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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.

-John F. Kennedy

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We Do Not Seek

John F. Kennedy

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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.

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

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

A Tired Nation, Said David Lloyd George, Is A Tory Nation, And The United States Today Cannot Afford To Be Either Tired Or Tory.

And A Revolution Of Automation Finds Machines Replacing Men In The Mines And Mills Of America, Without Replacing Their Incomes Or Their Training Or Their Needs To Pay The Family Doctor, Grocer And Landlord.

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

Of All The Multitudes Who Throughout History Have Spoken For Human Dignity In Times Of Great Suffering And Loss, No Voice Is More Compelling Than That Of Anne Frank.

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.

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.

The Mere Absence Of War Is Not Peace.

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

To Those Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Expected.

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.

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

The State Is The Servant Of The Citizen, And Not His Master.

You're In There With Me. Personally.

I See Little More Important To The Future Of Our Country And Our Civilization Than The Full Recognition Of The Place Of The Artist.

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

We Stand Today On The Edge Of A New Frontier.

A Police State Finds That It Cannot Command The Grain To Grow.

No American Is Ever Made Better Off By Pulling A Fellow American Down, And All Of Us Are Made Better Off Whenever Any One Of Us Is Made Better Off.

If I Don't Have A Woman For Three Days, I Get Terrible Headaches.

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

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

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?

I Think We're Going To Have To Do Better. Mr. Nixon Talks About Our Being The Strongest Country In The World. I Think We Are Today, But We Were Far Stronger Relative To The Communists 5 Years Ago. And What Is Of Great Concern Is That The Balance Of Power Is In Danger Of Moving With Them. They Made A Breakthrough In Missiles And By 1961, '2, And '3, They Will Be Outnumbering Us In Missiles.

Sometimes It Just Amazes Me How Many People Desperately Want To Protect My Personal Information. Ten Thousand Reflections Hide The True Gem. Those Who Make Peaceful Revolution Impossible Will Make Violent Revolution Inevitable.

The Day Before My Inauguration President Eisenhower Told Me, You'll Find That No Easy Problems Ever Come To The President Of The United States. If They Are Easy To Solve, Somebody Else Has Solved Them. I Found That Hard To Believe, But Now I Know It Is True.

Our Problems Are Man-made, Therefore They May Be Solved By Man. And Man Can Be As Big As He Wants. No Problem Of Human Destiny Is Beyond Human Beings.

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.

I'm Always Rather Nervous About How You Talk About Women Who Are Active In Politics, Whether They Want To Be Talked About As Women Or As Politicians.

Empowering Women

Our Responsibility Is One Of Decision, For To Govern Is To Choose.

[high Income Tax Rates] Not Only Check Consumption But Discourage Investment And Encourage...the Avoidance Of Taxes [rather] Than The Production Of Goods.[...]our Present Tax System...reduces The Financial Incentives For Personal Effort, Investment, And Risk-taking.

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.

I Really Don't Know Why It Is That All Of Us Are So Committed To The Sea, Except I Think It Is Because In Addition To The Fact That The Sea Changes And The Light Changes, And Ships Change, It Is Because We All Came From The Sea. And It Is An Interesting Biological Fact That All Of Us Have, In Our Veins The Exact Same Percentage Of Salt In Our Blood That Exists In The Ocean, And, Therefore, We Have Salt In Our Blood, In Our Sweat, In Our Tears. We Are Tied To The Ocean. And When We Go Back To The Sea, Whether It Is To Sail Or To Watch It We Are Going Back From Whence We Came.

Success Has Many Fathers.

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

American History

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

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

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.

I Am Fully Aware Of The Fact That The Democratic Party, By Nominating Someone Of My Faith, Has Taken On What Many Regard As A New And Hazardous Risk.

In America There Must Be Only Citizens, Not Divided By Grade, First And Second, But Citizens, East, West, North, And South.

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.

Those Who Dare To Fail Miserably Can Achieve Greatly.

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 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.

I Am The Man Who Accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy To Paris, And I Have Enjoyed It.

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.

We Celebrate The Past To Awaken The Future.

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.

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

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.

Dont Teach My Boy Poetry, An English Mother Recently Wrote The Provost Of Harrow. Dont Teach My Boy Poetry; He Is Going To Stand For Parliament. Well, Perhaps She Was Rightbut If More Politicians Knew Poetry, And More Poets Knew Politics, I Am Convinced The World Would Be A Little Better Place To Live On This Commencement Day Of 1956.

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.

Nor Problem Of Human Destiny Is Beyond Human Beings.

As We Express Our Gratitude, We Must Never Forget That The Highest Appreciation Is Not To Utter Words, But To Live By Them.

