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I Dont 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.

-John F. Kennedy

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I Dont Think That

John F. Kennedy

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I Dont 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.

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Lobbyists Are In Many Cases Expert Technicians And Capable Of Explaining Complex And Difficult Subjects In A Clear, Understandable Fashion. They Engage In Personal Discussions 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.

Washington Is A City Of Southern Efficiency And Northern Charm.

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

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.

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.

A Committee Is Twelve Men Doing The Work Of One.

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.

But Because I Am A Catholic, And No Catholic Has Ever Been Elected President, The Real Issues In This Campaign Have Been Obscured - Perhaps Deliberately, In Some Quarters Less Responsible Than This. So It Is Apparently Necessary For Me To State Once Again Not What Kind Of Church I Believe In - For That Should Be Important Only To Me - But What Kind Of America I Believe In.

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

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

Our Most Basic Common Link Is That We All Inhabit This Small Planet.

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.

Civility Is Not A Sign Of Weakness.

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.

If A Free Society Cannot Help The Many Who Are Poor, It Cannot Save The Few Who Are Rich.

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.

Only In Winter Can You Tell Which Trees Are Truly Green. Only When The Winds Of Adversity Blow Can You Tell Whether An Individual Or A Country Has Steadfastness.

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 President's.

A Journey To Thousand Miles Begins With One Step

Genuine Peace Must Be The Product Of Many Nations, The Sum Of Many Acts. It Must Be Dynamic, Not Static, Changing To Meet The Challenge Of Each New Generation. For Peace Is A Process-a Way Of Solving Problems.

It Is With Great Satisfaction That I Have Signed Into Law The Social Security Amendments Of 1961. They Represent An Additional Step Toward Eliminating Many Of The Hardships Resulting From Old Age, Disability, Or The Death Of The Family Wage-earner. A Nation's Strength Lies In The Well-being Of Its People. The Social Security Program Plays An Important Part In Providing For Families, Children, And Older Persons In Time Of Stress, But It Cannot Remain Static. Changes In Our Population, In Our Working Habits, And In Our Standard Of Living Require Constant Revision.

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

The Supreme Reality Of Our Time Is The Vulnerability Of Our Planet.

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.

Will Rogers Once Said It Is Not The Original Investment In A Congressman That Counts; It Is The Upkeep.

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.

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

Failure Has No Friends.

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.

We Are Confronted Primarily With A Moral Issue... Whether All Americans Are To Be Afforded Equal Rights And Equal Opportunities, Whether We Are Going To Treat Our Fellow Americans As We Want To Be Treated.

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

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.

We Have Some Of The Most Influential Members Of Congress Here Today, And I Do Hope That We Can Get This Appropriation For These Day-care Centers, Which Seems To Me To Be Money Very Wisely Spent, And Also Under Consideration Of The Tax Bill, That We Can Consider The Needs Of The Working Mothers, And Both Of These Will Be Very Helpful, And I Would Like To Lobby In Their Behalf.

I Do Not Say That All Men Are Equal In Their Ability, Character And Motivation. I Do Say That Every American Should Be Given A Fair Chance To Develop All The Talents They May Have.

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

Our Task Is Not To Fix Blame For The Past, But To Fix The Course For The Future.

I Am Not So Much Concerned With The Right Of Everyone To Say Anything He Pleases As I Am About Our Need As A Self-governing People To Hear Everything Relevant.

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.

But However Close We Sometimes Seem To That Dark And Final Abyss, Let No Man Of Peace And Freedom Despair. For He Does Not Stand Alone.

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.

The Most Effective Means Of Upholding The Law Is Not The State Policeman Or The Marshals Or The National Guard. It Is You. It Lies In Your Courage To Accept Those Laws With Which You Disagree As Well As Those With Which You Agree.

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.

Those Who Dare To Fail Miserably Can Achieve Greatly.

Our Goal Is Not 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.

Our Labor Unions Are Not Narrow, Self-seeking Groups. They Have Raised Wages, Shortened Hours, And Provided Supplemental Benefits. Through Collective Bargaining And Grievance Procedures, They Have Brought Justice And Democracy To The Shop Floor.

When You Have Seven Percent Unemployed, You Have Ninety-three Percent Working.

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.

The Basis Of Effective Government Is Public Confidence.

