Economic growth without social
progress lets the great majority of people remain in poverty, while a
privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance.
Let us think of education as the means of
developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private
hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone
and greater strength for our nation.
Our progress as a nation can be
no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental
resource.
Efforts and courage are not
enough without purpose and direction.
In the past, those who foolishly
sought power by riding on the back of the tiger ended up inside.
Forgive your enemies, but never
forget their names.
Once you say you're going to
settle for second, that's what happens to you in life.
Let us never negotiate out of
fear but let us never fear to negotiate.
In the long history of the
world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom
in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I
welcome it.
The unity of freedom has never
relied on uniformity of opinion.
The cost of freedom is always
high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose,
and that is the path of surrender, or submission.
To those people in the huts and
villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we
pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is
required, not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their
votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are
poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Every American ought to have the
right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his
children to be treated. This is not the case.
The basis of effective
government is public confidence.
True happiness is the full use
of your powers along lines of excellence in a life affording scope.
I am certain that after the dust
of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for
victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the
human spirit.
The greater our knowledge
increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.
It is time for a new generation
of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities. For there is a
new world to be won.
Let every nation know, whether
it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet
any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the
success of liberty.
We would like to live as we once
lived, but history will not permit it.
We dare not tempt them with
weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain
beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
There is a terrific disadvantage
in not having the abrasive quality of the press applied to you daily. Even
though we never like it, and even though we wish they didn't write it, and even
though we disapprove, there isn't any doubt that we could not do the job at all
in a free society without a very, very active press.
The human mind is our
fundamental resource.
A man does what he must -- in
spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers -- and this
is the basis of all human morality.
Written in Chinese, the word
crisis, is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other
represent opportunity.
When you have seven percent
unemployed, you have ninety-three percent working.
But peace does not rest in the
charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So
let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build
peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and
minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of
human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.
It is an unfortunate fact that
we can secure peace only by preparing for war.
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a
monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers,
quietly building new structures.
World peace, like community
peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor -- it requires only
that they live together with mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a
just and peaceful settlement.
We hold the view that the people
make the best judgment in the long run.
When power leads man towards
arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area
of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of
existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.
I see little of more importance
to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the
place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society
must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.
If art is to nourish the roots
of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever
it takes him.
In free society art is not a
weapon. Artists are not engineers of the soul.
Most of us are conditioned for
many years to have a political viewpoint -- Republican or Democratic, liberal,
conservative, or moderate. The fact of the matter is that most of the problems
that we now face are technical problems, are administrative problems. They are
very sophisticated judgments, which do not lend themselves to the great sort of
passionate movements which have stirred this country so often in the past.
[They] deal with questions which are now beyond the comprehension of most men.
If a free society cannot help
the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
As far as the job of President goes,
its rewarding and I've given before this group the definition of happiness for
the Greeks. I'll define it again: the full use of your powers along lines of
excellence. I find, therefore, that the Presidency provides some happiness.
The United States has to move
very fast to even stand still.
I never know when I press these
whether I am going to blow up Massachusetts or start the project. (On the many
buttons on his telephone)
The supreme reality of our time
is the vulnerability of this planet.
Those who make peaceful
revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
In giving rights to others which
belong to them, we give rights to ourselves and to our country.
There are risks and costs to a
program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of
comfortable inaction.
All this will not be finished in
the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days,
nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on
this planet. But let us begin.
The one unchangeable certainty
is that nothing is unchangeable or certain.
The New Frontier I speak of is
not a set of promises -- it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I
intend to offer the American people, but what I intent to ask of them.
Change is the law of life. And
those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
Let us resolve to be masters,
not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way
to blind suspicions and emotions.
I think this is the most
extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been
gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when
Thomas Jefferson dined alone.
The great battleground for the
defense and expansion of freedom today is the whole southern half of the
globe... the lands of the rising peoples. Their revolution is the greatest in
human history. They seek an end to injustice, tyranny and exploitation. More
than an end, they seek a beginning.
The great enemy of the truth is
very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived, and dishonest -- but the myth
-- persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
We stand today on the edge of a
new frontier -- the frontier of the 1960s, a frontier of unknown opportunities
and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats. The new frontier of
which I speak is not a set of promises -- it is a set of challenges.
A police state finds that it
cannot command the grain to grow.
We believe that if men have the
talent to invent new machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to
put those men back to work.
Our growing softness, our increasing lack of
physical fitness, is a menace to our security.
We prefer world law, in the age
of self-determination, to world war in the age of mass extermination.
The energy, the faith, the
devotion which we bring this endeavor will light our bounty and all who serve
it, and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
The ignorance of one voter in a
democracy impairs the security of all.
The margin is narrow, but the
responsibility is clear.
There is no city in the United
States in which I can get a warmer welcome and fewer votes than Columbia, Ohio.
You can milk a cow the wrong way
once and still be a farmer, but vote the wrong way on a water tower and you can
be in trouble.
Mankind must put an end to war,
or war will put an end to mankind. War will exist until that distant day when
the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the
warrior does today.
This country cannot afford to be
materially rich and spiritually poor.
A child miseducated is a child
lost.
We will neglect our cities to
our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation.
Tolerance implies no lack of
commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or
persecution of others.
We want to be first; not first
if, not first but; but first
Man is still the most
extraordinary computer of all.
If we cannot end our differences
at least we can make the world safe for diversity.
Conformity is the jailer of
freedom and the enemy of growth.
For without belittling the courage with which
men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which men have
lived.
The courage of life is often a
less dramatic spectacle than the courage of the final moment; but it is no less
a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.
Every society gets the kind of
criminal it deserves. What is also true is that every community gets the kind
of law enforcement it insists on.
