"We're eyeball to eyeball,and I
think the other fellow just blinked."
Secretary of State Rusk
Cuban Missle Crisis
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me. The carriage held but
just ourselves, And immortality."
--Emily Dickinson
Within the first few months, I discovered that
being president is like riding a tiger. A man has to
keep on riding or be swallowed.
Harry S. Truman
100 Days
"All this will not be finished in the first 100 days.
Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days,
not in the life of this Administration,
nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet.
But let us begin,"
Afraid
"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with
unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and
competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let
its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open
market is a nation that is afraid of its people."
American
"Every American ought to have the right to be treated;
as he would like to be treated, as one would wish
to be treated, as one would wish his children
to be treated."
I look forward to an America which commands
respect throughout the world, not only for its
strength, but for its civilization as well. And
I look forward to a world which will be safe not
only for democracy and diversity but also for
personal distinction.
JFK 10/26/63 Amherst College
Arts
If art is to nourish the roots of our culture,
society must set the artist free to follow his vision
wherever it takes him.
JFK, 10/26/63
I look forward to an America which will not be afraid
of grace and beauty.
JFK 10/26/63
We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda;
it is a form of truth.
JFK 10/26/63
Balanced Budget
"A tax cut means higher family income and higher business profits
and a balanced federal budget....As the national income grows, the
federal government will ultimately end up with more revenues.
Prosperity is the real way to balance our budget. By lowering
tax rates, by increasing jobs and income, we can expand tax
revenues and finally bring our budget into balance."
John F. Kennedy
Source: September 18, 1963
Berlin
The freedom of the city is not negotiable. We cannot
negotiate with those who say, 'What's mine is mine and
what's yours is negotiable.'
John F. Kennedy, 1961
Change
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to
the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
John F. Kennedy
Source:Speech, June 25, 1963
Conformity
"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy
of growth."
-John F. Kennedy (1917-63)
Constitution
The Constitution makes us not rivals for power but
partners for progress.
John F. Kennedy, State of Union, 1962
Courage
Any dangerous spot is tenable if brave men will
make it so.
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 oun soul.
JFK, Profiles in Courage, 1956
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.
JFK, Profiles in Courage, 1956
Crisis
"When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is
composed of two characters--one represents danger,
and the other represents opportunity."
Diplomacy and defense are not substitutes for one
another. Either alone will fail.
Campaign Speech 9/6/60
Great crises produce great men, and great deeds
of courage.
JFK
The time to repair the roof
is when the sun is shining.
JFK
Courage
Any dangerous spot is tenable if brave men will
make it so.
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 oun soul.
JFK, Profiles in Courage, 1956
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.
JFK, Profiles in Courage, 1956
Cuba
It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard
any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against
any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack
by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring
a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.
Finally, I want to say a few words to the captive
people of Cuba, to whom this speech is being
directly carried by special radio facilities.
I speak to you as a friend, as one who knows of
your deep attachment to your fatherland, as one
who shares your aspirations for liberty and justice
for all. And I have watched and the American people
have watched with deep sorrow how your nationalist
revolution was betrayed-and how your fatherland
fell under foreign domination. Now your leaders
are no longer Cuban leaders inspired by Cuban
ideals. They are puppets and agents of an
international conspiracy which has turned Cuba
against your friends and neighbors in the
Americas-and turned it into the first Latin American
country to become a target for nuclear war—the
first Latin American country to have these
weapons on its soil
My fellow citizens: let no one doubt that this is
a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have
set out. No one can foresee precisely what course
it will take or what costs or casualties will be
incurred. Many months of sacrifice and
self-discipline lie ahead—months in which both
our patience and our will will be tested—months
in which many threats and denunciations will keep
us aware of our dangers. But the greatest danger
of all would be to do nothing
The path we have chosen for the present is full of
hazards, as all paths are—but it is the one most
consistent with our character and courage as a
nation and our commitments around the world.
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.
Our goal is not the victory of might, but the
vindication of right-not peace at the expense
of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in
this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world.
God willing, that goal will be achieved.
July 4, 1962
Democracy
Democracy is never a final achievement.
It is a call to untiring effort,
to continual sacrifice.
Democratic Party
Our duty as a party is not to our party alone, but
to the nation and, indeed, to all mankind. Our
duty is not merely the preservation of political
power but the preservation of peace and freedom.