Ethical Standards

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

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 Artthis Is One Of The Fascinating Challenges Of These Days.

Automation Does Not Need To Be Our Enemy. I Think Machines Can Make Life Easier For Men, If Men Do Not Let The Machines Dominate Them.

Man Is Still The Most Extraordinary Computer Of All.

If Men And Women Are In Chains Anywhere In The World, Then Freedom Is Endangered Everywhere.

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.

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.

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

All My Life Ive Known Better Than To Depend On The Experts. How Could I Have Been So Stupid, To Let Them Go Ahead?

The World Has Been Close To War Before - But Now Man, Who Has Survived All Previous Threats To His Existence, Has Taken Into His Mortal Hands The Power To Exterminate The Entire Species Some Seven Times Over.

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

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

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.

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.

For I Can Assure You That We Love Our Country, Not For What It Was, Though It Has Always Been Great - Not For What It Is, Though Of This We Are Deeply Proud - But For What It Someday Can, And, Through The Efforts Of Us All, Someday Will Be.

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 Anvilor A Hammer. The Question Is Whether You Are To Be A Hammerwhether You Are To Give To The World In Which You Were Reared And Educated The Broadest Possible Benefits Of That Education.

If A Beach-head Of Cooperation May Push Back The Jungle Of Suspicion, Let Both Sides Join In Creating A New Endeavor, Not A New Balance Of Power, But A New World Of Law, Where The Strong Are Just And The Weak Secure And The Peace Preserved. 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. But Let Us Begin.

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... Second, Were We Truly Men Of Judgment... Third, Were We Truly Men Of Integrity... Finally, Were We Truly Men Of Dedication?-

We Prefer World Law In The Age Of Self-determination To World War In The Age Of Mass Extermination.

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...will Be More Exciting, Or More Impressive To Mankind, Or More Important...and None Will Be So Difficult Or Expensive To Accomplish.

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.

There Are Those Who Regard This History Of Past Strife And Exile As Better Forgotten. But, To Use The Phrase Of Yeats, Let Us Not Casually Reduce "that Great Past To A Trouble Of Fools." For We Need Not Feel The Bitterness Of The Past To Discover Its Meaning For The Present And The Future.

Probably The Greatest Concentration Of Talent And Genius In This House Except For Perhaps Those Times When Thomas Jefferson Ate Alone.

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.

The Problem Of Power Is How To Achieve Its Responsible Use Rather Than Its Irresponsible And Indulgent Use; Of How To Get Men Of Power To Live For The Public Rather Than Off The Public.

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

I Do Ask Every Publisher, Every Editor, And Every Newsman In The Nation To Reexamine His Own Standards, And To Recognize The Nature Of Our Country's Peril. In Time Of War, The Government And The Press Have Customarily Joined In An Effort Based Largely On Self-discipline, To Prevent Unauthorized Disclosures To The Enemy. In Time Of "clear And Present Danger," The Courts Have Held That Even The Privileged Rights Of The First Amendment Must Yield To The Public's Need For National Security.

So Let Us Persevere. 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 Toward It.

You Never Know What's Hit You. A Gunshot Is The Perfect Way.

If You Look Throughout Human History ... The Central Epiphany Of Every Religious Tradition Always Occurs In The Wilderness.

No Sane Society Chooses To Commit National Suicide.

The New And Terrible Dangers Which Man Has Created Can Only Be Controlled By Man.

The Only Unchangable Certainty In Life Is That Nothing Is Unchangable Or Certain.

Certainty In Life

The Education Of Our People Should Be A Lifelong Process By Which We Continue To Feed New Vigor Into The Lifestream Of The Nation Through Intelligent, Reasoned Decisions. Let Us Not Think Of Education Only In Terms Of Its Costs, But Rather In Terms Of The Infinite Potential Of The Human Mind That Can Be Realized Through 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.

Fail Miserably, Achieve Greatly!

Any Danger Spot Is Tenable If Men, Brave Men, Will Make It So.

According To The Ancient Chinese Proverb, A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Must Begin With A Single Step.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Every Dollar Released From Taxation That Is Spared Or Invested Will Help Create A New Job And A New Salary.

The Ignorance Of One Voter In A Democracy Impairs The Security Of All.

We Celebrate The Past To Awaken The Future.

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

The Federal Budget Can And Should Be Made An Instrument Of Prosperity And Stability, Not A Deterrent To Recovery.

The Future Promise Of Any Nation Can Be Directly Measured By The Present Prospects Of Its Youth.

Israel Was Not Created In Order To Disappear. Israel Will Endure And Flourish.

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!'

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

Now, As Never Before, Hundreds Of Millions Of Men And Women-who Had Formerly Believed That Stoic Resignation In The Face Of Hunger And Disease And Darkness Was The Best One Could Could Do-have Come Alive With A New Sense That The Means Are At Hand With Which To Make For Themselves A Better Life.

I Ask Particularly That Those Of You Who Are Now In School Will Prepare Yourselves To Bear The Burden Of Leadership Over The Next 40 Years Here In The United States, And Make Sure That The United States - Which I Believe Almost Alone Has Maintained Watch And Ward For Freedom - That The United States Meet Its Responsibility. That Is A Wonderful Challenge For Us As A People.

In Addition, The United States Delegation Will Suggest A Series Of Steps To Improve The United Nations Machinery For The Peaceful Settlement Of Disputes... - For Extending The Rule Of International Law. For Peace Is Not Solely A Matter Of Military Or Technical Problems - It Is Primarily A Problem Of Politics And People.

There Are Only Two Realities In Life: Death And Laughter. We Can Do Nothing To Change The Former, So We Might As Well Do All We Can To Save The Latter.

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.

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

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 The Other People - The 150 Or 160 Million - Is The Responsibility Of The President Of The United States, And I Propose To Fulfill It.'

We Must Face The Fact That The United States Is Neither Omnipotent Nor Omniscient, 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.

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.

There Is An Old Saying That The Course Of Civilization Is A Race Between Catastrophe And Education. In A Democracy Such As Ours, We Must Make Sure That Education Wins The Race.

Economic Growth Without Social Progress Lets The Great Majority Of The 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 Of The Nation.

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.

Do Not Pray For Easy Lives. Pray To Be Stronger Men.

The Exploration Of Space Will Go Ahead, Whether We Join In It Or Not, And It Is One Of The Great Adventures Of All Time, And No Nation Which Expects To Be The Leader Of Other Nations Can Expect To Stay Behind In This Race For Space.

There Is Always Inequality In Life. Some Men Are Killed In A War And Some Men Are Wounded And Some Men Never Leave The Country. Life Is Unfair.

Third, And Finally, The Educated Citizen Has An Obligation To Uphold The Law. This Is The Obligation Of Every Citizen In A Free And Peaceful Society--but The Educated Citizen Has A Special Responsibility By The Virtue Of His Greater Understanding. For Whether He Has Ever Studied History Or Current Events, Ethics Or Civics, The Rules Of A Profession Or The Tools Of A Trade, He Knows That Only A Respect For The Law Makes It Possible For Free Men To Dwell Together In Peace And Progress.

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.

I Must Say That Though Other Days May Not Be So Bright, As We Look Toward The Future, That The Brightest Days Will Continue To Be Those We Spent With You Here In Ireland.

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 Need Men Who Can Dream Of Things That Never Were.

Let Us Never Negotiate Out Of Fear. But Let Us Never Fear To Negotiate.

We Support The Security Of Both Israel And Her Neighbors.

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 Our Differences, At Least We Can Help Make The World Safe For Diversity. For, In The Final Analysis, Our Most Common Link Is That We All Inhabit This Small Planet. We All Breathe The Same Air. We All Cherish Our Children's Future. And We Are All Mortal.

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

The Weapons Of War Must Be Abolished Before They Abolish Us.

Nuclear Disarmament

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.

We Must Live Our Lives In Such A Way That Our Children, And Their Children After Them, Will Form A Natural And Lasting Commitment To The Vigorous Life. Only In This Way Can We Be Assured That The Spirit And Strength Of America Will Be Constantly Replenished.

My Experience In Government Is That When Things Are Non-controversial And Beautifully Coordinated, There Is Not Much Going On.

A Child Miseducated Is A Child Lost.

Every Inhabitant Of This Planet Must Contemplate The Day When This Planet May No Longer Be Habitable .. The Weapons Of War Must Be Abolished Before They Abolish Us.

Nuclear Disarmament

Nuclear Proliferation

Expansion And Modernization Of The Nation's Productive Plant Is Essential To Accelerate Economic Growth And To Improve The International Competitive Position Of American Industry An Early Stimulus To Business Investment Will Promote Recovery And Increase Employment.

Sincerity Is Always Subject To Proof.

When My Office Would Require Me To Either Violate My Conscience Or Violate The National Interest, Then I Would Resign The Office; And I Hope Any Conscientious Public Servant Would Do The Same.

... The United States Was Not Built By Those Who Waited And Rested And Wished To Look Behind Them. This Country Was Conquered By Those Who Moved Forward, And So Will Space.

The Final And Best Means Of Strengthening Demand Among Consumers And Business Is To Reduce The Burden On Private Income And The Deterrence To Private Initiative Which Are Imposed By Our Present Tax System, And This Administration Pledged Itself Last Summer To An Across-the-board, Top-to-bottom Cut In Personal And Corporate Income Taxes To Be Enacted And Become Effective In 1963.

There Are Indications Because Of New Inventions, That 10, 15, Or 20 Nations Will Have A Nuclear Capacity, Including Red China, By The End Of The Presidential Office In 1964. This Is Extremely Serious. I Think The Fate Not Only Of Our Own Civilization, But I Think The Fate Of World And The Future Of The Human Race, Is Involved In Preventing A Nuclear War.

After Visiting These Places, You Can Easily Understand How That Within A Few Years Hitler Will Emerge From The Hatred That Surrounds Him Now As One Of The Most Significant Figures Who Ever Lived. He Had Boundless Ambition For His Country Which Rendered Him A Menace To The Peace Of The World, But He Had A Mystery About Him In The Way That He Lived And In The Manner Of His Death That Will Live And Grow After Him. He Had In Him The Stuff Of Which Legends Are Made.

Libraries Should Be Open To All - Except The Censor. [response To Questionnaire In Saturday Review, October 29 1960]

The Great Enemy Of 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 Cliches Of Our Forebears. We Subject All Facts To A Prefabricated Set Of Interpretations. We Enjoy The Comfort Of Opinion Without The Discomfort Of Thought.

Nuclear Weapons Are So Destructive And Ballistic Missiles Are So Swift, That Any Substantially Increased Possibility Of Their Use Or Any Sudden Change In Their Deployment May Well Be Regarded As A Definite Threat To Peace.

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

Mankind Must Put An End To War Before War Puts An End To Mankind.

Unconditional War Can No Longer Lead To Unconditional Victory. It Can No Longer Serve To Settle Disputes... Can No Longer Be Of Concern To Great Powers Alone.

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

The Torch Has Been Passed To A New Generation Of Americans, Born In This Century... 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.

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.

A Boy Spends His Time Finding A Girl To Sleep With. A Real Man Spends His Time Looking For The One Worth Waking Up To.

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 Life Of The Arts Is Far From An Interruption, A Distraction, In The Life Of A Nation, Is Close To The Center Of A Nation's Purpose-and Is A Test Of The Quality Of A Nations' Civilization.

Our Practical Choice Is Not Between A Tax-cut Deficit And A Budgetary Surplus. It Is Between Two Kinds Of Deficits: A Chronic Deficit Of Inertia, As The Unwanted Result Of Inadequate Revenues And A Restricted Economy; Or A Temporary Deficit Of Transition, Resulting From A Tax Cut Designed To Boost The Economy, Increase Tax Revenues, And Achieve -- And I Believe This Can Be Done -- A Budget Surplus. The First Type Of Deficit Is A Sign Of Waste And Weakness; The Second Reflects An Investment In The Future.

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.

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

Never Let Your Fears Hold You Back From Pursuing Your Hopes.

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 Sagacityand 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 Lifeour Objective Must Also Be To Add New Life To Those Years.

I Would Rather Be Accused Of Breaking Precedents Than Breaking Promises.

Broken Promises

Keeping Your Word

Breaking Promises

It's Only When They Join Together In A Forward Movement That This Country Moves Ahead.

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.

I Have Asked The Secretary Of The Treasury To Report By April 1 On Whether Present Tax Laws May Be Stimulating In Undue Amounts The Flow Of American Capital To The Industrial Countries Abroad Through Special Preferential Treatment.

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

If I Don't Have A Woman Every Three Days Or So I Get A Terrible Headache.

It Is Time For A New Generation Of Leadership.

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 1000 Days, Nor In The Life Of This Administration, Nor Even Perhaps In Our Lifetime On This Planet. But Let Us Begin... And So, My Fellow Americans: Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You - Ask What You Can Do For Your Country.

Too Often We... Enjoy The Comfort Of Opinion Without The Discomfort Of Thought.

Everything Changes But Change Itself.

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.

If I Had To Live My Life Over Again, I Would Have A Different Father, A Different Wife And A Different Religion.

Mr. Nixon Has, In The Last Seven Days, 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.

The Labor Movement Is People. Our Unions Have Brought Millions Of Men And Women Together, Made Them Members One Of Another, And Given Them Common Tools For Common Goals. Their Goals Are Goals For All America - And Their Enemies Are The Enemies For Progress. The Two Cannot Be Separated.

The Margin Is Narrow, But The Responsibility Is Clear.

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.

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

Abroad, The Balance Of Power Is Shifting. There Are New And More Terrible Weapons - New And Uncertain Nations - New Pressures Of Population And Deprivation.

A Nation Reveals Itself Not Only By The Men It Produces But Also By The Men It Honors, The Men It Remembers.

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.

The Highest Duty Of The Writer, The Composer, The Artist, Is To Remain True To Himself And To Let The Chips Fall Where They May.

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.

To Each Of Us Is Entrusted The Heavy Responsibility Of Guiding The Affairs Of A Democratic Nation Founded On Christian Ideals.

There Is No Other Airport In The World Which Serves So Many People And So Many Airplanes. This Is An Extraordinary Airport. . . It Could Be Classed As One Of The Wonders Of The Modern World.

Our Children And Grandchildren Are Not Merely Statistics Towards Which We Can Be Indifferent.

Life Isn't Fair. In Never Was And Never Will Be.

An Artist's Working Life Is Marked By Intensive Application And Intense Discipline.

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.

The Human Mind Is Our Fundamental Resource.

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.

We Will Neglect Our Cities To Our Peril, For In Neglecting Them We Neglect The Nation.

Peaceful Circulation Has Been Interupted By Barbed Wire And Concrete Blocks. For A City Or A People To Be Truly Free, They Must Have The Secure Right, Without Economic, Political Or Police Pressure, To Make Their Own Choices And Live Their Own Lives.

And Lastly, Chairman Khrushchev Has Compared The United States To A Worn-out Runner Living On Its Past Performance, And Stated That The Soviet Union Would Out-produce The United States By 1970. Without Wishing To Trade Hyperbole With The Chairman, I Do Suggest That He Reminds Me Of The Tiger Hunter Who Has Picked A Place On The Wall To Hang The Tiger's Skin Long Before He His Caught The Tiger. This Tiger Has Other Ideas.

If An American, Because His Skin Is Dark, Cannot Eat Lunch In A Restaurant Open To The Public, If He Cannot Send His Children To The Best Public School Available, If He Cannot Vote For The Public Officials Who Represent Him, If, In Short, He Cannot Enjoy The Full And Free Life Which All Of Us Want, Then Who Among Us Would Be Content To Have The Color Of His Skin Changed And Stand In His Place? Who Among Us Would Then Be Content With The Counsels Of Patience And Delay?

Every Area Of Trouble Gives Out A Ray Of Hope; And The One Unchangeable Certainty Is That Nothing Is Certain Or Unchangeable.

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.

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.

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

Motivational Sports

If We Cannot Now End Our Differences, At Least We Can Help Make The World Safe For Diversity.

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.

I Strongly Believe In Scouting. ... It's A Source Of Great Strength To Us.

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

Collective Bargaining Has Always Been The Bedrock Of The American Labor Movement. I Hope That You Will Continue To Anchor Your Movement To This Foundation. Free Collective Bargaining Is Good For The Entire Nation. In My View, It Is The Only Alternative To State Regulation Of Wages And Prices - A Path Which Leads Far Down The Grim Road Of Totalitarianism. Those Who Would Destroy Or Further Limit The Rights Of Organized Labor - Those Who Would Cripple Collective Bargaining Or Prevent Organization Of The Unorganized - Do A Disservice To The Cause Of Democracy.

I'm An Idealist Without Illusions.

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.

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