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As Every Past Generation Has Had To Disenthrall Itself From An Inheritance Of Truisms And Stereotypes, So In Our Own Time We Must Move On From The Reassuring Repetition Of Stale Phrases To A New, Difficult, But Essential Confrontation With Reality. For The Great Enemy Of Truth Is Very Often Not The Lie-deliberate, Contrived And Dishonest-but The Myth-persistent, Persuasive And Unrealistic. Mythology Distracts Us Everywhere.

-John F. Kennedy

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As Every Past Generation

John F. Kennedy

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As Every Past Generation Has Had To Disenthrall Itself From An Inheritance Of Truisms And Stereotypes, So In Our Own Time We Must Move On From The Reassuring Repetition Of Stale Phrases To A New, Difficult, But Essential Confrontation With Reality. For The Great Enemy Of Truth Is Very Often Not The Lie-deliberate, Contrived And Dishonest-but The Myth-persistent, Persuasive And Unrealistic. Mythology Distracts Us Everywhere.

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For To Save Mankind's Future Freedom, We Must Face Up To Any Risk That Is Necessary. We Will Always Seek Peace - But We Will Never Surrender.

I Look Forward To An America Which Will Not Be Afraid Of Grace And Beauty, Which Will Protect The Beauty Of Our Natural Environment, Which Will Preserve The Great Old American Houses And Squares And Parks Of Our National Past And Which Will Build Handsome And Balanced Cities For Our Future.

We Must Recognize That Every Nation Determines Its Policies In Terms Of Its Own Interests.

We Must Find Time To Stop And Thank The People Who Make A Difference In Our Lives.

A Technological Revolution On The Farm Has Led To An Output Explosion--but We Have Not Yet Learned To Harness That Explosion Usefully, While Protecting Our Farmers' Right To Full Parity Income

We Hold The View That The People Make The Best Judgment In The Long Run.

Let Us Not Despair But Act. Let Us Not Seek The Republican Answer Or The Democratic Answer But The Right Answer. Let Us Not Seek To Fix The Blame For The Past - Let Us Accept Our Own Responsibility For The Future.

Everything Changes But Change Itself.

I Just Received The Following Wire From My Generous Daddy; Dear Jack, Don't Buy A Single Vote More Than Is Necessary. I'll Be Damned If I'm Going To Pay For A Landslide.

The Present Tax Codes Inhibit The Mobility And Formation Of Capital, Add Complexities And Inequities Which Undermine The Morale Of The Taxpayer, And Make Tax Avoidance Rather Than Market Factors A Prime Consideration In Too Many Economic Decisions.

Richard Cromwell Was Not Fit To Wear The Mantle Of His Uncle.

Sailing Has Given Me Some Of The Most Pleasant And Exciting Moments Of My Life. It Also Has Taught Me Something Of The Courage, Resourcefulness, And Strength Of Men Who Sail The Seas In Ships.

Foreign Aid Is A Method By Which The United States Maintains A Position Of Influence And Control Around The World

Science Contributes To Our Culture In Many Ways, As A Creative Intellectual Activity In Its Own Right, As The Light Which Has Served To Illuminate Man's Place In The Universe, And As The Source Of Understanding Of Man's Own Nature.

The Very Word 'secrecy' Is Repugnant In A Free And Open Society. ... There Is Little Value In Ensuring The Survival Of Our Nation If Our Traditions Do Not Survive With It.

For In A Democracy, Every Citizen, Regardless Of His Interest In Politics, "hold Office"; Every One Of Us Is In A Position Of Responsibility; And, In The Final Analysis, The Kind Of Government We Get Depends Upon How We Fulfill Those Responsibilities. We, The People, Are The Boss, And We Will Get The Kind Of Political Leadership, Be It Good Or Bad, That We Demand And Deserve.

This Is A Great Country And Requires A Good Deal Of All Of Us, So I Can Imagine Nothing More Important Than For All Of You To Continue To Work In Public Affairs And Be Interested In Them, Not Only To Bring Up A Family, But Also Give Part Of Your Time To Your Community, Your State, And Your Country.

