On November 29, 1962, President (1917–1963) and Mrs. Kennedy (1929–1994) spoke at a fundraising dinner for the National Cultural Center that was broadcast live across the U.S. via closed-circuit hookup. Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) served as master of ceremonies for an evening that included appearances by Pablo Casals (1876–1973), Marian Anderson (1897–1993), Van Cliburn (b. 1934), Robert Frost (1874-1963), Fredric March (1897–1975), Danny Kaye (1913–1987), Bob Newhart (b. 1929), Harry Belafonte (b. 1927), and a young Yo-Yo Ma (b. 1955). “Art is political in the most profound sense,” the president stated, “not as a weapon in the struggle, but as an instrument of understanding of the futility of struggle between those who share man’s faith.”