Except the color crowd shots, these photos were taken by my father, S. Walter Lewis. The occasion was the visit of President John F. Kennedy to Hanford for the N Reactor groundbreaking.

It was a hot day and the line of cars was long (the road to N Reactor cut through the desert for about 25 miles from Richland, and air conditioning was rare). Nevertheless, the turnout was huge. Everyone was dressed up too. White shirts and skinny ties. 60's dresses. A variety of sun hats.

Looking at these pictures, I am surprised at the youthfulness of Kennedy -- only 45 at the time. Only a few days short of two months later, he was assassinated. Although his death shocked the nation, I would imagine it was felt even more so here, due to the proximity of the visit.

I have made a few of the colorized version of JFK and mounted them in 18x24 frames, and its a very good looking picture. I am also finishing a photo book with the rest of the pictures. They are available for sale. The money collected will help me move forward on digitizing my dad's collection of photos.

Contact me jlewis@owt.com to order the photos or for inquiries into other uses. All uses require attribution and link back to this or another Atomic City Archives site.