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U.S. President Barack Obama, together with former President Bill Clinton, laid a wreath at John F. Kennedy's grave on Wednesday to honor the slain president's legacy, two days before the 50th anniversary of his assassination.
The two presidents, one on each side, escorted Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy, as they made their way up the stairs at Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington.
Obama and Clinton made no public remarks during the ceremony. First Lady Michelle Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined them when they placed the wreath near the eternal flame that marks Kennedy's gravesite.
After the wreath laying, the four had conversations with the Kennedy family representatives gathered there to pay homage to Kennedy, who was fatally shot while riding in an open car in a motorcade during a visit to Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
The event followed a Presidential Medal of Freedom award ceremony at the White House. Obama awarded America's highest civilian honor, which Kennedy created before his assassination, to luminaries including former President Clinton, talkshow host Oprah Winfrey, as well as posthumously to former senator Daniel Inouye and first female astronaut of the country Sally Ride.
According to White House schedule, Obama is to hold a banquet in the evening at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to honor the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients, and he will deliver remarks.
The remarks will be about Kennedy's legacy of service, local reports said.
Commemoration services will be held across the country on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination. The White House said Obama is to meet with leaders and volunteers from the Peace Corps, also established by Kennedy, at the White House on that day.