In Giving Rights To Others Which Belong To Them, We Give Rights To Ourselves And To Our Country

The Lower The Family Income, The Higher The Probability That The Mother Must Work. Today, 1 Out Of 5 Of These Working Mothers Has Children Under 3. Two Out Of 5 Have Children Of School Age. Among The Remainder, About 50 Percent Have Husbands Who Earn Less Than $5,000 A Year-many Of Them Much Less. I Believe They Bear The Heaviest Burden Of Any Group In Our Nation. Where The Mother Is The Sole Support Of The Family, She Often Must Face The Hard Choice Of Either Accepting Public Assistance Or Taking A Position At A Pay Rate Which Averages Less Than Two-thirds Of The Pay Rate For Men.

I Also Want To Take Cognizance Of The Fact That This Flight Was Made Out In The Open With All The Possibilities Of Failure, Which Would Have Been Damaging To Our Country's Prestige. Because Great Risks Were Taken In That Regard, It Seems To Me That We Have Some Right To Claim That This Open Society Of Ours Which Risked Much, Gained Much.

For In A Government Of Laws And Not Of Men, No Man, However Prominent Or Powerful, And No Mob However Unruly Or Boisterous, Is Entitled To Defy A Court Of Law. If This Country Should Ever Reach The Point Where Any Man Or Group Of Men By Force Or Threat Of Force Could Long Defy The Commands Of Our Court And Our Constitution, Then No Law Would Stand Free From Doubt, No Judge Would Be Sure Of His Writ, And No Citizen Would Be Safe From His Neighbors.

A Child Miseducated Is A Child Lost.

History Will Not Judge Our Endeavors--and A Government Cannot Be Selected--merely On The Basis Of Color Or Creed Or Even Party Affiliation. Neither Will Competence And Loyalty And Stature, While Essential To The Utmost, Suffice In Times Such As These.

The Time Is Not Far Off When Many Nations In Many Parts Of The World Of Many Political Shades And Commitments Will Possess Nuclear Or Even Thermonuclear Weapons.

Where Else, In A Non-totalitarian Country, But In The Political Profession Is The Individual Expected To Sacrifice All-including His Own Career-for The National Good?

And Is Not Peace, In The Last Analysis, Basically A Matter Of Human Rights -- The Right To Live Out Our Lives Without Fear Of Devastation – The Right To Breathe Air As Nature Provided It -- The Right Of Future Generations To A Healthy Existence?" (john F. Kennedy, June 10, 1963, American University Speech)

By The Age Of Six The Average Child Will Have Completed The Basic American Education.... From Television, The Child Will Have Learned How To Pick A Lock, Commit A Fairly Elaborate Bank Holdup, Prevent Wetness All Day Long, Get The Laundry Twice As White, And Kill People With A Variety Of Sophisticated Armaments.

Arms Alone Are Not Enough To Keep The Peace. It Must Be Kept By Men.

But Goethe Tells Us In His Greatest Poem That Faust Lost The Liberty Of His Soul When He Said To The Passing Moment: "stay, Thou Art So Fair." And Our Liberty, Too, Is Endangered If We Pause For The Passing Moment, If We Rest On Our Achievements, If We Resist The Pace Of Progress. Change Is The Law Of Life. And Those Who Look Only To The Past Are Certain To Miss The Future.

There Is Too Little Public Recognition Of How Much We All Depend Upon Farmers As Stewards Of Our Soil, Water And Wildlife Resources.

Washington Is A City Of Southern Efficiency And Northern Charm.

Too Often In The Past, We Have Thought Of The Artist As An Idler And Dilettante And Of The Lover Of Arts As Somehow Sissy And Effete. We Have Done Both An Injustice. The Life Of The Artist Is, In Relation To His Work, Stern And Lonely. He Has Labored Hard, Often Amid Deprivation, To Perfect His Skill. He Has Turned Aside From Quick Success In Order To Strip His Vision Of Everything Secondary Or Cheapening. His Working Life Is Marked By Intense Application And Intense Discipline.

We Must Never Forget That Art Is Not A Form Of Propaganda; It Is A Form Of Truth.

You Know Nothing For Sure...except The Fact That You Know Nothing For Sure.

To Be Courageous Requires No Exceptional Qualifications, No Magic Formula, No Special Combination Of Time, Place, And Circumstance. It Is An Opportunity That Sooner Or Later Is Presented To Us All.

