The medal's obverse bears a winged plaque and lots of lext. Around top, THE PORT OF NEW YORK AUTHORITY; at top of center, NEW YORK / INTERNATIONAL / AIRPORT; on plaque, DEDICATION / JULY 31, 1948, followed by long list of names and titles; plaque surrounded by airport statistics.
The medal's reverse bears an aireal view of runway layout with clouds at top and sea at bottom. Around bottom edge, © NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT; signed over shoreline at left, KILENYI
New York International Airport, now known as John F. Kennedy airport, was built to relieve LaGuardia Airport which was overcrowded soon after opening in 1939. Construction began in 1943, and about $60 million was initially spent of governmental funding, but only 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land on the site of the Idlewild Golf Course were earmarked for use.
The project was renamed Major General Alexander E. Anderson Airport in 1943, after a Queens resident who had commanded a Federalized National Guard unit in the southern United States and died in late 1942. In March 1948 the New York City Council changed the name to New York International Airport, Anderson Field, but the common name was "Idlewild" until 1963.
The Port Authority leased the JFK property from the City of New York in 1947 and maintains this lease today. The first airline flight from JFK was on July 1, 1948; the opening ceremony was attended by then U.S. President Harry S. Truman. The Port Authority cancelled foreign airlines' permits to use LaGuardia, forcing them to move to JFK during the next couple of years.
This medal measures 76mm (3in) in diameter and was struck in bronze and silver by the Robbins Company of Attleboro, Massachusetts. A silver variant was part of the Marqusee collection.
References: Marqusee 226