Without Debate, Without Criticism No Administration And No Country Can Succeed And No Republic Can Survive.

I Would Not Look With Favor Upon A President Working To Subvert The First Amendment's Guarantees Of Religious Liberty ... Neither Do I Look With Favor Upon Those Who Would Work To Subvert Article Vi Of The Constitution By Requiring A Religious Test - Even By Indirection.

An Economy Hampered By Restrictive Tax Rates Will Never Produce Enough Jobs Or Enough Profits

If Somebody Harbours Delusions, I Think That Should Disqualify Them From Office, Regardless Whether The Delusions Are Religious. Letting Someone Who Thinks The God Jehovah Will Bail Him Out Serve In Public Office Is Like Letting A Man Who Believes In Santa Claus Run A Toys 'r Us. The Great Enemy Of The Truth Is Very Often Not The Lie - Deliberate, Contrived And Dishonest, But The Myth, Persistent, Persuasive, And Unrealistic. Belief In Myths Allows The Comfort Of Opinion Without The Discomfort Of Thought.

To State The Facts Frankly Is Not To Despair The Future Nor Indict The Past. The Prudent Heir Takes Careful Inventory Of His Legacies And Gives A Faithful Accounting To Those Whom He Owes An Obligation Of Trust.

The Pay Is Good And I Can Walk To Work.

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.

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.

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

This Government, As Promised, Has Maintained The Closest Surveillance Of The Soviet Military Buildup On The Island Of Cuba. Within The Past Week, Unmistakable Evidence Has Established The Fact That A Series Of Offensive Missile Sites Is Now In Preparation On That Imprisoned Island. The Purpose Of These Bases Can Be None Other Than To Provide A Nuclear Strike Capability Against The Western Hemisphere.

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.

I Believe In Human Dignity As The Source Of National Purpose, Human Liberty As The Source Of National Action, The Human Heart As The Source Of National Compassion, And In The Human Mind As The Source Of Our Invention And Our Ideas

The Republican Party Can Lead Any Person To Believe That Their Promises Will Be Fulfilled In The Future. They Follow The Hitler Line – No Matter How Big The Lie; Repeat It Often Enough And The Masses Will Regard It As Truth.

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.

While We Cannot Guarantee That We Shall One Day Be First, We Can Guarantee That Any Failure To Make This Effort Will Make Us Last.

Guarantees That

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

War And Hunger And Ignorance And Despair Know No Religious Barriers.

Khrushchev Reminds Me Of The Tiger Hunter Who Has Picked A Place On The Wall To Hang The Tiger's Skin Long Before He Has Caught The Tiger. This Tiger Has Other Ideas.

Forgive Your Enemies, But Never Forget Their Names.

Physical Fitness Is The Basis For All Other Forms Of Excellence.

Physical Fitness

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.

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.

If Scientific Discovery Has Not Been An Unalloyed Blessing, If It Has Conferred On Mankind The Power Not Only To Create But Also To Annihilate, It Has At The Same Time Provided Humanity With A Supreme Challenge And A Supreme Testing

Conformity Is The Jailer Of Freedom And The Enemy Of Growth.

Our Way Of Life Is Under Attack. Those Who Make Themselves Our Enemy Are Advancing Around The Globe. The Survival Of Our Friends Is In Danger. And Yet No War Has Been Declared, No Borders Have Been Crossed By Marching Troops, No Missiles Have Been Fired.

We Have Become More And More Not A Nation Of Athletes But A Nation Of Spectators.

A Nation Can Be No Stronger Abroad Than She Is At Home. Only An America Which Practices What It Preaches About Equal Rights And Social Justice Will Be Respected By Those Whose Choice Affects Our Future.

To Sound The Alarm Is Not To Panic But To Seek Action From An Aroused Public.

Every Time That We Try To Lift A Problem From Our Own Shoulders, And Shift That Problem To The Hands Of The Government, To The Same Extent We Are Sacrificing The Liberties Of Our People.

Unconditional War Can No Longer Lead To Unconditional Victory. It Can No Longer Serve To Settle Disputes. It Can No Longer Concern The Great Powers Alone. For A Nuclear Disaster, Spread By Wind And Water And Fear, Could Well Engulf The Great And The Small, The Rich And The Poor, The Committed And The Uncommitted Alike. Mankind Must Put An End To War--or War Will Put An End To Mankind.

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.

It Is Not Our Wealth That Built Our Roads, But It Is Our Roads That Built Our Wealth.

We Don't Want To Be Like The Leader In The French Revolution Who Said There Go My People, I Must Find Out Where They Are Going So I Can Lead Them.

In A Time Of Turbulence And Change, It Is More True Than Ever That Knowledge Is Power.

Knowledge Is Power

The Civil Rights Movement Should Thank God For Bull Connor. He's Helped It As Much As Abraham Lincoln.

Compromise Does Not Mean Cowardice.

For If Freedom And Communism Were To Compete For Mans Allegiance In A World At Peace, I Would Look To The Future With Ever Increasing Confidence.

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.

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.

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

I'm An Idealist Without Illusions.

I Have Seen In Many Places Housing Which Has Been Developed Under Government Influences, But I Have Never Seen Any Projects In Which Governments Have Played Their Part Which Have Fountains And Statues And Grass And Trees, Which Are As Important To The Concept Of The Home As The Roof Itself.

There Can Be No Progress If People Have No Faith In Tomorrow.

A Journey To Thousand Miles Begins With One Step

The Human Mind Is Our Fundamental Resource.

Immigration Policy Should Be Generous; It Should Be Fair; It Should Be Flexible. With Such A Policy We Can Turn To The World, And To Our Own Past, With Clean Hands And A Clear Conscience.

A Great Change Is At Hand, And Our Task, Our Obligation, Is To Make That Revolution, That Change, Peaceful And Constructive For All.

The United States, As The World Knows, Will Never Start A War.

I See No Magic In Tax Dollars Which Are Sent To Washington And Then Returned. I Abhor The Waste And Incompetence Of Large-scale Federal Bureaucracies In This Administration As Well As In Others. I Do Not Favor State Compulsion When Voluntary Individual Effort Can Do The Job And Do It Well.

Individual Effort

Art Establishes The Basic Human Truths Which Must Serve As The Touchstones Of Our Judgement. The Artist... Faithful To His Personal Vision Of Reality, Becomes The Last Champion Of The Individual Mind And Sensibility Against An Intrusive Society And An Offensive State.

The Unity Of Freedom Has Never Relied On Uniformity Of Opinion.

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.

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

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.

Sometimes Party Loyalty Asks Too Much.

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.

I Am The One Person Who Can Truthfully Say, I Got My Job Through The New York Times.

If We Are Strong, Our Strength Will Speak For Itself. If We Are Weak, Words Will Be Of No Help.

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.

Democracy Is Never A Final Achievement. It Is A Call To An Untiring Effort.

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

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.

There Are Risks And Costs To Action. But They Are Far Less Than The Long Range Risks Of Comfortable Inaction.

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.

We Believe That When Men Reach Beyond This Planet, They Should Leave Their National Differences Behind Them.

What Really Counts Is Not The Immediate Act Of Courage Or Of Valor, But Those Who Bear The Struggle Day In And Day Out - Not The Sunshine Patriots But Those Who Are Willing To Stand For A Long Period Of Time.

An Across-the-board, Top-to-bottom Cut In Personal And Corporate Income Taxes ... To Expand The Incentives And Opportunities Of Private Expenditures.

We've Spent Half The Expenditures, We've Wrecked Our Budget On All These Other Domestic Programs, And The Only Justification For It, In My Opinion, To Do It In The Pell-mell Fashion Is Because We Hope To Beat Them And Demonstrate That Starting Behind Them, As We Did By A Couple Of Years, By God, We Passed Them. I Think It Would Be A Helluva Thing For Us.

Easy Money, Sudden Fortunes, Increasingly Powerful Political Machines And Blatant Corruption Transformed Much Of The Nation; And The Senate, As Befits A Democratic Legislative Body, Accurately Represented The Nation.

In A World Of Danger And Trial, Peace Is Our Deepest Aspiration.

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 Without Belittling The Courage With Which Men Have Died, We Should Not Forget Those Acts Of Courage With Which Men Have Lived.

All This Will Not Be Finished In The First One Hundred Days. Nor Will It Be Finished In The First One Thousand Days . . .nor Even Perhaps In Our Lifetime On This Planet. But Let Us Begin.

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

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.

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.

In Those Countries Where Income Taxes Are Lower Than In The United States, The Ability To Defer The Payment Of U.s. Tax By Retaining Income In The Subsidiary Companies Provides A Tax Advantage For Companies Operating Through Overseas Subsidiaries That Is Not Available To Companies Operating Solely In The United States. Many American Investors Properly Made Use Of This Deferral In The Conduct Of Their Foreign Investment.

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.

My Fellow Americans, Let Us Take That First Step. Let Us...step Back From The Shadow Of War And Seek Out The Way Of Peace. And If That Journey Is A Thousand Miles, Or Even More, Let History Record That We, In This Land, At This Time, Took The First Step.

