# Why is JFK International in NY? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957 "2011-10-17T21:04:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/1 "2011-10-17T21:04:43Z")
Did Boston consider renaming their airport after Kennedy? If so, why did NYC end up doing it instead? Just idle curiosity; don’t even know what made me think of it. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/2 "2011-10-17T21:09:51Z")
IIRC, the airport was fairly new at the time of the assassination, didn’t have a unique sounding name and it seemed like a good idea for a tribute. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/3 "2011-10-17T21:29:06Z")
It wasn’t terribly new in 1963 (beginning operations in the 1940s), and was actually named after someone before JFK (Major General Alexander E. Anderson), but was commonly known as “Idlewild” (after its location). > **[John F. Kennedy International Airport | Construction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jfk_airport#Construction)** > > John F. Kennedy International Airport was originally called Idlewild Airport (IATA: IDL, ICAO: KIDL, FAA LID: IDL) after the Idlewild Beach Golf Course that it displaced. It was built to relieve LaGuardia Field, which had become overcrowded after its 1939 opening.: 2  In late 1941, mayor Fiorello La Guardia announced that the city had tentatively chosen a large area of marshland on Jamaica Bay, which included the Idlewild Golf Course as well as a summer hotel and a landing strip called the Ja Abo... ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/4 "2011-10-17T21:40:14Z")
Also there is the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That makes sense given his support of the moon landing. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/5 "2011-10-17T21:43:05Z")
I think it’s because of the whole jet age, leader-of-the-free-world thing - after all, JFK was and is America’s biggest and busiest international airport. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/6 "2011-10-17T22:00:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It wasn’t terribly new in 1963 (beginning operations in the 1940s), and was actually named after someone before JFK (Major General Alexander E. Anderson), but was commonly known as “Idlewild” (after its location). > [John F. Kennedy International Airport - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jfk_airport#Construction) Yes, but the large terminals for which it is known today mostly opened from 1959 to 1962. In that sense it was a “new” airport. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/7 "2011-10-17T22:02:52Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Also there is the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Formerly known as Cape Arbuckle. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/8 "2011-10-18T01:23:45Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It wasn’t terribly new in 1963 (beginning operations in the 1940s), and was actually named after someone before JFK (Major General Alexander E. Anderson), but was commonly known as “Idlewild” (after its location). > [John F. Kennedy International Airport - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jfk_airport#Construction) As in “Krushchev’s due at Idlewild” from the “Car 54” theme song. There was a lot of stuff name for President Kennedy after Oswald killed him, so much so that I remember people joking about renaming the country either “Kennedy States of America” or “United States of Kennedy” I am sure having a significant number of Irish Americans in New York helped. Plus it wasn’t already named for a famous person like Lincoln or FDR. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/9 "2011-10-18T04:28:12Z")
Presumably, the reason Boston didn’t rename its airport after JFK is that it’s name had long been established as Logan Airport. Still, I can’t help wondering how many people knew or cared who Edward Logan was (for the record, he was a Spanish-American War general who came from Boston). Perhaps it didn’t matter- most Chicagoans probably don’t know anything about Butch O’Hare, but any attempt to rename the airport after someone deemed more worthy would probably meet with resistance, even if the new honoree was deserving and widely loved (“It’s been O’Hare forever, why change it now?”). ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-international-in-ny/599957/10 "2011-10-18T13:23:53Z")
Thanks, all. I was wondering if Bostonians at the time resented that “JFK” came to mean “New York” and not “Boston”. Sounds like “Kennedy” was up for grabs, and Boston wasn’t going to rename their airport anyway.