Colt New Frontier Revolver - Fairfax, Virginia - John F. Kennedy on Waymarking.com

This custom made firearm was one of two custom made .45s for John F. Kennedy. It is designed very ornately with his initials and is named in honor of his 1960 campaign motto: "New Frontier."

From Shooting Illustrated (https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/colt-new-frontier-model-revolver-made-for-john-f-kennedy/):

New Frontier model made for the 35th Chief Executive of the United States, John F. Kennedy. It is elaborately engraved with gold inlays of the White House, PT 109 and the President’s initials, “JFK.” The .45 Colt also has an inscription on the backstrap, typical of Colt presentation models since Samuel Colt himself first started making presentations of his embellished and cased firearms in the 1850s. The inscription reads: “To John Fitzgerald Kennedy 35th President of the United States from Colt’s Patent Fire Arms MFG Co. 1963.”

This presentation is unique in that the very model—New Frontier—takes its name from the campaign platform of then-candidate Senator Kennedy. The post-World War II era signaled the new age of television, and the most popular TV shows in the 1950s were cowboy series like the “Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp,” “Johnny Ringo,” “Gunsmoke” and dozens of others. Colt capitalized on the popularity of these shows by reintroducing its famous Single Action Army revolver (SAA), the iconic Peacemaker, in 1956.

In 1961, Colt introduced the New Frontier model after Senator Kennedy’s speech accepting the Democratic Nomination for President at the Convention. He said: “We stand today on the edge of a new frontier—the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats. ... Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus.” The New Frontier became Kennedy’s campaign platform, and it became Colt’s modernized version of the venerable SAA by having adjustable sights and a non-fluted cylinder.

Waymark Type: Monument, memorial or statue Address: 11250 Waples Mill Road Fairfax, Virginia United States of America 22030 Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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