JFK memorial album sets record for sales
On this day in 1963 a vinyl long-playing record (LP) called John Fitzgerald Kennedy A Memorial Album sets a record for album sales.A total of 4 million copies sold in the first six days of its release.The album released on the Premier label included recordings of some of Kennedys most memorable speeches as well as memorial tributes to the president broadcast in the aftermath of his assassination on November 22 1963.The recordings included excerpts from his inaugural address and his campaign debates with Richard Nixon as well as highlights from speeches on a variety of topics from civil rights to space to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.
Some of Kennedys most enduring quotes were captured on the album including ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country (from his inaugural) and ich bin ein Berliner (translated as I too am a Berliner) from a speech he delivered at the Berlin Wall during the height of the Cold War.Each copy of the album cost 99 cents and the proceeds went to the Joseph Kennedy Jr.Foundation for Mental Retardation.Although Kennedy remains one of the most beloved and documented presidents in American history the album itself has not yet garnered much value as a collectors item.
In 2006 a mint copy of the album fetched a mere 15.00 on several internet auction sites.This may be because most of Kennedys speeches are now accessible on the internet.The Premier record was not the only one released in honor of Kennedy in 1963.An LP documentary called The Presidential Years1960 1963 sold a respectable 1 million copies in its first six days also at 99 cents per copy.