The energy, the faith, the
devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who
serve it and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
Before my term has ended, we
shall have to test anew whether a nation organized and governed such as ours
can endure. The outcome is by no means certain.
With a good conscience our only
sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead
the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on
earth Gods work must truly be our own.
We in this country, in this
generation, are by destiny rather than choice the watchmen on the walls of
world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and
responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint,
and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of
peace on earth, good will toward men. That must always be our goal, and the
righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was
written long ago: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in
vain.
In the long history of the
world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in
its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility I welcome
it.
The purpose of foreign policy is
not to provide an outlet for our own sentiments of hope or indignation; it is
to shape real events in a real world.
To those peoples in the huts and
villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we
pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is
required not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their
votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are
poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Is this Nation stating it cannot
afford to spend an additional $600 million to help the developing nations of
the world become strong and free and independent an amount less than this
country’s annual outlay for lipstick, face cream, and chewing gum?
All my life I’ve known better
than to depend on the experts. How could I have been so stupid, to let them go
ahead?
Never before has man had such
capacity to control his own environment, to end thirst and hunger, to conquer
poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and massive human misery. We have the
power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world
or to make it the last.
Now the trumpet summons us again
not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need not as a call to battle, though
embattled we are but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle,
year in and year out, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation a struggle
against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.
We cannot expect that everyone,
to use the phrase of a decade ago, will talk sense to the American people. But
we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this
Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter
of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense.
I ask that you offer to the
political arena, and to the critical problems of our society which are decided
therein, the benefit of the talents which society has helped to develop in you.
I ask you to decide, as Goethe put it, whether you will be an anvil or a
hammer. The question is whether you are to be a hammer whether you are to give
to the world in which you were reared and educated the broadest possible
benefits of that education.
So, let us not be blind to our differences but
let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which
those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at
least we can help make the world safe for diversity.
Without belittling the courage
with which men have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which
men have lived. The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the
courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph
and tragedy. A man does what he must in spite of personal consequences, in
spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures and that is the basis of all human
morality. In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage,
whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience the loss
of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men
each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of past
courage can define that ingredient they can teach, they can offer hope, they
can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each
man must look into his own soul.
This Nation was founded by men
of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men
are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the
rights of one man are threatened.
Somebody once said that
Washington was a city of Northern charm and Southern efficiency.
I don’t think that unless a
greater effort is made by the Government to win popular support that the war
can be won out there. In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones
who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we
can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it, the people of
Viet-Nam, against the Communists.
There’s an old saying that
victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan.
In its [acknowledges] light, we
must think and act not only for the moment but for our time. I am reminded of
the great French Marshal Lyautey, who once asked his gardener to plant a tree.
The gardener objected that the tree was slow-growing and would not reach
maturity for a hundred years. The Marshal replied, In that case, there is no
time to lose, plant it this afternoon.
And we must face the fact that
the United States is neither omnipotent or omniscient that we are only 6
percent of the world’s population that we cannot impose our will upon the other
94 percent of mankind that we cannot right every wrong or reverse every
adversity and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every
world problem.
As they say on my own Cape Cod,
a rising tide lifts all the boats. And a partnership, by definition, serves
both partners, without domination or unfair advantage. Together we have been
partners in adversity let us also be partners in prosperity.
For of those to whom much is given, much is
required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in
judgment on each of us recording whether in our brief span of service we
fulfilled our responsibilities to the state our success or failure, in whatever
office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: First, were
we truly men of courage with the courage to stand up to ones enemies and the
courage to stand up, when necessary, to ones associates the courage to resist
public pressure, as well as private greed? Secondly, were we truly men of
judgment with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past of our
mistakes as well as the mistakes of others with enough wisdom to know what we
did not know and enough candor to admit it. Third, were we truly men of
integrity men who never ran out on either the principles in which we believed
or the men who believed in us men whom neither financial gain nor political
ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust? Finally,
were we truly men of dedication with an honor mortgaged to no single individual
or group, and comprised of no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to
serving the public good and the national interest?
Courage, judgment, integrity
dedication….these are the historic qualities which, with God’s help will
characterize our Governments conduct in the 4 stormy years that lie ahead.
And if we are to open employment
opportunities in this country for members of all races and creeds, then the Federal
Government must set an example. The President himself must set the key example.
I am not going to promise a Cabinet post or any other post to any race or
ethnic group. That is racism in reverse at its worst. So I do not promise to
consider race or religion in my appointments if I am successful. I promise only
that I will not consider them.
Well, I am reading more and
enjoying it less and so on, but I have not complained nor do I plan to make any
general complaints. I read and talk to myself about it, but I don’t plan to
issue any general statement on the press. I think that they are doing their
task, as a critical branch, the fourth estate. And I am attempting to do mine.
And we are going to live together for a period, and then go our separate ways.
I am deeply touched not as
deeply touched as you have been coming to this dinner, but nevertheless it is a
sentimental occasion.
And so it is that I carry with
me from this State to that high and lonely office to which I now succeed more
than fond memories and fast friendships. The enduring qualities of
Massachusetts the common threads woven by the Pilgrim and the Puritan, the
fisherman and the farmer, the Yankee and the immigrant will not be and could
not be forgotten in the Nations Executive Mansion. They are an indelible part
of my life, my convictions, my view of the past, my hopes for the future.
Don’t teach my boy poetry, an
English mother recently wrote the Provost of Harrow. Don’t teach my boy poetry;
he is going to stand for Parliament. Well, perhaps she was right but if more
politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world
would be a little better place to live on this
Sometimes party loyalty asks too
much.