John F. Kennedy, speech planed for Dallas Texas,
11-22-1960
Democrats Vs. Republicans
We have all made mistakes. But Dante tells us that divine
justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins
of the warm-hearted on different scales. Better the
occasional faults of a party living in the spirit of
charity than the consistent omissions of a party
frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
John F. Kennedy, 1960
Source:Garrison Keillor, Homegrown Democrat, pp69
Economy
Economic growth without social progress lets
the great majority of the people remain in
poverty, while a privleged few reap the benefits
of rising abundance.
Economic policy can result from governmental
inaction as well as governmental action.
Environment
The Supreme Reality of Our Time is...the Vulnerability of our Planet"
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), speech, June 28, 1963
http://www.epa.gov/Region2/library/quotes.htm
Education
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.
A child miseducated is a child lost.
JFK State of the Union, 1963
Education...is the mainspring of our economic and
social progress...It is the hightest expression
of achievement in our society, ennobling and
enriching human life.
It might be said now that I have the best of both
worlds: a Harvard education and a Yale degree.
JFK accepting a Yale degree, 6/12/63
Enemies
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names
Executives In Steel Industry
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 families
for months on end and servicemen to risk their lives--
and four were killed in the last 2 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.
Environment
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, March 1961
Never before has man had such capacity to control
his own environment, to end thrist and hunger, to
conguer 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.
John F. Kennedy, UN address, 9-20-1963
Equality
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.
John F. Kennedy 6-11-1963
Farmer
The American farmer is the only man in our economy
who buys everything he buys at retail, sells everything
he sells at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.
John F. Kennedy, 9-22-1960
Forgiveness
Forgive, but never forget.
Future
"I look forward to a great future for America,
a future in which our country will match its
military strength with our moral restraint,
its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our
purpose. . . . And I look forward to an America
which commands respect throughout the world not
only for its strength but for its
civilization as well."
-- John F. Kennedy honoring Robert Frost, Oct. 26, 1963
"The wave of the future is not the conquest of
the world by a single dogmatic creed but the
liberation of the diverse energies of free nations
and free men."
We have come too far, we have sacrificed too much,
to disdain the furture now.
John F. Kennedy
Global Affairs
We no longer live in a world where only the actual
firing of weapons represents a sufficient
challenge to a nation's security to constitute
maximum peril.
John F. Kennedy, 10-22-1962
Hero
[Mr. President, how did you become a war hero?]
It was absolutely involuntary. They sank my boat.
John F. Kennedy
Source:The Kennedy Wit
Honesty and Trust
For the great enemy of truth is very often not the
lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the
myth--persistent, persuasive--of our forebears.
We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort
of thought.
John F. Kennedy, Yale, 6-11-1962
I would rather be accused of breaking precedents than
breaking promises.
John F. Kennedy
Idealism
In each of us, there is a private hope and dream
which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit
for everyone.
John F. Kennedy
I look forward to a great future for America--a future
in which our country will match its military strenght
with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom,
its power with our purpose.
John F. Kennedy, 10-26-1963
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.
John F. Kennedy, Speech for Dallas Texas, 11-22-1963
nut never delivered.
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea
lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.
John F. Kennedy
Inaugural Address
"Ask not what your country can do for you -
ask what you can do for your country."
The world is a very different now...and yet the same
revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought
are still at issue around the globe--the belief that
the rights of man come not from the generosity of the
state but from the hand of God.
John F. Kennedy
Let us never negotiate out of fear but let us
never fear to negotiate.
John F. Kennedy, 1-20-1961
"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."
JFK Inaugural address, January 20, 1961.
Only when our arms are sufficient, without doubt,
can we be certain, without doubt, that they will never
be employed.
John F. Kennedy
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.
John F. Kennedy
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.
John F. Kennedy.
Individualism
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of
growth.
John F. Kennedy, Speech to The UN. 1961
Judgement
We shall be judged more by what we do at home than
what we preach abroad.
John F. Kennedy, State of the Union, 1963
Knowledge
"In a time of turbulence and change,
it is more true today than ever that knowledge
is power."
Laughter
"There are three things in life which are real:
God, human folly and laughter. Since the first
two are beyond our comprehension,
we must do what we can with the third."
Law
I don't see what's wrong with giving Bobby a little
experience before he starts to practice law.