There Is A Connection, Hard To Explain Logically But Easy To Feel, Between Achievement In Public Life And Progress In The Arts. The Age Of Pericles Was Also The Age Of Phidias. The Age Of Lorenzo De Medici Was Also The Age Of Leonardo Da Vinci. The Age Of Elizabeth Was Also The Age Of Shakespeare. And The New Frontier For Which I Campaign In Public Life, Can Also Be A New Frontier For American Art.

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.

Not Every Child Has An Equal Talent Or An Equal Ability Or Equal Motivation, But They Should Have The Equal Right To Develop Their Talent And Their Ability And Their Motivation, To Make Something Of Themselves.

Leadership And Learning Are Indispensable To Each Other.

I Had Always Enjoyed The Title Of Commander-in-chief Until I Was Informed ... That The Only Forces That Cannot Be Transferred From Washington Without My Express Permission Are The Members Of The Marine Corps Band. Those Are The Only Forces I Have. I Want It Announced That We Propose To Hold The White House Against All Odds At Least For Some Time To Come.

Our Deep Spiritual Confidence That This Nation Will Survive The Perils Of Today - Which May Well Be With Us For Decades To Come - Compels Us To Invest In Our Nation's Future, To Consider And Meet Our Obligations To Our Children And The Numberless Generations That Will Follow.

Physical Fitness Is Not Only One Of The Most Important Keys To A Healthy Body, It Is The Basis Of Dynamic And Creative Intellectual Activity.

I Would Encourage Every American To Walk As Often As Possible. It's More Than Healthy; It's Fun.

I Have A Nice Home, The Office Is Close By, And The Pay Is Good.

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.

Don't Pray For An Easy Life, Pray To Be A Stronger Man.

Life Being Hard

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.

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.

Things Do Not Happen. Things Are Made To Happen.

Time And The World Do Not Stand Still. Change Is The Law Of Life.

Future Thinking

The Best Road To Progress Is Freedom's Road.

Word To The Nation: Guard Zealously Your Right To Serve In The Armed Forces, For Without Them, There Will Be No Other Rights To Guard.

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.

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.

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.

Should I Become President...i Will Not Risk American Lives...by Permitting Any Other Nation To Drag Us Into The Wrong War At The Wrong Place At The Wrong Time Through An Unwise Commitment That Is Unwise Militarily, Unnecessary To Our Security And Unsupported By Our Allies.

In The Years Since Man Unlocked The Power Stored Up Within The Atom, The World Has Made Progress, Halting, But Effective, Toward Bringing That Power Under Human Control. The Challenge May Be Our Salvation. As We Begin To Master The Destructive Potentialities Of Modern Science, We Move Toward A New Era In Which Science Can Fulfill Its Creative Promise And Help Bring Into Existence The Happiest Society The World Has Ever Known.

If There Is One Path Above All Others To War, It Is The Path Of Weakness And Disunity.

No President Should Fear Public Scrutiny Of His Program. For From That Scrutiny Comes Understanding; And From That Understanding Comes Support Or Opposition And Both Are Necessary. I Am Not Asking Your Newspapers To Support The Administration, But I Am Asking Your Help In The Tremendous Task Of Informing And Alerting The American People. For I Have Complete Confidence In The Response And Dedication Of Our Citizens Whenever They Are Fully Informed.

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 Voters Selected Us, In Short, Because They Had Confidence In Our Judgement And Our Ability To Exercise That Judgement From A Position Where We Could Determine What Were Their Own Best Interest, As A Part Of The Nation's Interest.

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.

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

Certainty In Life

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

The World Knows That America Will Never Start A War. This Generation Of Americans Has Had Enough Of War And Hate... We Want To Build A World Of Peace Where The Weak Are Secure And The Strong Are Just.

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

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

I Am Glad That Congress Has Recently Authorized $800,000 To State Welfare Agencies To Expand Their Day-care Services During The Remainder Of This Fiscal Year. But We Need Much More. We Need The $8 Million In The 1965 Budget For The Department Of Health, Education, And Welfare Allocated To This Purpose.

Health Education

It Is An Unfortunate Fact That We Can Secure Peace Only By Preparing For War.

And Only The Very Courageous Will Be Able To Keep Alive The Spirit Of Individualism And Dissent Which Gave Birth To This Nation, Nourished It As An Infant, And Carried It Through Its Severest Tests Upon The Attainment Of Its Maturity.

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!'

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

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.

The Family Of Man Is More Than 3 Billion Strong. It Lives In More Than 100 Nations. Most Of Its Members Are Not White. Most Of Them Are Not Christians. Most Of Them Know Nothing About Free Enterprise Or Due Process Of Law Or The Australian Ballot.