I Am Not The Catholic Candidate For President. I Am The Democratic Party's Candidate For President, Who Happens Also To Be A Catholic.

If My Church Attempted To Influence Me In A Way Which Was Improper Or Which Affected Adversely My Responsibilities As A Public Servant Sworn To Uphold The Constitution, Then I Would Reply To Them That This Was An Improper Action On Their Part. It Was One To Which I Could Not Subscribe.

In A Very Real Sense, It Will Not Be One Man Going To The Moon It Will Be An Entire Nation. For All Of Us Must Work To Put Him There.

Here On Earth, God's Work Must Surely Be Our Own.

We Can Say With Some Assurance That, Although Children May Be The Victims Of Fate, They Will Not Be The Victims Of Our Neglect.

The Mere Absence Of War Is Not Peace.

Each Success Brings With It The Potential Of Failure And Each Failure Brings With It The Potential Of Success.

Do You Realize The Responsibility I Carry? I'm The Only Person Standing Between Richard Nixon And The White House.

Those [presidents] Who Were Strongest Intellectually Were Also Strongest Spiritually.

Diplomacy And Defense Are Not Substitutes For One Another. Either Alone Would Fail.

Change Is The Law Of Life. And Those Who Look Only To The Past Or Present Are Certain To Miss The Future.

There Is Nothing More Certain And Unchanging Than Uncertainty And Change.

Peace Is A Process, A Way Of Solving Problems

Problem Solving

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.

We Are Inclined To Think That If We Watch A Football Game Or A Baseball Game, We Have Taken Part In It.

There's An Old Saying That Victory Has A Hundred Fathers And Defeat Is An Orphan.... I'm The Responsible Officer Of The Government.

What Church I Go To On Sunday, What Dogma Of The Catholic Church I Believe In, Is My Business; And Whatever Faith Any Other American Has Is His Business.

This Is Not The Land Of My Birth, But It Is The Land For Which I Hold The Greatest Affection, And I Certainly Will Come Back In The Springtime

I Not Only Could Not Stifle Controversy Among Your Readers.. I Welcome It. This Administration Intends To Be Candid About Its Errors; For As A Wise Man Once Said: "an Error Does Not Become A Mistake Until You Refuse To Correct It." We Intend To Accept Full Responsibility For Our Errors; And We Expect You To Point Them Out When We Miss Them.

I Know My Republican Friends Were Glad To See My Wife Feeding An Elephant In India. She Gave Him Sugar And Nuts. But Of Course The Elephant Wasn't Satisfied.

The United States Has To Move Very Fast To Even Stand Still.

Our National Conservation Effort Must Include The Complete Spectrum Of Resources: Air, Water, And Land; Fuels, Energy, And Minerals; Soils, Forests, And Forage; Fish And Wildlife. Together They Make Up The World Of Nature Which Surrounds Us- Of The American Heritage.

Someone Always Needs Rescuing, Yet There's Only One Person Who Ever Seems To Understand You. It's A Lot Like Being Lassie.

By Calling Attention To 'a Well Regulated Militia,' 'the Security Of The Nation,' And The Right Of Each Citizen 'to Keep And Bear Arms,' Our Founding Fathers Recognized The Essentially Civilian Nature Of Our Economy... The Second Amendment Still Remains An Important Declaration Of Our Basic Civilian-military Relationships In Which Every Citizen Must Be Ready To Participate In The Defense Of His Country. For That Reason I Believe The Second Amendment Will Always Be Important.

Don't Ask 'why', Ask Instead, 'why Not'.

The Federal Government's Most Useful Role Is Not To Rush Into A Program Of Excessive Increases In Public Expenditures, But To Expand The Incentives And Opportunities For Private Expenditures.

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.

The Basis Of Effective Government Is Public Confidence.

Ethical Standards

Peace Need Not Be Impracticable, And War Need Not Be Inevitable.

Irrational Barriers And Ancient Prejudices Fall Quickly When The Question Of Survival Itself Is At Stake.

In Seeking The Help Of The Congress And Our Countrymen, I Pledged No Easy Answers. I Pledged, And Asked, Only Toil And Dedication. These The Congress And The People Have Given In Good Measure.

We Should Not Let Our Fears Hold Us Back From Pursuing Our Hopes.

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 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 For They Determine Whether We Use Power Or Power Uses Us.

