What specific provisions in Public Law 88‑260 codify the Kennedy Center’s name and memorial status?

1. Congressional renaming: substitution of the name “John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts”

The first and most direct provision in Pub. L. 88‑260 substitutes the name “John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” for every appearance of “National Cultural Center” in the National Cultural Center Act and related statutory text, thereby codifying the Center’s official name across federal law ^{[1] [4]}. The law’s text, as reproduced in statutory compilations and the U.S. Code notes, explicitly states that the substitution applies “wherever appearing,” making the renaming comprehensive for legal and administrative purposes ^{[2] [5]}.

2. Cross‑reference provision: re‑reading prior references to preserve legal continuity

Section 2 of Pub. L. 88‑260 goes beyond mere substitution by stating that any designation or reference to the National Cultural Center in “any other law, map, regulation, document, record, or other paper of the United States” shall be held to designate or refer to the Center as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ^[2]. That cross‑referencing clause preserves continuity in federal law and administrative documents so that no separate amendment of every scattered reference was required ^{[2] [5]}.

3. Designation as a national memorial and the “sole national memorial” clause

Pub. L. 88‑260 expressly designates the renamed Center as a living memorial to President Kennedy and, through the statutory amendments later codified in the U.S. Code, declares the John F. Kennedy Center “the sole national memorial to the late John Fitzgerald Kennedy within the city of Washington and its environs” ^[3]. That language—added by the 1964 law and reflected in 20 U.S.C. §76q—elevates the Center’s legal status from a federal performing arts facility to the principal federally designated memorial to Kennedy in the Washington area ^[3].

4. Internal memorial controls: duties of the Board and Smithsonian oversight

Pub. L. 88‑260 also created substantive constraints and duties related to memorialization within the Center. The Board of Trustees is required to “provide within the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts a suitable memorial in honor of the late President,” and the law and subsequent codifications instruct the Board to maintain the Center’s public spaces “in a manner suitable to a national performing arts center that is operated as a Presidential memorial” ^[6]. The joint resolution and legislative history further required that any proposed memorial be transmitted to Congress and that no such memorial be provided until the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution approved it, reflecting additional federal oversight ^[7].

5. Appropriation and federal participation language

Pub. L. 88‑260 included authorization of federal funding and specific appropriations language to support construction and memorialization activities, with contemporary summaries noting authorization of federal participation in financing the Center and specified appropriation amounts in the enacted text ^{[8] [7]}. The Kennedy Center’s institutional history and official web materials likewise cite the law’s authorization of federal funds as part of the act’s practical effect on creating the Center as a living memorial ^[9].

6. Legal effect and later codification in Title 20

The act’s operative name changes and memorial directives were codified into Title 20 of the U.S. Code (chapter and subchapter governing the Center), with explicit statutory notes showing that Pub. L. 88‑260 enacted sections of the U.S. Code, substituted the Center’s name throughout, and added the “sole national memorial” provision and Board duties now found in sections such as 20 U.S.C. §§76i, 76j, and 76q ^{[4] [6] [3]}. These codifications make the act’s provisions enforceable as federal law and explain why later disputes about naming or new memorials look back to the language of Pub. L. 88‑260 and its U.S. Code successors ^{[4] [6]}.

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