John F. Kennedy, appointing his brother Bobby
US attorney general
Only a respect for the law makes it possible for
free men to dwell together in peace and progress....
Law is the adhesive force in the cement of society,
creating order out of chaos and coherence in place
of anarchy.
John F. Kennedy, 5-18-1963
Liberty and Learning
"Liberty without learning is always in peril
and learning without liberty is always in vain."
Morality and Spirit
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.
Mothers and Sons and Being President
"Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be
president but they don't want them to become
politicians in the process."
US President John F. Kennedy
Navy
"I can imagine no more rewarding a 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."
President John F. Kennedy
Source:1 August 1963, in Bancroft Hall at the U. S. Naval Academy.
New Frontier
We stand today on the edge of a new frontier. The new
frontier of which I speak 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 intend to ask
of them....It appeals to our pride, not our
security--it holds the promise of more sacrifice
instead of more security.
John F. Kennedy, Acceptance speech, 7-15-1960
New Generation
"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 run."
Nixon
"Do you know the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person between Nixon
and the White House."
-John F. Kennedy
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 Republician,
but he says that is getting low.
John F. Kennedy, 11-5-1960
The Republican nominee-to-be, of course, is
also a young man. But his approach is as
old as McKinley. His party is the party of
the past. His speeches are generalities
from Poor Richard's Almanac. Their platform,
made up of left-over Democratic planks,
has the courage of our old convictions.
Their pledge is a pledge to the status quo
and today there can be no status quo.
-John F. Kennedy
Patriotism
Let our patriotism be reflected in the creation of
confidence in one another, rather than in crusades of
suspicion. Let us prove we think our country great,
by striving to make it greater.
John F. Kennedy, 11-18-1961
A nation reveals itself not only by the men it
produces but also by the men it honors,
the men it remembers.
John F. Kennedy, 10-27-1963
Peace
But peace does not rest in the 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 whole
hearted commitment 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.
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process,
gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding
old barriers, quietly building new structures."
So let us perserver. Peace need not be
impracticable--and war need not be inevitable.
By defining our goal more clearly, by making it
seem more manageable and less remote, we can help
all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it,
and to move irresistibly towards it.
John F. Kennedy 1963
Peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our
cities today, the peace is not secure because
freedom is incomplete.
John F. Kennedy, 6-10-1963
People
The first requirement of efficiency and economy...
is highly competent personel.
John F. Kennedy
Source:Management Mag, 1987
Poetry
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 his existence. When
power corrupts, poetry cleanses.
"If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets
knew politics, I am convinced the world would be
a little better place in which to live."
--Sen. John F. Kennedy, Address at Harvard University, 1956
Politics
In politics, there are no friends, only allies.
John F. Kennedy
It would be premature to ask your support in the next
election and it would be inaccurate to thank you for
it in the past.
John F. Kennedy, speech to the National Industrial
Conference Board, Washington, DC, 2-13-1961
Mothers may still want their sons to grow up to be
President, but according to a famous Gallup poll of
some years ago, some 73 percent do not want them to
become politicans in the process.
John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage.
My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government--he
promised Dad he'd go straight.
John F. Kennedy
Problems
Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be
solved by man. No problem of human destiny is
beyond human beings.
Poverty
"Acting on our own, by ourselves, we cannot establish
justice throughout the world, but joined with other
free nations, we can ... assist the developing
nations to throw off the yoke of poverty."
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor,
it cannot save the few who are rich.
John F. Kennedy 1-20-1963
Political sovereignty is but a mockery without the
means of meeting poverty and illiteracy and disease.
Self-determination is but a slogan if the future
holds no hope.
John F. Kennedy, Speech to UN, 9-25-1961
There is inherited wealth in this country and also
inherited poverty.
John F. Kennedy, 10-26-1963
A strong America depends on its cities--America's
glory and sometmes America's shame.
John F. Kennedy, State Of Union, 1962
We will neglect our cities to our peril, for in
neglecting them we neglect the nation.
John F. Kennedy, 1-30-1962
Presidential Seal
The American eagle on the Presidential seal holds in
his talons both the olive branch of peace and the
arrows of military might. On the ceiling in the
Presidential office, constructed many years ago, that
eagle is facing the arrows of the war on its left.