Geography Has Made Us Neighbors. History Has Made Us Friends. Economics Has Made Us Partners, And Necessity Has Made Us Allies. Those Whom God Has So Joined Together, Let No Man Put Asunder.

I'm An Idealist Without Illusions.

We Must Start Now To Provide Additional Stimulus To The Modernization Of American Industrial Plants I Shall Propose To The Congress A New Tax Incentive For Businesses To Expand Their Normal Investment In Plant And Equipment.

Anyone Who Is Honestly Seeking A Job And Can't Find It, Deserves The Attention Of The United States Government, And The People.

Israel Was Not Created In Order To Disappear - Israel Will Endure And Flourish. It Is The Child Of Hope And The Home Of The Brave. It Can Neither Be Broken By Adversity Nor Demoralized By Success. It Carries The Shield Of Democracy And It Honors The Sword Of Freedom.

The Goal Of Education Is The Advancement Of Knowledge And The Dissemination Of Truth.

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.

The Only Reason To Give A Speech Is To Change The World.

We Dare Not Forget That We Are The Heirs Of That First Revolution.

All Of Us Do Not Have Equal Talent, But All Of Us Should Have An Equal Opportunity To Develop Our Talent.

We Shall Be Judged More By What We Do At Home Than What We Preach Abroad.

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 Independentan Amount Less Than This Countrys Annual Outlay For Lipstick, Face Cream, And Chewing Gum?

Mothers All Want Their Sons To Grow Up To Be President, But They Don't Want Them To Become Politicians In The Process.

When Asked What I Am Most Proud Of, I Stick Out My Chest, Hold My Head High And State Proudly, 'i Served In The United States Navy!'

The First Man-made Satellite To Orbit The Earth Was Named Sputnik. The First Living Creature In Space Was Laika. The First Rocket To The Moon Carried A Red Flag. The First Photograph Of The Far Side Of The Moon Was Made With A Soviet Camera. If A Man Orbits The Earth This Year His Name Will Be Ivan.

If Sometimes Our Great Artists Have Been The Most Critical Of Our Society, It Is Because Their Sensitivity And Their Concern For Justice, Which Must Motivate Any True Artist, Makes Him Aware That Our Nation Falls Short Of Its Highest Potential. I See Little Of More Importance To The Future Of Our Country And Our Civilization Than Full Recognition Of The Place Of The Artist.

It Is Insane That Two Men, Sitting On Opposite Sides Of The World, Should Be Able To Decide To Bring An End To Civilization.

A Country Is As Strong, Really, As Its Citizens. And I Think That Mental And Physical Health - Mental And Physical Vigor - Go Hand In Hand.

In Whatever Area In Life One May Meet The Challenges 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.

Sure It's A Big Job; But I Don't Know Anyone Who Can Do It Better Than I Can.

Ask Not What Your Community Can Do For You; Ask What Your Community Can Not Do For Anyone Else.

United, There Is Little We Cannot Do In A Host Of Cooperative Ventures. Divided, There Is Little We Can Do-for We Dare Not Meet A Powerful Challenge At Odds And Split Asunder.

No One Has Been Barred On Account Of His Race From Fighting Or Dying For America, There Are No White Or Colored Signs On The Foxholes Or Graveyards Of Battle.

The Leadership Of The American Legion Has Not Had A Constructive Thought For The Benefit Of This Country Since 1918.

I Was Born An American, I Live Like An American, I Will Die An American.

War Will Exist Until That Distant Day When The Conscientious Objector Enjoys The Same Reputation And Prestige That The Warrior Does Today.

The Processes Of Growth Are Gradual, Bearing Fruit In A Decade, Not A Day.

Struggle For Freedom. Where People Are Denied The Right Of Choice, Recourse To Such Struggle Is The Only Means Of Achieving Their Liberties.

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.

The Kennedy Administration's Public Pronouncements On The Matter Suggested That The Presence Of Soviet Nuclear Missiles In Castro's Cuba Would Represent An Unacceptable Strategic Threat To The United States. . . . This Urgent Transformation Of Cuba Into An Important Strategic Base - By The Presence Of These Large, Long-range, And Clearly Offensive Weapons Of Sudden Mass-destruction - Constitutes An Explicit Threat To The Peace And Security Of All The Americas. . . .