Of course, both major parties
today seek to serve the national interest. They would do so in order to obtain
the broadest base of support, if for no nobler reason. But when party and
officeholder differ as to how the national interest is to be served, we must
place first the responsibility we owe not to our party or even to our
constituents but to our individual consciences.
So let us here resolve that Dag
Hammarskjold did not live, or die, in vain. Let us call a truce to terror. Let
us invoke the blessings of peace. And, as we build an international capacity to
keep peace, let us join in dismantling the national capacity to wage war.
If this nation is to be wise as
well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas
for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These
libraries should be open to all except the censor. We must know all the facts
and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome
controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the
guardian of our security as well as our liberty.
For the great enemy of the truth
is very often not the lie deliberate, contrived, and dishonest but the myth
persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés
of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of
interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinions without the discomfort of
thought.
Dante once said that the hottest
places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain
their neutrality.
War will exist until that
distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and
prestige that the warrior does today.
A young man who does not have
what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes
to make a living. Today’s military rejects include tomorrows hard core
unemployed.
Lobbyists are in many cases
expert technicians and capable of explaining complex and difficult subjects in
a clear, understandable fashion. They engage in personal s with Members of
Congress in which they can explain in detail the reasons for positions they
advocate. Because our congressional representation is based on geographical
boundaries, the lobbyists who speak for the various economic, commercial, and
other functional interests of this country serve a very useful purpose and have
assumed an important role in the legislative process.
There is always inequity in
life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded, and some men never
leave the country, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are
stationed in San Francisco. Its very hard in military or in personal life to
assure complete equality. Life is unfair.
I look forward to an America
which will not be afraid of grace and beauty.
I look forward to an America
which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business
or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the
standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural
opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America which
commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its
civilization as well.
There is a connection, hard to explain
logically but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in
the arts. The age of Pericles was also the age of Phidias. The age of Lorenzo
de Medici was also the age of Leonardo da Vinci. The age of Elizabeth was also
the age of Shakespeare. And the New Frontier for which I campaign in public
life, can also be a New Frontier for American art.
To further the appreciation of
culture among all the people, to increase respect for the creative individual,
to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art this is one
of the fascinating challenges of these days.
There are risks and costs to a
program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of
comfortable inaction.
The White House was designed by
Hoban, a noted Irish-American architect, and I have no doubt that he believed
by incorporating several features of the Dublin style he would make it more
homelike for any President of Irish descent. It was a long wait, but I
appreciate his efforts.
When power leads man toward
arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas
of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his
experience. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic
human truths which must serve as the touchstones of our judgment. The artist. .
. faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the
individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an offensive
state.
Now the trumpet summons us again
- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle,
though embattled we are; but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight
struggle, year in and year out, 'rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation', a
struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war
itself.
The courage of life is often a less dramatic
spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent
mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must - in spite of personal
consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the
basis of all morality.
Once you say you're going to
settle for second, that's what happens to you in life, I find.
All this will not be finished in
the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand
days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime
on this planet.
When we got into office, the
thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd
been saying they were.
The Family of Man is more than
three billion strong. It lives in more than one hundred nations. Most of its
members are not white. Most of them are not Christians. Most of them know
nothing about free enterprise, or due process of law, or the Australian ballot.
With a good conscience our only sure reward,
with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we
love asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's
work must truly be our own.
I am not so much concerned with
the right of everyone to say anything he pleases as I am about our need as
self-governing people to hear everything relevant.
Let the word go forth from this
time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a
new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war,
disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage - and
unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which
this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at
home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or
ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support
any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in
the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps
in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin. Now the trumpet summons us
again - not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need - not as a call to
battle, though embattled we are - but a call to bear the burden of a long
twilight struggle, year in and year out, rejoicing in hope, patient in
tribulation- a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty,
disease and war itself. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country
can do for you - ask what you can do for your country . My fellow citizens of
the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do
for the freedom of man.
Let every nation know, whether
it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet
any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the
survival and the success of liberty.
Too often we . . . enjoy the
comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
If we are strong, our strength
will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be no help.
I just received the following
wire from my generous Daddy Dear Jack: Don't buy a single vote more than
necessary. I'll be damned if I am going to pay for a landslide.
If we cannot now end our differences, at least
we can help make the world safe for diversity.
Those who make peaceful
revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
If a free society cannot help
the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
I am sorry to say there is too
much point to the wise crack that life is extinct on other planets because
their scientists were more advanced than ours.
The complacent, the
self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris
of history.
If a free society cannot help
the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
War will exist until that
distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and
prestige that the warrior does today.
Anyone who is honestly seeking a
job and can't find it, deserves the attention of the United States government,
and the people.
We must use time as a tool, not
as a crutch.
We should not let our fears hold
us back from pursuing our hopes.
Every area of trouble gives out
a ray of hope, and the one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or
unchangeable.
The one unchangeable certainty
is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.
Everything changes but change
itself.
Change is the law of life.
Once you say you're going to settle for
second, that's what happens to you.
We should not let our fears hold
us back from pursuing our hopes.
The courage of life is often a
less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment, but it is no less a
magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must- in spite
of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures-and
that is the basis of all morality.
There is, in addition to a
courage with which men die, a courage by which men must live.
There are risks and costs to a
program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of
comfortable inaction.
When power narrows the area of
man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his
existence.
When written in Chinese, the
word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other
represents opportunity.
If we are strong, our strength
will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be no help.
Ladies and gentlemen, I was
warned to be out of here in plenty of time to permit those who are going to the
Green Bay Packers game to leave. I don't mind running against Mr. Nixon but I
have the good sense not to run against the Green Bay Packers.