But on the new carpet on the floor, reflecting a change
initiated by President Roosevelt and implemented by
President Truman immediately after the war, that eagle
is now facing the olive branch of peace. And it is
in that spirit, the spirit of both preparedness and
peace, that this Nation today is stronger than ever
before.
John F. Kennedy, 10-19-1963
Rehabilitation of Selective Service Rejectees
"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 tomorrow's hard-core unemployed."
John F. Kennedy
Source:Statement by the President on the Need for Training or
Rehabilitation of Selective Service Rejectees. September 30th, 1963
Religious Affiliation
I hope that no American . . . will waste his
franchise and throw away his vote by voting
either for me or against me solely on account
of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant.
Restraint
Our restraint is not inexhaustible.
John F. Kennedy
Source:April 20, 1961
Revolutions
Those who make peaceful revolutions impossible
will make violent revolutions inevitable.
Richness
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.
SEA
"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, our sweat, and 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."
--Pres. John F. Kennedy, Australian Ambassador's Dinner for
the America's Cup Crews, September 14, 1962, Newport, R.I.
Senior Citizens
This increase in the life span and 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.
JFK, Special Message to Congress 1963.
SPACE
Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort
September 12, 1962
HEAR THE ENTIRE SPEECH
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 all 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 pre-eminence can we help
decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of
peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not
say the we should or will go unprotected against
the hostile misuse of space any more than we go
unprotected against the hostile use of land
or sea, but I do say that space can be explored
and mastered without feeding the fires of war,
without repeating the mistakes that man has made
in extending his writ around this globe of
ours.
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national
conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are
hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best
of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful
cooperation many never come again. But why,
some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal?
And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain?
Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?
Why does Rice play Texas?
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.
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 we're going
to climb it, and the moon and the planets are
there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are
there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask
God's blessing on the most hazardous and
dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has
ever embarked.
"This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of
space, and we have no choice but to follow it."
--Pres. John F. Kennedy, Remarks at the dedication of the
Aerospace Medical Health, Center, San Antonio, Texas,
November 21, 1963
Surprise
When we got into office, the first thing that
surprised me most was to find that things were just
as bad as we'd been saying they were. --
John F. Kennedy, speech in Washington, 1961
This Nation and Its People
"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 contributions to the human spirit."
President John F. Kennedy
Times
Unless there is the most intimate association between
those who look to the far horizons and those who deal
with our daily problems, then...we shall not pass
through these stormy times with sucess.
John F. Kennedy.
History is a relentless master. It has no present,
only the past rushing toward the future. To try to
hold fast is to be swept aside.
John F. Kennedy
Tolerance
"Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs.
Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others."
John F. Kennedy
(1917-1963) 35th US President
1960
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/John.F..Kennedy.Quote.1E7A
US Government
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.
John F. Kennedy, 2-12-1961
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 Jerrerson dined alone.
John F. Kennedy, 4-29-1962
Senators who go down in defeat in vain defense of a
single principle will not be on hand to fight for that
or another principle in the future.
John F. Kennedy
The United States is a peaceful nation. And where our
strengh and determination are clear, our words need
merely to convey conviction, not belligerence. If we
are strong, our strengh will speak for itself. If we
are weak, words will be of no help.
John F. Kennedy
Votes
I have just received the following telegram from
my generous daddy. It says, 'Dear Jack: Don't buy a
single vote more than necessary. I'll be damned if I'm
going to pay for a landslide.'
John F. Kennedy, Gridiron Dinner, Washington, DC, 1958
WAR
Mankind must put an end to war or war will
put an end to mankind.
Kennedy's Cabinet
Secretary of State
Dean Rusk 1961-63
Secretary of the Treasury
C. Douglas Dillon 1961-63
Secretary of Defense
Robert S. McNamara 1961-63
Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy 1961-63
Postmaster General
J. Edward Day 1961-63
John A. Gronouski Jr. 1963
Secretary of the Interior
Stewart L. Udall 1961-63
Secretary of Agriculture
Orville L. Freeman 1961-63
Secretary of Commerce
Luther H. Hodges 1961-63
Secretary of Labor
Arthur J. Goldberg 1961-62
W. Willard Wirtz 1962-63
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
Abraham A. Ribicoff 1961-62
Anthony J. Celebrezze 1962-63
Great John F. Kennedy Speeches Online
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