[1] Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, however, police closed the gates to the State House lawn, cutting off public access to several statues, including Kennedy, Anne Hutchinson, Henry Cabot Lodge, Horace Mann and Daniel Webster.

[3] For two days in 2013, on the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination, state officials allowed visitors to get close to the statue, with a park ranger present.

[3] Starting in 2015, they made access to the statue a regular feature during business hours, on weekdays, in spring and summer.

[4] Public access to the statue was again cut off in March 2020, when visitors were barred from the State House amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October 2020, officials announced plans to move the JFK statue closer to Beacon Street, so that it can easily be seen from the public sidewalk, which forms a portion of the Freedom Trail.