In January 1966 , when Massachusetts Governor John A. Volpe signed a bill allowing the state to purchase the land for the site — an old train yard belonging to the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority ( MBTA ) — it was expected that the project would be complete by 1970 . The original design was a large complex comprising the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum , the John F. Kennedy School of Government , and an Institute of Politics . However the project faced many delays . The MBTA would not agree to remove the heavy machinery from the land until 1970 . By that time construction costs had risen to over $ 20 million . Only now could Pei prepare a six-month study of the site 's soil , and he said the " money we had six years ago , today will barely pay for 60 percent of the original plans . " Robert Kennedy , by then a senator from New York , had been serving as president of the John F. Kennedy Library Corporation until he was assassinated in 1968 . Weeks before , William Manchester and Harper & Row donated $ 750,000 to the library . The first in a series of installments expected to total $ 5 million , came from the profits of the book '' The Death of a President '' which caused a bitter feud between the Kennedys and Manchester . Mrs. Kennedy remarked " I think it is so beautiful what Mr. Manchester did . I am glad that Senator Kennedy knew about it before he died . " The youngest of the Kennedy brothers , Senator Edward M. Kennedy , would step down as vice president of the corporation to fill the newly vacant position
assassinated in 1968
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum