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Wednesday, Apr. 6, 2022

Did John F. Kennedy speak seven days before he was assassinated about a plot to enslave every man, woman and child?

Courtney Kealy, Lead Stories
no

There is no evidence that President Kennedy said, "There's a plot in this country to enslave every man, woman and child."

Matt Porter, communications manager for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, told Lead Stories, "The JFK Library has received this question before and has found no truth to it."

Often the claim is that Kennedy made the remarks at Columbia University shortly before he was killed. There are no records that support a speech at or even a visit to Columbia University in November 1963 or in any previous month that year. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.

That quote cannot be found anywhere on the library and museum website, and there are no quotations attributed to Kennedy on the subject of slavery, either.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

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