We had an interesting convention
at Los Angeles and we ended with a strong Democratic platform which we called
'The Rights of Man.' The Republican platform has also been presented. I do not
know its title, but it has been referred to as 'The Power of Positive Thinking.
Those of you who regard my
profession of political life with distain should remember that it made it
possible for me to move from being an obscure lieutenant in the United States
Navy to Commander-in-Chief in fourteen years with very little technical
competence.
Politics is an astonishing
profession. It has enabled me to go from being an obscure member of the junior
varsity at Harvard to being an honorary member of the Football Hall of Fame.
When we got into office, the
thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd
been saying they were.
Mr. Nixon in the last seven days
has called me an economic ignoramus, a Pied Piper, and all the rest. I've just
confined myself to calling him a Republican, but he says that is getting low.
It has recently been suggested
that, whether I serve one or two terms in the Presidency, I will find myself at
the end of that period at what might be called the awkward age -- too old to
begin a new career and too young to write my memoirs.
When President Roosevelt was
running for a second term. . .some garment workers unfolded a great sign that
said, 'We love him for the enemies he has made.' Well, I have been making some
good enemies lately.
Change is the law of life. And
those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
Let us think of education as the
means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a
private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for
everyone and greater strength for our nation.
Our progress as a nation can be
no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental
resource.
The cost of freedom is always
high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose,
and that is the path of surrender, or submission.
The farmer is the only man in
our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and
pays the freight both ways.
Let us resolve to be masters,
not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way
to blind suspicions and emotions.
We choose to go to the Moon in
this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy - but because
they are hard! Because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we
are unwilling to postpone and one we intend to win!
Our problems are man-made, therefore they may
be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
Now I understand why Henry VIII
started his own church. Comment after
the Vatican scolded him for supporting separation between church and state
during his campaign
If I am to die, this is the week for it. -- To
aide John McClone in response to a CIA report about rumors of an assassination
plot, June 1962.
Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion
without the discomfort of thought.
It is our task in our time and
in our generation to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was
handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which
is ours.
I believe this nation should
commit itself, to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a
man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.
And so, my fellow Americans, ask
not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country.
Our most basic common link is
that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish
our children's future. And we are all mortal.
Every society gets the kind of
criminal it deserves. What is also true is that every community gets the kind
of law enforcement it insists on.
Let us never negotiate out of
fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Conformity is the jailer of
freedom, and the enemy of growth.
We stand for freedom. That is
our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.
Our problems are man-made,
therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No
problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
If a free society cannot help
the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
The ancient Greek definition of happiness was
the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.
There are risks and costs to a program of
action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of
comfortable inaction.
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible,
make violent revolution inevitable.
We don’t see the end of the tunnel but I must
say I don’t think it is darker than it was a year ago, and in some ways
lighter.
We must never forget that art is not a form of
propaganda; it is a form of truth.
But peace does not rest in the charters and
covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not
rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a
desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of
all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human
destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.
Forgive your enemies, but never
forget their names.
Liberty without learning is
always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.
The ignorance of one voter in a
democracy impairs the security of all.
Let us think of education as the
means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a
private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for
everyone and greater strength for our nation.
Mankind must put an end to war
or war will put an end to mankind.
Our progress as a nation can be
no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental
resource.
The quality of American life
must keep pace with the quantity of American goods. This country cannot afford
to be materially rich and spiritually poor.
The greatest enemy of the truth
is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived, and dishonest, but the myth
persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of
opinion without the discomfort of thought.
We believe that an artist, in
order to be true to himself and his work, must be a free man.
Leadership and learning are
indispensable to each other.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us
well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of
liberty.
If a free society cannot help
the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
There will always be dissident voices heard in
the land expressing opposition without alternatives, finding fault but never
favor, perceiving gloom on every side, and seeking influence without
responsibility.
Mankind must put an end to war,
or war will put an end to mankind.
The men who create power make an
indispensable contribution to the Nation? greatness, but the men who question
power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that
questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power
uses us.
Too often we...enjoy the comfort
of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
Mankind must put an end to war
or war will put an end to mankind.
We need men who can dream of
things that never were.
Those who make peaceful
revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
All this will not be finished in the first 100
days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this
administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us
begin.
A man may die, nations may rise
and fall, but an idea lives on.
The time to repair the roof is
when the sun is shining.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us
well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of
liberty.
My father always told me that
all businessmen were sons of bitches, but I never believed it till now. -- Made
in reaction to news that U.S. Steel was raising prices by $6 per ton, right
after the unions negotiated a modest new contract under pressure from JFK to
keep inflation down.
If a free society cannot help
the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Change is the law of life; and those who look
only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
Mankind must put an end to war, or war will
put an end to mankind.
Hungry men and women cannot wait
for economic s or diplomatic meetings -- and their hunger rests heavily on the
consciences of their fellow men.
Let us not seek the Republican
answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer.
Man holds in his mortal hands
the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life.
While we shall negotiate freely,
we shall not negotiate freedom.
I believe in human dignity as the source of
national purpose, human liberty as the source of national action, the human
heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source
of our invention and our ideas.
With a good conscience our only
sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead
the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on
earth God's work must truly be our own.
We seek not the world-wide
victory of one nation or system but a world-wide victory of man. The modern
globe is too small, its weapons too destructive, and its disorders too
contagious to permit any other kind of victory.
I do not believe that any of us would exchange
places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith,
the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who
serve it -- and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
….the belief that the rights of
man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.
Let the word go forth.....that
the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.
Let every nation know... that we
shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend,
oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
The world is very, very
different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms
of human poverty and all forms of human life.
Let us never negotiate out of
fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Ask not what your country can do
for you - ask what you can do for your country
For only when our arms are
sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be
employed.
