“I am the responsible officer of the government [regarding the failed invasion of Cuba].”
John F. Kennedy
Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs News Conference (Primary source)
On April 21, 1961, four days after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, President John F. Kennedy held a news conference at the State Department Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Although the meeting opened with announcements—including U.S. support for a broad-scale United Nations attack on world hunger—reporters quickly pressed Kennedy on Cuba.
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“We choose to go to the Moon. 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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“For, in the final analysis, our most basic 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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary sourceMore quotes by John F. Kennedy →
“I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better goverment.”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary source“I will not be triumphed over.”
— Cleopatra Disputed“Approve not of him that commends all you say.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“A new-born government must dazzle.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte DisputedPresident Responsibility Defeat Invasion