[1][5] The view from the parking lot has been described in the Frommer's travel guide as "breathtaking – a never-ending succession of mountains and valleys.

It is approximately 45 minutes by foot from the nearest main road, where the closest Jerusalem city bus is #20, although special tour buses are normally utilized for group visits.

[2] Max Bressler of Chicago, Illinois, then president of the American Jewish National Fund, came up with the proposal for the memorial in 1964.

[9][10] Bressler, for whom the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Menachem is named, had hoped to lead an American delegation to the dedication ceremony, but he died in 1966.

For example, in July 1965, the community of Los Angeles, California pledged to have 100,000 trees planted as a result of a banquet sponsored by JNF attended by more than 1000 government, union, and management leaders.

"[1] Among the guests at the 4 July 1966 dedication was U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren, who had chaired the commission tasked with investigating the 1963 assassination.

We are all confronted here by history because this is the birthplace of the world's three religions on which our own civilization is based and which contributed the all-important principle that all people are God's children and entitled to live in peace.

First, Kennedy himself had spoken of the importance of planting trees in Israel, when he had addressed a 1958 Jewish National Fund meeting while serving as a junior Senator from Massachusetts, saying, "What work could be more heartwarming or more enduring than the great forest at Jerusalem.

"[1] Jacob Tsur, world president of the Jewish National Fund, praised the memorial as well, "conceived in the shape of a mighty trunk of a fallen tree, among the thousands of saplings which will grow one day into a great forest.

[3] Resnick said that "the entire complex is intended to symbolize the vigor of a great man whose life was tragically ended in mid-growth by assassination".

[8] His initial vision for the memorial was a "free form" but generally circular shape, set within a reflecting pool.

[19] In June 1966 Jewish National Fund officials announced that 1.5 million trees had already been planted in the forest in preparation for the memorial's planned 4 July dedication ceremonies.

[21] In 1999, JNF announced that trees would also be planted in memory of John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, all victims of a 16 July 1999 plane crash in the ocean off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Among those who have planted trees at the site are former Chiefs of Chaplains of the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force.

[36] The "Avraham Harman Forest" was contributed by Bnai Zion, a pro-Israel "fraternal group" in the U.S., and Golda Meir, newly retired from her post as Israel's Prime Minister, was one of the participants in the dedication ceremony.