All this will not be finished in
the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the
life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet.
But let us begin.
...let us go forth to lead the
land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth
God's work must truly be our own
Let us think of education as the
means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a
private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for
everyone and greater strength for our nation.
Liberty without learning is
always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.
Our problems are man-made, therefore they may
be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
So, let us not be blind to our differences -
but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by
which those differences can be resolved.
The American, by nature, is
optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when
called upon to build greatly.
The ancient Greek definition of
happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.
The great enemy of the truth is
very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth,
persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of
opinion without the discomfort of thought.
The great French Marshall
Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the
tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall
replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!'
The time to repair the roof is
when the sun is shining.
There are risks and costs to a
program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of
comfortable inaction.
Washington is a city of Southern
efficiency and Northern charm.
We must use time as a tool, not
as a crutch.
We set sail on this new sea because there is
knowledge to be gained.
We stand for freedom. That is
our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.
The men who create power make an
indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question
power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that
questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power
uses us.
Before my term has ended, we
shall have to test anew whether a nation organized and governed such as ours
can endure. The outcome is by no means certain.
Probably the greatest
concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times
when Thomas Jefferson ate alone. Describing a dinner for Nobel Prize winners,
1962
Those who make peaceful
revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
If a free society cannot help
the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Let us never negotiate out of
fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Now the trumpet summons us
again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle,
though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight
struggle, year in and year out, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation—a
struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war
itself.
We must never forget that art is
not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.
This nation was founded by many
men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all
men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the
rights of one man are threatened.
I look forward to an America
which will not be afraid of grace and beauty. Remarks upon receiving an
honorary degree, Amherst College, October 26, 1963
For in the final analysis, our
most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all
breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all
mortal. Speech at The American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963
Change is the law of life. And those
who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
If we cannot end now our
differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.
We need men who can dream of
things that never were.
A warning to the American people
not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and
desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable,
accommodation as impossible and communication as nothing more than an exchange
of threats.
Let us call a truce to terror.
Let us invoke the blessings of peace. And as we build an international capacity
to keep peace, let us join in dismantling the national capacity to wage war.
Our primary long-range interest
in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament -- designed to take
place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new
institutions of peace which would take the place of arms.
It is therefore our intention to
challenge the Soviet Union, not to an arms race, but to a peace race- -to
advance together step by step, stage by stage, until general and complete
disarmament has been achieved. We invite them now to go beyond agreement in
principle to reach agreement on actual plans.
I believe in an America... where
no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy
from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical
source Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, September 12,
1960
If a free society cannot help
the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich
In this serious hour in our
Nation's history when we are confronted with grave crises in Berlin and
Southeast Asia, when we are devoting our energies to economic recovery and
stability, when we are asking reservists to leave their homes and their
families for months on end and servicemen to risk their lives--and four were
killed in the last two days in Viet Nam and asking union members to hold down
their wage requests at a time when restraint and sacrifice are being asked of
every citizen, the American people will find it hard, as I do, to accept a
situation in which a tiny handful of steel executives whose pursuit of private
power and profit exceeds their sense of public responsibility can show such
utter contempt for the interests of 185 million Americans.
In short, at a time when they
could be exploring how more efficiency and better prices could be obtained... a
few gigantic corporations have decided to increase prices in ruthless disregard
of their public responsibilities.
I realize that there are some
businessmen who feel only they want to be left alone, that Government and
politics are none of their affairs, that the balance sheet and profit rate of
their own corporation are of more importance than the worldwide balance of
power or the Nationwide rate of unemployment. But I hope it is not rushing the
season to recall to you the passage from Dickens' Christmas Carol in which
Ebenezer Scrooge is terrified by the ghosts of his former partner, Jacob
Marley, and Scrooge, appalled by Marley's story of ceaseless wandering, cries
out, But you were always a good man of business, Jacob. And the ghost of
Marley, his legs bound by a chain of ledger books and cash boxes, replied,
Business? Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business. Charity,
mercy, forbearance and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my
trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!
Ladies and gentlemen, I was
warned to be out of here in plenty of time to permit those who are going to the
Green Bay Packers game to leave. I don't mind running against Mr. Nixon but I
have the good sense not to run against the Green Bay Packers.
We had an interesting convention
at Los Angeles and we ended with a strong Democratic platform which we called
'The Rights of Man.' The Republican platform has also been presented. I do not
know its title, but it has been referred to as 'The Power of Positive Thinking.
Those of you who regard my profession
of political life with distain should remember that it made it possible for me
to move from being an obscure lieutenant in the United States Navy to
Commander-in-Chief in fourteen years with very little technical competence.
Politics is an astonishing
profession. It has enabled me to go from being an obscure member of the junior
varsity at Harvard to being an honorary member of the Football Hall of Fame.
When we got into office, the
thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd
been saying they were. (May 27, 1961)
I never know when I press these
whether I am going to blow up Massachusetts or start the project. Pulling the
switch to activate the generators at the Green River in the Colorado River
basin 150 miles away.
While listening to the
loudspeaker for the announcement that generators had successfully started:
If we don't hear from him, it's
back to the drawing board.
Several nights ago, I dreamed
that the good Lord touched me on the shoulder and said, 'Don't worry, you'll be
the Democratic presidential nominee in 1960. What's more, you'll be elected.' I
told Stu Symington about my dream. 'Funny thing,' said Stu, 'I had the same
dream myself.' We both told our dreams to Lyndon Johnson, and Johnson said,
'That's funny. For the life of me, I can't remember tapping either of you two
boys for the job.'
Mr. Nixon in the last seven days
has called me an economic ignoramus, a Pied Piper, and all the rest. I've just
confined myself to calling him a Republican, but he says that is getting low.
