Yesterday marked the anniversary of the assassination of JFK. On November 22, 1963, my mother, and millions around the world, cried. She, like so many others, believed that this man, the son of a bootlegger, could be a great man, a hope for our beleaguered country. In his inauguration speech, the former president spoke of the need for unity. He reminded the world that without it, all is lost. On this day, I wanted to remind us of a man who was not a god, a man whose life was not that of a saint, but who offered true statesmanship. He was, in a word, a leader.
Here is just a short excerpt from JFK's inauguration speech in 1960. Take two minutes from your busy lives to go back to a January day 47 years ago when, for so many Americans, the future seemed wide open.
"To those peoples in the huts and villages across 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...
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support — to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective — to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak — and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.
So let us begin anew — remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."
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