One of the many executive orders putting government employees out of work at the behest of President Donald Trump’s war on perceived financial waste resulted in the sudden closure of the preeminent place for students to research one of the nation’s most popular former Presidents.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester, Mass., ushered visitors out and shuttered its doors temporarily, according to the Boston Herald.
The closure came amid a slew of layoffs to federal workers, including probationary employees, from myriad agencies executed by the Trump administration.
“The sudden dismissal of federal employees at the JFK Library forced the museum to close today,” the JFK Library Foundation said in a statement Tuesday, according to CBS News. “As the Foundation that supports the JFK Library, we are devastated by this news and will continue to support our colleagues and the Library.”
Trump’s focus on financial waste in government and his delegation of the duty of finding that waste to unelected billionaire Elon Musk and the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has led to blanket layoffs of federal workers as whole agencies get closed, resulting in lawsuits by those workers that allege Trump’s executive actions are illegal and, in some cases, complete course reversals causing confusion as those agencies call their employees back to work.
One example: The JFK Presidential Library reopened for business Wednesday morning, one day after the sudden closure.