscribed with the famous quote from Kennedy's Inaugural Address given on 20 January 1961:

Senator Edward Kennedy described the program as the most ambitious of all the memorials to his brother, and he was a passionate supporter of the Kennedy Scholarships until his death in August 2009.

Former trustees

Since 1964, all UK Kennedy Memorial Trust trustees have been appointed by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Various prominent individuals have previously served as trustees. These include:
*Professor Sir Isaiah Berlin OM FBA – philosopher, president of the British Academy (1974–1978)
*Professor Sir David Cannadine FBA – Dodge Professor of History, Princeton University and visiting professor of history, Oxford University (2000–2010)
*Professor Peter Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield FBA – (chairman 1995–2000)
*Professor Tony Badger (chairman) – former master of Clare College, Cambridge and Paul Mellon Professor of American History, Cambridge University (chairman 2010–2015)
* Mervyn King, Lord King of Lothbury – former Governor of the Bank of England (1990–2000)
*Professor Jack Lewis, Baron Lewis of Newnham (1989–1999)
*Roger Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield GCB GCMG FRS – (first chairman)
*Professor Roderick MacFarquhar – Leroy B Williams Professor of History and Political Science, Harvard University. (2000–2010)
*David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech PC – (chairman 1964–1985)
*Professor Anthony Quinton, Baron Quinton – (chairman 1990–1995), former Master of Trinity College, Oxford
*Professor Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow