JFK Library reopens after sudden closure from employee layoffs

By Madalyn Jimiera

Following an abrupt closure Tuesday afternoon, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library reopened Wednesday morning with free admission for visitors. The brief closure was caused by the sudden dismissal of federal employees after President Trump’s executive order that aims to “[reform] the federal workforce to maximize efficiency and productivity.” 

The institution is administered by the federal National Archives and Records Administration. The employees who were laid off were probationary employees, those who are within their first two years of employment and don’t have civil service protection. Furthermore, the dismissed employees typically worked the front ticketing desks, so their positions were filled by senior employees without front desk experience and who were having difficulties processing payments, according to Director Alan Price. Admission is free on Wednesday to alleviate this issue. 

Many other federal agencies have been affected after a federal judge declined to immediately block Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing government data systems or participating in worker layoffs on Tuesday. The Trump administration upholds that the federal worker layoffs are coming from the agency heads.

“In my opinion, it has nothing to do with government efficiency,” said Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, in a video posted on his Instagram account. “The workers who were fired today bring in revenue for the government. It’s really about stealing the past and generating propaganda so that people don’t know what’s really happening.”