When I was a teen, the place in Florida where NASA sent up manned rockets was known as "Cape Kennedy." On November 28, 1963, President Lyndon Johnson renamed the NASA facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida, after President Kennedy, who had been assassinated six days earlier. Port Canaveral and the City of Cape Canaveral chose to keep their original names.
Sometime in the past decade or so, I realized that the media were once again referring to that piece of land as "Cape Canaveral." I wondered what had happened to cause the name to be changed.
I did a little surfing to see if I could find out why (and how) the name had been changed, and found this site.
It seems that the people of Florida were not happy to have the Cape renamed. They waged a campaign for ten years to get Congress to change it back to Cape Canaveral, but their efforts were unsuccessful. I can only assume that the members of Congress felt it would be politically dangerous to have their names linked with a bill to remove the Kennedy name.
In 1973, Florida governor Reuben Askew signed a Florida statute requiring that Cape Kennedy be referred to as Cape Canaveral on all State of Florida official documents. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names agreed to recognize the name change on October 9, 1973, at the national level. The John F. Kennedy Space Center, managed by NASA, retained it's name.
It must have taken years for the renaming to take effect. I realized that I was hearing it in news reports a decade ago, which would have been twenty years after it became Cape Canaveral again.
So, that's my "Now you know" for the day. Now, I wonder why the good people of Florida objected to the name change. If it had been "Cape Bush" would they have objected?
Comments (8)
As I recall (and amazingly enough I do recall the name's being changed back; so, at first I didn't even understand your question), the people of Florida objected because the darned thing had been Canaveral forever. They felt that, if the USA wished to rename it's "space port", to honor President Kennedy's committment to putting a man on the moon, they were free to do so; but, who in tarnation had the right to re-name a geographic feature. Everyone had just gone overboard in trying to honor the dead, very-popular president. (If a geological feature was to bear President Kennedy's name, it could at least have been Martha's Vineyard Island--not a cape in Florida.)
Another very popular president's terminal illness caused Washington National Airport to be renamed in honor of Ronald Reagan. (Don't I recall correctly that the renaming preceded President Reagan's death?) Obviously, the lesson had been learned. An airport was named, not a geological feature.
Posted by Cop Car | January 12, 2005 8:55 PM
Posted on January 12, 2005 20:55
unfortunately, Bush is not dead, and this is one person in florida that WOULD have objected!
Posted by Redeagle | January 13, 2005 5:51 AM
Posted on January 13, 2005 05:51
It's interesting, CC what the difference of ten years can make in perspective. My youngest sis wasn't old enough to know it as Cape Kennedy...they changed it back when she was a teen. It was renamed when I was a teen....so I always think of it as Cape Kennedy. And you have always thought of it as Cape Canaveral.
GOtcha, RedEagle.
Posted by Buffy | January 13, 2005 4:57 PM
Posted on January 13, 2005 16:57
...considering that florida is *bush country* I'm surprised it hasn't been renamed cape bush :^)...
Posted by billy | January 13, 2005 5:06 PM
Posted on January 13, 2005 17:06
Just rename the state. *g*
Posted by Cop Car | January 13, 2005 5:44 PM
Posted on January 13, 2005 17:44
It's a wonder they didn't after the first election.....
Posted by Buffy | January 13, 2005 6:31 PM
Posted on January 13, 2005 18:31
But we would also have had to rename the Supreme Court--not just Florida!
Posted by Cop Car | January 14, 2005 9:06 AM
Posted on January 14, 2005 09:06
He's working on it, Cop Car! lol
Posted by Buffy | January 14, 2005 4:16 PM
Posted on January 14, 2005 16:16