Mass Destruction

Lower Rates Of Taxation Will Stimulate Economic Activity And So Raise The Levels Of Personal And Corporate Income As To Yield Within A Few Years An Increased - Not A Reduced - Flow Of Revenues To The Federal Government.

I Know Few Significant Questions Of Public Policy Which Can Safely Be Confided To Computers. In The End, The Hard Decisions Inescapably Involve Imponderables Of Intuition, Prudence, And Judgment.

While It May Be Theoretically Possible To Demonstrate The Risks Inherent In Any Treaty... The Far Greater Risk To Our Security Are The Risks Of Unrestricted Testing, The Risks Of A Nuclear Arms Race, The Risks Of New Nuclear Powers.

The Very Word Secrecy Is Repugnant In A Free And Open Society.

Voters Are More Than Catholics, Protestants Or Jews. They Make Up Their Minds For Many Diverse Reasons, Good And Bad. To Submit The Candidates To A Religious Test Is Unfair Enough - To Apply It To The Voters Is Divisive, Degrading And Wholly Unwarranted.

We Must Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Or They Will Abolish Us.

Nuclear Weapons

I Look Forward To An America Which Will Not Be Afraid Of Grace And Beauty.

Politics Is Like Football; If You See Daylight, Go Through The Hole.

Motivational Sports

The Great Enemy Of The Truth Is Not The Lie, Deliberate, Contrived And Dishonest But The Myth Persistent, Persuasive And Unrealistic.

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.

It Is In The American Tradition To Stand Up For One's Rights--even If The New Way To Stand Up For One's Rights Is To Sit Down.

If The Self-discipline Of The Free Cannot Match The Iron Discipline Of The Mailed Fist, In Economic, Political, Scientific, And All The Other Kinds Of Struggles, As Well As The Military, Then The Peril To Freedom Will Continue To Rise.

In A Time Of Domestic Crisis, Men Of Goodwill And Generosity Should Be Able To Unite Regardless Of Party Or Politics.

The Only Valid Test Of Leadership Is The Ability To Lead, And Lead Vigorously.

When Things Don't Go Well They Like To Blame Presidents; And That's Something That Presidents Are Paid For.

The Very Word "secrecy" Is Repugnant In A Free And Open Society; And We Are As A People Inherently And Historically Opposed To Secret Societies, To Secret Oaths And To Secret Proceedings. We Decided Long Ago That The Dangers Of Excessive And Unwarranted Concealment Of Pertinent Facts Far Outweighed The Dangers Which Are Cited To Justify It. Even Today, There Is Little Value In Opposing The Threat Of A Closed Society By Imitating Its Arbitrary Restrictions. Even Today, There Is Little Value In Insuring The Survival Of Our Nation If Our Traditions Do Not Survive With It.

There Is Little Value In Insuring The Survival Of Our Nation If Our Traditions Do Not Survive With It. And There Is Very Grave Danger That An Announced Need For Increased Security Will Be Seized Upon By Those Anxious To Expand Its Meaning To The Very Limits Of Official Censorship And Concealment.

We Cannot Reform The World.... Uncle Sugar Is As Dangerous A Role For Us To Play As Uncle Shylock.

The Great Revolution In The History Of Man, Past, Present And Future, Is The Revolution Of Those Determined To Be Free.

Sometimes Party Loyalty Asks Too Much.

The Efforts Of Governments Alone Will Never Be Enough. In The End, The People Must Choose And The People Must Help Themselves.

Today, We Need A Nation Of Minutemen, Citizens Who Are Not Only Prepared To Take Arms, But Citizens Who Regard The Preservation Of Freedom As The Basic Purpose Of Their Daily Life And Who Are Willing To Consciously Work And Sacrifice For That Freedom.

We Have All Seen These Circus Elephants Complete With Tusks, Ivory In Their Head And Thick Skins, Who Move Around The Circus Ring And Grab The Tail Of The Elephant Ahead Of Them.

Communism Has Never Come To Power In A Country That Was Not Disrupted By War Or Corruption, Or Both.

The Time To Repair The Roof Is When The Sun Is Shining.

The American Presidency Will Demand More Than Ringing Manifestos Issued From The Rear Of The Battle. It Will Demand That The President Place Himself In The Very Thick Of The Fight; That He Care Passionately About The Fate Of The People He Leads .

