John F. Kennedy plastic Halloween mask

Object number2002.033.0001

Datecirca 1960

ClassificationsArtifacts

ObjectMask

Credit LineThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection

MediumPlastic, Metal

Dimensions10 5/8 × 7 1/16 × 6 in. (27 × 17.9 × 15.2 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionPlastic Halloween mask in the form of a caricature of President John F. Kennedy. The translucent, painted mask has exaggerated features. The hair and eyebrows are painted brown and black, lips painted orange-pink with large white teeth showing. Holes are cut in mask for the wearer's eyes, nostrils, and a small slit for the mouth is below the teeth. The eyes are painted white with a little blue around the holes. Molded ears stick out from the sides of the mask. The mask is translucent allowing the wearer's skin and face to slightly show through. String or elastic would have been used to tie the mask on the wearer's head. The mask has no stamps indicating when or where it was manufactured.

Curatorial Commentary

Regular and translucent plastic adult masks with exaggerated features were manufactured representing both President and Mrs. Kennedy in the early 1960s. As of Fall 2022, the Museum has a regular Jacqueline Kennedy mask (2002.024.0001) and a translucent John F. Kennedy mask (2002.033.0001). While this translucent John F. Kennedy mask has no stamps indicating when or where it was made, all of the Museum's other caricature masks were manufactured in France, likely by the same company, in the early 1960s. These include caricature masks of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, French president Charles de Gaulle, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban president Fidel Castro. In addition to these adult masks, the Museum also has full children's Halloween costumes representing President and Mrs. Kennedy, produced by Ben Cooper, Inc. in 1963. If you have examples of President or Mrs. Kennedy masks from the 1960s, please let us know at oralhistory@jfk.org. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator