Remembering President John F. Kennedy: A Special Inauguration Day 2025 Program with Jean Lewis and Mills Thornton

On January 20, 2025 at 5:30pm The NewSouth Bookstore offers a different Inauguration Day. Join us for a conversation between Jean Lewis and Mills Thornton, who will reminisce about having attended the 1960 presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy. Montgomery native and present resident Lewis, a delightful, vibrant 106-year-old, worked in Kennedy’s Senate office, his 1960 presidential campaign, and his and Lyndon Johnson’s administrations.

She has vivid memories of her work with both presidents and their First Ladies. Thornton, also a Montgomery native and present resident, is retired from a distinguished career at the University of Michigan. He is the author of two seminal works about Alabama history, Politics and Power in a Slave Society: Alabama, 1800-1860 and Dividing Lines: Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. Together they will recall a different time in our America.