There Is A Connection, Hard To Explain Logically But Easy To Feel, Between Achievement In Public Life And Progress In The Arts.

We Shall Pay Any Price, Bear Any Burden, To Assure The Survival And The Success Of Liberty.

This Is One Country. It Has Become One Country Because All Of Us And All The People Who Came Here Had An Equal Chance To Develop Their Talents. We Cannot Say To Ten Percent Of The Population That You Can't Have That Right; That Your Children Cannot Have The Chance To Develop Whatever Talents They Have; That The Only Way That They Are Going To Get Their Rights Is To Go In The Street And Demonstrate. I Think We Owe Them And We Owe Ourselves A Better Country Than That.

A Full Scale Nuclear Exchange, Lasting Less Than 60 Minutes...could Wipe Out More Than 300 Million Americans, Europeans, And Russians, As Well As Untold Numbers Elsewhere. And The Survivors-as Chairman Khrushchev Warned The Communist Chinese, `the Survivors Would Envy The Dead.' For They Would Inherit A World So Devastated By Explosions And Poison And Fire That Today We Cannot Conceive Of Its Horrors.

I Think It Is Appropriate That We Pay Tribute To This Great Constitutional Principle Which Is Enshrined In The First Amendment Of The Constitution: The Principle Of Religious Independence, Of Religious Liberty, Of Religious Freedom.

We Want To Be First; Not First If, Not First But; But First!

Let's Not Talk So Much About Vice. I'm Against Vice In All Forms.

We, The People, Are The Boss, And We Will Get The Kind Of Political Leadership, Be It Good Or Bad, That We Demand And Deserve.

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.

Our Economy Today Depends Upon Women In The Labor Force. One Out Of Three Workers Is A Woman. Today, There Are Almost 25 Million Women Employed, And Their Number Is Rising Faster Than The Number Of Men In The Labor Force.

Our Alliance Is Born, Not Of Fear, But Of Hope. It Is An Alliance That Advances What We Are For, As Well As Opposes What We Are Against.

One Hundred And Fifty Years Ago The Vacant Lands Of The West Were Opened To Private Use. One Hundred Years Ago The Congress Passed The Homestead Act, Probably The Single Greatest Stimulus To National Development Ever Enacted. Under The Impetus Of That Act And Other Laws, More Than 1.1 Billion Acres Of The Original Public Main Have Been Transferred To Private And Non-federal Public Ownership. The 768 Million Acres Remaining In Federal Ownership Are A Valuable National Asset.

Just As I Went Into Politics Because Joe Died, If Anything Happened To Me Tomorrow, My Brother Bobby Would Run For My Seat In The Senate. And If Bobby Died, Teddy Would Take Over For Him.

First, What Does Truth Require? It Requires Us To Face The Facts As They Are, Not To Involve Ourselves In Self-deception; To Refuse To Think Merely In Slogans. If We Are To Work For The Future Of The City, Let Us Deal With The Realities As They Actually Are, Not As They Might Have Been, And Not As We Wish They Were.

So Let Us Begin Anew - Remembering On Both Sides That Civility Is Not A Sign Of Weakness, And Sincerity Is Always Subject To Proof

I Don't Think The Intelligence Reports Are All That Hot. Some Days I Get More Out Of The New York Times.

Certain Other Societies May Respect The Rule Of Force--we Respect The Rule Of Law.

Peace Does Not Rest In Charters And Covenants Alone. It Lies In The Hearts And Minds Of The People.

A Rising Tide (in The Economy) Lifts All Boats.

Those Who Came Before Us Made Certain That This Country Rode The First Waves Of The Industrial Revolution, The First Waves Of Modern Invention And The First Wave Of Nuclear Power. And This Generation Does Not Intend To Founder In The Backwash Of The Coming Age Of Space. We Mean To Be Part Of It-we Mean To Lead It.

The Federal Government Is The People And The Budget Is A Reflection Of Their Need.

