Rome to build JFK Memorial

(The Daily American, Rome, 01 November, 1966)

ROME (AP) — A concrete wall 9 feet high and 21 feet long, pierced by a huge concrete nail, will be erected in Rome's Borghese Gardens as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy. Money for the memorial was raised by public subscription. The city of Rome donated the ground in the public park. More than half a dozen designs were submitted, and, a committee chose the entry of Amerigo Tot, 57, who did the massive frieze of anodized aluminum across the front of the Rome railway terminal. "I am doing this out of admiration for Mr Kennedy," said the sculptor, who will get only a token fee. Kennedy's face will appear on the head of the nail, which will be three feet in diameter. Four smaller nails projecting from the shaft will form a cross. "The nail is the symbol of martyrs" said Tot, a native of Hungary. "And are living today under a psychological pressure in which walls are everywhere: walls between society, nation and nation, sometimes persons and persons."