What We Seek To Advance, What We Seek To Develop In All Of Our Colleges And Universities, Are Educated Men And Women Who Can Bear The Burdens Of Responsible Citizenship, Who Can Make Judgments About Life As It Is, And As It Must Be, And Encourage The People To Make Those Decisions Which Can Bring Not Only Prosperity And Security, But Happiness To The People Of The United Sates And Those Who Depend Upon It.

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.

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

No Man Who Enters Upon The Office To Which I Have Succeeded Can Fail To Recognize How Every President Of The United States Has Placed Special Reliance Upon His Faith In God. Every President Has Taken Comfort And Courage When Toldthat The Lord 'will Be With Thee. He Will Not Fail Thee Nor Forsake Thee. Fear Not-neither Be Thou Dismayed.' Each Of Our Presidents In His Own Way Has Placed A Special Trust In God. Those Who Were Strongest Intellectually Were Also Strongest Spiritually.

Our Problems Are Man-made, Therefore They May Be Solved By Man

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 Basis Of Effective Government Is Public Confidence, And That Confidence Is Endangered When Ethical Standards Falter Or Appear To Falter.

Ethical Standards

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!'

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

The True Democracy, Living And Growing And Inspiring, Puts Its Faith In The People - Faith That The People Will Not Simply Elect Men Who Will Represent Their Views Ably And Faithfully, But Will Also Elect Men Who Will Exercise Their Conscientious Judgment - Faith That The People Will Not Condemn Those Whose Devotion To Principle Leads Them To Unpopular Courses, But Will Reward Courage, Respect Honor, And Ultimately Recognize Right.

But I Think It Is Also Important That We Pay Tribute And Acknowledge Another Great Principle, And That Is The Principle Of Religious Conviction. Religious Freedom Has No Significance Unless It Is Accompanied By Conviction.

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?

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

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.

Student Loans Have Been Helpful To Many. But They Offer Neither Incentive Nor Assistance To Those Students Who, By Reason Of Family Or Other Obligations, Are Unable Or Unwilling To Go Deeper Into Debt. ... It Is, Moreover, Only Prudent Economic And Social Policy For The Public To Share Part Of The Costs Of The Long Period Of Higher Education For Those Whose Development Is Essential To Our National Economic And Social Well-being. All Of Us Share In The Benefits - All Should Share In The Costs.

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

To Exclude From Positions Of Trust And Command All Those Below The Age Of 44 Would Have Kept Jefferson From Writing The Declaration Of Independence, Washington From Commanding The Continental Army, Madison From Fathering The Constitution, Hamilton From Serving As Secretary Of The Treasury, Clay From Being Elected Speaker Of The House And Christopher Columbus From Discovering America.

If At Times Our Actions Seem To Make Life Difficult For Others, It Is Only Because History Has Made Life Difficult For Us All.

For While This Year It May Be A Catholic Against Whom The Finger Of Suspicion Is Pointed, In Other Years It Has Been, And May Someday Be Again, A Jew— Or A Quaker Or A Unitarian Or A Baptist. It Was Virginia's Harassment Of Baptist Preachers, For Example, That Helped Lead To Jefferson's Statute Of Religious Freedom. Today I May Be The Victim, But Tomorrow It May Be You — Until The Whole Fabric Of Our Harmonious Society Is Ripped At A Time Of Great National Peril.

To Those Peoples In The Huts And Villages Of Half The Globe Struggling To Break The Bonds Of Mass Misery, We Pledge Our Best Efforts To Help Them Help Themselves, For Whatever Period Is Required - Not Because The Communists May Be Doing It, Not Because We Seek Their Votes, But Because It Is Right. If A Free Society Cannot Help The Many Who Are Poor, It Cannot Save The Few Who Are Rich.

In Serving His Vision Of The Truth, The Artist Best Serves His Nation.

With A Good Conscience Our Only Sure Reward, With History The Final Judge Of Our Deeds, Let Us Go Forth To Lead The Land We Love, Asking His Blessing And His Help, But Knowing That Here On Earth God's Work Must Truly Be Our Own.

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.

'the Green Beret' Is Again Becoming A Symbol Of Excellence, A Badge Of Courage, A Mark Of Distinction In The Fight For Freedom. I Know The United States Army Will Live Up To Its Reputation For Imagination, Resourcefulness, And Spirit As We Meet This Challenge.

The Deadly Arms Race, And The Huge Resources It Absorbs, Have Too Long Overshadowed All Else We Must Do. We Must Prevent That Arms Race From Spreading To New Nations, To New Nuclear Powers And To The Reaches Of Outer Space.

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.

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Benito Mussolini

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