The United States, As The World Knows, Will Never Start A War. We Do Not Want A War. We Do Not Now Expect A War. This Generation Of Americans Has Already Had Enough - More Than Enough - Of War And Hate And Oppression. We Shall Be Prepared If Others Wish It. We Shall Be Alert To Try To Stop It. But We Shall Also Do Our Part To Build A World Of Peace Where The Weak Are Safe And The Strong Are Just. We Are Not Helpless Before That Task Or Hopeless Of Its Success. Confident And Unafraid, We Labor On - Not Toward A Strategy Of Annihilation But Toward A Strategy Of Peace.

Where Nature Makes Natural Allies Of Us All, We Can Demonstrate That Beneficial Relations Are Possible Even With Those With Whom We Most Deeply Disagree-and This Must Someday Be The Basis Of World Peace And World Law.

Whether They Be Young In Spirit, Or Young In Age, The Members Of The Democratic Party Must Never Lose That Youthful Zest For New Ideas And For A Better World, Which Has Made Us Great.

Life In Freedom Is Not Easy, And Democracy Is Not Perfect.

Let Us Make It Clear That We Will Never Turn Our Backs On Our Steadfast Friends In Israel, Whose Adherence To The Democratic Way Must Be Admired By All Friends Of Freedom.

It Shall Be The Policy Of This Nation To Regard Any Nuclear Missile Launched From Cuba As An Attack By The Soviet Union On The United States.

Nuclear Missiles

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.

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.

The Complacent, The Self-indulgent, The Soft Societies Are About To Be Swept Away With The Debris Of History.

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!'

I Want Every American To Be Free To Stand Up For His Rights, Even If Sometimes He Has To Sit Down For Them.

You Have, At The Same Time, Placed Your Confidence In Me, And In My Ability To Render A Free, Fair Judgment - To Uphold The Constitution And My Oath Of Office - And To Reject Any Kind Of Religious Pressure Or Obligation That Might Directly Or Indirectly Interfere With My Conduct Of The Presidency In The National Interest.

American History Is Not Something Dead And Over. It Is Always Alive,always Growing, Always Unfinished.

American History

Art Establishes The Basic Human Truths Which Must Serve As The Touchstone Of Our Judgement.

We Do Not Seek The Unanimity That Comes To Those Who Water Down All Issues To The Lowest Common Denominator - Or To Those Who Conceal Their Differences Behind Fixed Smiles - Or To Those Who Measure Unity By Standards Of Popularity And Affection, Instead Of Trust And Respect. We Are Allies. This Is A Partnership, Not An Empire. We Are Bound To Have Differences And Disappointments - And We Are Equally Bound To Bring Them Out Into The Open, To Settle Them Where They Can Be Settled, And To Respect Each Other's Views When They Cannot Be Settled.

Moral Courage Is More A Rare Commodity Than Bravery In A Battle Or Great Intelligence.

I Believe In An America Where The Separation Of Church And State Is Absolute - Where No Catholic Prelate Would Tell The President (should He Be Catholic) How To Act, And No Protestant Minister Would Tell His Parishoners 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.

We Celebrate The Past To Awaken The Future.

There Are No 'white' Or 'coloured' Signs On The Foxholes Or Graveyards Of Battle.

We Can Have Faith In The Future Only If We Have Faith In Ourselves.

With All Of The History Of War, And The Human Race's History Unfortunately Has Been A Good Deal More War Than Peace, With Nuclear Weapons Distributed All Through The World, And Available, And The Strong Reluctance Of Any People To Accept Defeat, I See The Possibility In The 1970's Of The President Of The United States Having To Face A World In Which 15 Or 20 Or 25 Nations May Have These Weapons.

The High Office Of The President Has Been Used To Foment A Plot To Destroy The American's Freedom And Before I Leave Office, I Must Inform The Citizens Of This Plight.

I Have Said That Control Of Arms Is A Mission That We Undertake Particularly For Our Children And Our Grandchildren And That They Have No Lobby In Washington.

Freedom Is Indivisible, And When One Man Is Enslaved, All Are Not Free.

Ask Not That The Journey Be Easy; Ask Instead That It Be Worth It.

Our Progress As A Nation Can Be No Swifter Than Our Progress In Education. The Human Mind Is Our Fundamental Resource.

This Country Cannot Afford To Be Materially Rich And Spiritually Poor.