It has recently been suggested
that, whether I serve one or two terms in the Presidency, I will find myself at
the end of that period at what might be called the awkward age -- too old to
begin a new career and too young to write my memoirs.
When President Roosevelt was
running for a second term. . .some garment workers unfolded a great sign that
said, 'We love him for the enemies he has made.' Well, I have been making some
good enemies lately.
I have consulted Bobby about it,
to my dismay, the idea appeals to him. The President reply to an attorney who
wrote to say that Attorney General Robert Kennedy would be an effective
President because of his racket-busting activities
I was almost late here today,
but I had a very good taxi driver who brought me through the traffic jam. I was
going to give him a very large tip and tell him to vote Democratic and then I
remembered some advice Senator Green had
given me, so I gave him no tip at all and told him to vote Republican.
At a $100-a-plate luncheon in
Denver: I could say I am deeply touched, but not as deeply touched as you have
been in coming to this luncheon.
Nor finally are the remarks
intended to examine the proper degree of privacy which the press should allow
to any President and his family. If in the last few months your White House
reporters and photographers have been attending church services with
regularity, that has surely done them no harm. On the other hand I realize that
staff and wire service photographers may be complaining that they do not enjoy
the same greens privileges at the local golf courses which they once did. It is
true that my predecessor did not object as I do to pictures of one's golfing
skill in action, but neither on the other hand did he ever bean a Secret Service
man.
I don't think the intelligence
reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times.
I got where I am by not trusting
experts. But this time I put all my faith in the experts and look what
happened. To Ted Sorensen, after the Bay of Pigs fiasco
I know there are some
Republicans and some Democrats who say that they have now developed a wonderful
arrangement in Washington. The congress is Democratic and the President is
Republican and nothing happens, and isn't it wonderful?
The farmer is the only man in
our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and
pays the freight both ways.
I believe in an America where
the separation of church and state is absolute where no Catholic prelate would
tell the President how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his
parishioners for whom to vote where no church or church school is granted any
public funds or political preference and where no man is denied public office
merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or
the people who might elect him. I believe in an America that is officially
neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish where no public official either
requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National
Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source where no religious body
seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or
the public acts of its officials and where religious liberty is so indivisible
that an act against one church is treated as an act against all. For while this
year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in
other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew or a Quaker or a
Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginias harassment of Baptist preachers, for
example, that helped lead to Jefferson’s statute of religious freedom. Today I
may be the victim but tomorrow it may be you until the whole fabric of our
harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril. Finally, I
believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end where all
men and all churches are treated as equal where every man has the same right to
attend or not attend the church of his choice where there is no Catholic vote,
no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind and where Catholics,
Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from
those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works
in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood. That is the
kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in
which I believe a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the
instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding
its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a
President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by
him upon the Nation or imposed by the Nation upon him as a condition to holding
that office.
I'm not going to appoint
ambassadors on the basis of campaign contributions. (In a subsequent speech)
Ever since I said that, I haven't gotten a single cent from my father.
During my fourteen years in
Congress I have had an opportunity to observe and to admire the high quality of
our Career Civil Service. In meeting the grave problems confronting us at home
and abroad it is my intention that the Career Civil Service be a full partner.
Together we can lead our Nation to new peaks of achievement. (Excerpt from
President Kennedy's Message to the Federal service published in the Civil
Service Journal, January-March 1961)
When I called, at the very
outset of my administration, for initiative, responsibility and energy in
serving the public interest, the response from the career service was
enthusiastic and eager. Federal career managers and employees have proved in
the past 12 months that they are not wedded to static methods, that they
welcome constructive change, and that they can contribute in full measure to
the reshaping of our organizations and processes in the interest of greater
effectiveness.
Much has already been
accomplished and many things are in the process of change as we move toward the
lean, fit and efficient establishment which I have set as a goal....
Today our concern with man's
environment ranges from the ocean floor to the stars. Since there are virtually
no limits to the physical dimensions of the tasks set for us, we must identify
and unshackle limitless creativity in the Government's career service. In every
phase of Government operations we must be certain that we provide today's
solution to today's problem.
Let me express my personal
appreciation to the men and women of the Government's career work force as one
eventful year ends and we enter upon a new year of challenge and
opportunity...'' (Excerpt from President Kennedy's Message to the Federal
service published in the Civil Service Journal, January-March 1962)
The success of this Government,
and thus the success of our Nation, depends in the last analysis upon the
quality of our career services. The legislation enacted by the Congress, as
well as the decisions made by me and by the department and agency heads, must
all be implemented by the career men and women in the Federal service. In
foreign affairs, national defense, science and technology, and a host of other
fields, they face problems of unprecedented importance and perplexity. We are
all dependent on their sense of loyalty and responsibility as well as their
competence and energy.
War will exist until that
distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and
prestige that the warrior does today.
The supreme reality of our time
is our indivisibility as children of God and the common vulnerability of this
planet. Speech to a joint session of the Dail and the Seanad, Dublin, Ireland
June 28, 1963
And any man who may be asked in
this century what he did to make his life worth -while, I think can respond
with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: I served in the United States Navy.
Remarks at the U.S. Naval Academy August 1, 1963
11 ALIVE NEED SMALL BOAT NAURO
NATIVE KNOWS POSIT HE CAN PILOT 11 ALIVE
NEED SMALL BOAT KENNEDY Message
carved into a coconut after the wreck of PT-109 (6 August 1943
Little Boy: Mr. President, how
did you become a war hero?
President Kennedy: It was
absolutely involuntary. They sank my boat.
