Digital Archive
International History Declassified
digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org
January 20, 1961
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address
Citation:
“John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address,” January 20, 1961, History and Public Policy Program Digital
Archive, CWIHP archives.
http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116208
Summary:
Kennedy's inaugural address, in which he discusses US foreign policy and relations with the rest of
the world, especially the Eastern Bloc.
Credits:
This document was made possible with support from the Leon Levy Foundation.
Original Language:
English
Contents:
Scan of Original Document
Inaugural Address
President John F. Kennedy
Washington, D.C.
January 20, 1961
Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President
Nixon, President Truman, Reverend Clergy, fellow citizens:
We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as
well as a beginning--signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and
Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters
ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all
forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for
which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man
come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. 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, proud of our ancient heritage--and 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 at home and around the world.
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.
This much we pledge--and more.
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of
faithful friends. 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.
To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one
form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron
tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope
to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who
foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those people 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.
To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge--to convert our good
words into good deeds--in a new alliance for progress--to assist free men and free governments
in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey
of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or
subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere
intends to remain the master of its own house.
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.
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but
a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction
unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt
can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present
course--both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the
steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that
stays the hand of mankind's final war.
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.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which
divide us.
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and
control of arms--and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control
of all nations.
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us
explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage
the arts and commerce.
Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah--to "undo the
heavy burdens . . . (and) let the oppressed go free."
And if a beachhead 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.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our
course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to
give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to
service surround the globe.
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.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and
West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
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. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any
other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our
country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
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.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same
high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. 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.
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Chapter Nine / Power and Responsibility
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548
Abraham Lincoln
Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865 (1865)
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At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office, there is less
occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement,
somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now,
at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been con-
stantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still
absorbs the attention, and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is
new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly
depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably
satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction
in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anx-
iously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it—all sought to avert it.
While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted alto-
gether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking
to destroy it without war-seeking to dissol[v]e the Union, and divide effects, by
negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather
than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it per-
ish. And the war came.
od
One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed
generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves
constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was,
somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this inter-
est was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war;
while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial
enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the
duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the
conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each
looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both
read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against
the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's
assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us
judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that
of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. “Woe
unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but
woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" If we shall suppose that Ameri-
can Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs
come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to
remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe
due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure
from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe
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Porter / To Dr. William Ross
549
to Him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of
war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth
piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be
sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another
drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be
said "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as
God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind
up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for
his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and
lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS
1. What do you see as Lincoln's primary purpose in this address?
2. Identify passages that illustrate each of the rhetorical appeals—pathos, logos, ethos.
3. a. List several value assumptions about leadership that Lincoln's address
b. Can you think of individuals who represent the leadership values you
listed in part a? Try to think of persons living now or from recent history.
illustrates.
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