Aeschylus And Plato Are Remembered Today Long After The Triumphs Of Imperial Athens Are Gone. Dante Outlived The Ambitions Of Thirteenth Century Florence. Goethe Stands Serenely Above The Politics Of Germany, And I Am Certain That After The Dust Of Centuries Has Passed Over Cities, We Too Will Be Remembered Not For Victories Or Defeats In Battle Or In Politics, But For Our Contribution To The Human Spirit.

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.

Food Is Strength, And Food Is Peace, And Food Is Freedom, And Food Is A Helping Hand To People Around The World Whose Good Will And Friendship We Want.

I Think 'hail To The Chief' Has A Nice Ring To It.

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 Are Opposed Around The World By A Monolithic And Ruthless Conspiracy That Relies Primarily On Covert Means For Expanding Its Sphere Of Influence — On Infiltration Instead Of Invasion, On Subversion Instead Of Elections, On Intimidation Instead Of Free Choice, On Guerrillas By Night Instead Of Armies By Day

I Believe In An America Where Religious Intolerance Will Someday End... Where Every Man Has The Same Right To Attend Or Not Attend The Church Of His Choice.

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.

We Must Create World-wide Law And Law Enforcement As We Outlaw World-wide War And Weapon

Bring The Absolute Power To Destroy Other Nations Under The Absolute Control Of All Nations. Weapons Of War Must Be Abolished Before They Abolish Us...no Longer Is The Quest For Disarmament A Sign Of Weakness, (nor) The Destruction Of Arms A Dream - It Is A Practical Matter Of Life Or Death. The Risks Inherent In Disarmament Pale In Comparison To The Risks Inherent In An Unlimited Arms Race.

If All Of You Had Voted The Other Way - There's About 5500 Of You Here Tonight - I Would Not Be The President Of The United States.

The Essence Of Vanderbilt Is Still Learning, The Essence Of Its Outlook Is Still Liberty, And Liberty And Learning Will Be And Must Be The Touchstones Of Vanderbilt University And Of Any Free University In This Country Or The World. I Say Two Touchstones, Yet They Are Almost Inseparable, Inseparable If Not Indistinguishable, For Liberty Without Learning Is Always In Peril, And Learning Without Liberty Is Always In Vain.

Freedom Has Many Difficulties And Democracy Is Not Perfect, But We Have Never Had To Put Up A Wall To Keep Our People In.

While We Shall Negotiate Freely, We Shall Not Negotiate Freedom.

If (my Grandfather) Hadn't Left, I'd Be Working Over Here At The Albatross Company.

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.

The Fact That We Live In A World That Moves Crisis By Crisis Does Not Make A Growing Interest In Outdoor Activities Frivolous, Or Ample Provision For Them Unworthy Of The Nation's Concern.

My Brother Bob Doesn't Want To Be In Government - He Promised Dad He'd Go Straight.

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.

Nearly Forty Years Ago, A Distinguished Prime Minister Of This Country ... Said, 'they May Not Be Angels But They Are At Least Our Friends.'* I Must Say That I Do Not Think That We Probably Demonstrated In That Forty Years That We Are Angels Yet, But I Hope We Have Demonstrated That We Are At Least Friends.

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.

A Revolution Is Coming – A Revolution Which Will Be Peaceful If We Are Wise Enough; Compassionate If We Care Enough; Successful If We Are Fortunate Enough – But A Revolution Which Is Coming Whether We Will It Or Not. We Can Affect Its Character; We Cannot Alter Its Inevitability.

Truth Is A Tyrant-the Only Tyrant To Whom We Can Give Our Allegiance. The Service Of Truth Is A Matter Of Heroism.

The Poet And The Politician Have This In Common: Their Greatness Depends On The Courage With Which They Face The Challenges Of Life.

For Plague And Pestilence, Plunder And Pollution, The Hazards Of Nature And The Hunger Of Children Are The Foes Of Every Nation. The Earth, The Sea And The Air Are The Concern Of Every Nation.

Events Of October 1962 Indicated, As They Had All Through History, That Control Of The Sea Means Security. Control Of The Seas Can Mean Peace. Control Of The Seas Can Mean Victory. The United States Must Control The Seas If It Is To Protect Your Security.

The Problems With This World Cannot Possibly Be Solved By Sceptics Or Cynics Whose Horizons Are Limited By The Obvious Realities. We Need People Who Can Dream Of Things That Never Were.

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