I can imagine a no more rewarding career. And
any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life
worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I
served in the United States Navy.' Remarks to the US Naval Academy 1962
It was a very spasmodic courtship, conducted
mainly at long distance with a great clanking of coins in dozens of phone
booths. Jackie on her romance with John F. Kennedy
I have just received the following wire from
my generous Daddy. It says, Dear Jack: Don't buy a single vote more than is
necessary. I'll be damned if I am going to pay for a landslide.
Harry Truman once said there are 14 or 15
million Americans who have the resources to have representatives in Washington
to protect their interests, and that the interests of the great mass of other
people, the hundred and fifty or sixty million, is the responsibility of the
President of the United States. And I propose to fulfill it.
I have sent him [former
President Harry S. Truman] the following wire: 'Dear Mr. President: I have
noted with interest your suggestion as to where those who vote for my opponent
should go. While I understand and sympathize with your deep motivation, I think
it is important that our side try to refrain from raising the religious issue.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your
country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow
citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together
we can do for the freedom of man.
All free men, wherever they may live, are
citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in
the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'
When we got into office, the thing that
surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd been saying
they were.
The day before my inauguration President
Eisenhower told me, You'll find that no easy problems ever come to the President
of the United States. If they are easy to solve, somebody else has solved them.
I found that hard to believe, but now I know it is true.
Mythology distracts us everywhere. For the
great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: deliberate, contrived and
dishonest. But the myth: persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Washington is a city of Southern
efficiency and Northern charm.
May you live all the days of
your life. Irish proverb
Children are the world's most
valuable resource and its best hope for the future.
The children have been a wonderful gift to me,
and I’m thankful to have once again seen our world through their eyes. They
restore my faith in the family’s future. Jackie
We are under exercised as a
nation. We look instead of play. We ride instead of walk. Our existence
deprives us of the minimum of physical activity essential for healthy living.
“I leaned across the asparagus
and asked her for a date. “ On meeting Jackie
'O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so
small' Remarks at dedication of the East Coast Memorial to the Missing at Sea ,
May 23, 1965
I really don't know why it is
that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it's because in
addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships
change, it's because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting
biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of
salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our
blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go
back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from
whence we came. Newport, RI at a dinner for America's Cup Crews
A newspaper reported I spend
$30,000 a year buying Paris clothes and that women hate me for it. I couldn’t
spend that much unless I wore sable underwear. Jacqueline Kennedy, The New York
Times September 15, 1960
Now, I
think that I should have known that he was magic all along. I did know it — but
I should have guessed that it would be too much to ask to grow old with and see
our children grow up together. So now, he is a legend when he would have
preferred to be a man. Jacqueline Kennedy 1964
A camel
makes an elephant feel like a jet plane. Jackie on a 1962 visit to India
Whenever I was upset by something in the
papers, [Jack] always told me to be more tolerant, like a horse flicking away
flies in the summerJackie
It looks like it’s been furnished by discount
stores. Jackie on the White House
The one thing I do not want to be called is
First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse. Jackie
What is sad for women of my generation is that
they weren’t supposed to work if they had families. What were they to do when
the children were grown — watch raindrops coming down the windowpane? Jackie
The trouble with me is that I’m
an outsider. And that’s a very hard thing to be in American life. Jackie
We should all do something to
right the wrongs that we see and not just complain about them. Jackie
I do not think it altogether inappropriate to
introduce myself to this audience. I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline
Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.
I think this is the most
extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been
gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when
Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Address at a White House dinner honoring Nobel
Prize winners April 29, 1962
First, I believe that this nation should
commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a
man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. I believe we should go
to the moon. But there is no sense in agreeing or desiring that the United
States take an affirmative position in outer space, unless we are prepared to
do the work and bear the burdens to make it successful. John F. Kennedy
I believe that this nation
should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of
landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single
space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more
important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so
difficult or expensive to accomplish. Speech to Special Joint Session of
Congress May 25 1961
Many years ago the great British explorer
George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to
climb it. He said Because it is there. Well, space is there, and were going to
climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge
and peace are there. John F. Kennedy
This nation has tossed its cap
over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow it. Remarks at San
Antonio at dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center, November 21,
1963.
We go into space because whatever mankind must
undertake, free men must fully share...I believe that this nation should commit
itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on
the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Special Message to the Congress
on Urgent National Needs, May 22, 1961
We set sail on this new sea because there is
new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and
used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science
and technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force
for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position
of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace
or a new terrifying theater of war. Address at Rice University in Houston,
September 12, 1962
Let the word go forth from this time and
place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new
generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by
a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to
witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation
has always been committed, and to which we are committed today, at home and
around the world
Our Irish blunders are never blunders of the
heart. Maria Edgeworth on the Irish
Failure has no friends. JFK,
1962
We will not prematurely or
unnecessarily risk the costs of a worldwide nuclear war in which even the
fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth — but neither shall we shrink
from that risk any time it must be faced. Radio address about the Cuban missile
crisis October 22, 1962
JFK IN IRELAND
Pointing at a nearby fertilizer plant he told
them that had his great grandfather not left Wexford, I myself could be working
at the plant today. He then turned to his aide Dave Powers and whispered to
himself “Shoveling shit”
“We will do no such thing. If
its brass and copper he wants, let him stay on Wall Street” The Mayor of
Dunganstown, New Ross, Co. Wexford after he was directed by the national
government to remove piles of manure from the nearby road side. When Kennedy
was told what the Mayor said, he threw back his head and laughed. “God damn
right” he said.
“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly
process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly
building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, the
pursuit must go on.”
It is our task in our time and
in our generation to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was
handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which
is ours. John F. Kennedy
It takes two to make peace.
