Back in November the entire country bittersweetly remembered the untimely death of President John F. Kennedy 50-years after he was assassinated. But before he was lost to the world, he was lost to Massachusetts. On this day in Boston history 1961, a lengthy 53-years ago, then-Senator John F. Kennedy bid the Bay State a pleasant yet painful farewell as he assumed the role of Commander in Chief.

Speaking at the Massachusetts State House on Boston’s Beacon Hill, Kennedy, like Mayor Marty Walsh and Senator Elizabeth Warren on Monday at the former’s inauguration ceremony, quoted pioneering New England settler and Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthop in noting, “We must always consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill — the eyes of all people are upon us.”

Kennedy spent six years as a member of the House of Representatives followed by another seven in the Senate where he was much more active despite being hindered by health concerns for the first few years.

During his absence from the chamber due to illness, Kennedy along with close friend and confidant Ted Sorensen penned the Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of short biographies Profiles in Courage in which they examined the political undertakings of eight Senators who set aside party politics or defied the sentiments of their constituents for the greater good.

According to local historical site MassMoments, “In 1958, he won re-election to the Senate with a remarkable 73.6% of the vote, the largest popular margin ever received by a candidate in Massachusetts.”

In January of 1960, just one year prior to saying adieu to Massachusetts, Kennedy announced he would seek the office of President. In a close campaign against then-two time Vice President Richard Nixon, notable for the first televised debate in which the country became captivated by his charm (though famously those tuning in via radio thought Nixon won) and the rest is history.

He went on to pave the way for civil rights, launch the space program, and fend off the Soviets.