We know that freedom has many
dimensions. It is the right of the man who tills the land to own the land; the
right of the workers to join together to seek better conditions of labor the
right of businessmen to use ingenuity and foresight to produce and distribute
without arbitrary interference in a truly competitive economy. It is the right
of government to protect the weak; it is the right of the weak to find in their
courts fair treatment before the law. It is the right of all our citizens to
engage without fear or constraint in the
and debate of the great issues which confront us all. We understand this
regardless of the extent to which we may differ in our political views. We know
that argument in the open is one of the sources of our national strength. John
F. Kennedy Address, Seattle World's Fair, August 7, 1962.
This increase in the life span and in the
number of our senior citizens presents this Nation with increased
opportunities: the opportunity to draw upon their skill and sagacity and the
opportunity to provide the respect and recognition they have earned. It is not
enough for a great nation merely to have added new years to life our objective
must also be to add new life to those years. John F. Kennedy
The unity of freedom has never relied on
uniformity of opinion. John F. Kennedy
All that praying you made us do, complained
Maggie. And making us go to Mass. And starving us on Good Friday...And making
us feeling ashamed of our bodies and guilty about absolutely everything. No,
Ma, you were the pits. Nuala glowed with
pride, truly she had been the best of Catholic mothers. The Last Chance Saloon
I'm like old wine. They don't bring me out
very often, but I'm well preserved. Rose F. Kennedy
There are three things which are real; God,
Human Folly and Laughter. The first two are beyond our comprehension so we must
do what we can with the third.
There are many people in the world who really
don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free
world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say
that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there
are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let
them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that
communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass'
sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin. Speech in Berlin June 26, 1963
But peace does not rest in charters and
covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. And if it is
cast out there, then no act, no pact, no treaty, no organization can hope to
preserve it without the support and the wholehearted commitment of all people.
The world has not escaped from the darkness. The long shadows of conflict and
crisis envelop us still. But we meet today in an atmosphere of rising hope, and
at a moment of comparative calm. My presence here today is not a sign of
crisis, but of confidence. I am not here to report on a new threat to the peace
or new signs of war. I have come to salute the United Nations and to show the
support of the American people for your daily deliberations. For the value of
this body's work is not dependent on the existence of emergencies--nor can the
winning of peace consist only of dramatic victories. Peace is a daily, a
weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old
barriers, quietly building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit
of peace, that pursuit must go on.
Finally, in a field where the United States
and the Soviet Union have a special capacity - in the field of space - there is
room for new cooperation, for further joint efforts in the regulation and
exploration of space. I include among these possibilities a joint expedition to
the moon. Space offers no problems of sovereignty; by resolution of this
Assembly, the members of the United Nations have foresworn any claim to
territorial rights in outer space or on celestial bodies, and declared that
international law and the United Nations Charter will apply. Why, therefore,
should man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition?
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go
to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy,
but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure
the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are
willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to
win, and the others, too.
Who can tell who will be the President a year
from now? -- John F. Kennedy, speaking to the president of Harvard about why he
did not want to delay signing documents relating to a future JFK Presidential
Library, 2 October 1963.
“If anyone is crazy enough to
want to kill a president of the United States, he can do it. All he must be
prepared to do is give his life for the presidents.”
You never know what's hit you. A gunshot is the perfect way. John F.
Kennedy, on assassination
The great enemy of the truth is
very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth,
persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of
opinion without the discomfort of thought. John F. Kennedy - speech prepared
for delivery in Dallas the day of his assassination, November 22, 1963
Jackie,
on the trip to Dallas: The sun was so strong in our faces. I couldn't put on
sunglasses... Then we saw this tunnel ahead, I thought it would be cool in the
tunnel...
“They were gunning the motorcycles. There were
these little backfires. There was one noise like that. I thought it was a
backfire”
“Every time we got off the plane
that day, three times they gave me the yellow roses of Texas. But in Dallas
they gave me red roses. I thought how funny, red roses — so all the seat was
full of blood and red roses”
“... We all lay down in the car
... And I kept saying, Jack, Jack, Jack, and someone was yelling he's dead,
he's dead. All the ride to the hospital I kept bending over him, saying Jack,
Jack, can you hear me, I love you, Jack.”
“These big Texas interns kept
saying, Mrs. Kennedy, you come with us, they wanted to take me away from him...
But I said I'm not leaving... Dave Powers came running to me at the hospital,
crying when he saw me, my legs, my hands were covered... When Dave saw this he
burst out weeping... I said I'm not going to leave him, I'm not going to leave
him... I was standing outside in this narrow corridor... ten minutes later this
big policeman brought me a chair.”
Leadership and learning are
indispensable to each other. The advancement of learning depends on community
leadership for financial and political support -- and the products of that
learning, in turn, are essential to the leadership's hopes for continued
progress and prosperity... To have been delivered at Dallas, Texas, November
22, 1963.
“One must not let oneself be overwhelmed by
sadness.” Jacqueline Kennedy
“I said, I want to be in there
when he dies... so (Secret Service Agent)
Burkeley forced his way into the operating room and said, It's her
prerogative, it's her prerogative... and I got in, there were about forty
people there. Dr. Perry wanted to get me out. But I said It's my husband, his
blood, his brains are all over me.”
“ I held his hand all the time
the priest was saying extreme unction.”
“The ring was all
blood-stained... so I put the ring on Jack's finger... and then I kissed his
hand...”
“To think that I very nearly
didn’t go... What if I’d been here — out riding in Virginia or somewhere —
Thank God I went with him.”
“I have always believed that God never gives a
cross to bear larger than we can carry”. Rose F. Kennedy
“...there
is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are
wounded, and some men never leave the country, and some men are stationed in
the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco. It's very hard in the
military or personal life to assure complete equality. Life is unfair.” John F.
Kennedy