“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“The greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“There’s an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“The idea that Britain loses every battle except the last has proved correct so many times in the past that the average Englishman is unwilling to make great personal sacrifices until the danger is overwhelmingly apparent.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“For, in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, ‘holds office’ every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. 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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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 we’re going to climb it, and the Moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“I am the responsible officer of the government [regarding the failed invasion of Cuba].”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“A man does what he must—in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures—and that is the basis of all human morality.”
— 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 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“While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children—not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women—not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Our problems are manmade—therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Not all Senators would agree—but few would deny that the desire to be re-elected exercises a strong brake on independent courage.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“All of us in the Congress are made fully aware of the importance of party unity (what sins have been committed in that name!)”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Perhaps if the American people more fully comprehended the terrible pressures which discourage acts of political courage, which drive a Senator to abandon or subdue his conscience, then they might be less critical of those who take the easier road—and more appreciative of those still able to follow the path of courage.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us—and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill—constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Some of my colleagues who are criticized today for lack of forthright principles—or who are looked upon with scornful eyes as compromising ‘politicians’—are simply engaged in the fine art of conciliating, balancing and interpreting the forces and factions of public opinion, an art essential to keeping our nation united and enabling our Government to function.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth—but neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“For what Pericles said to the Athenians has long been true of this commonwealth: ’We do not imitate—for we are a model to others.’”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“It is compromise that prevents each set of reformers from crushing the group on the extreme opposite end of the political spectrum.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Senators, we hear, must be politicians—and politicians must be concerned only with winning votes, not with statesmanship or courage. Mothers may still want their favorite sons to grow up to be President, but according to a famous Gallup poll of some years ago, they do not want them to become politicians in the process.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counterweapons.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is Ich bin ein Berliner.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“The cost of freedom is always high—and Americans have always paid it.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“ In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follow 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 provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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 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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“We stated before that men’s ideas change slowly and that a nation’s ideas change even more slowly. It takes shocks—hard shocks—to change a nation’s psychology.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Our goal is not the 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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“This is one country. It has become one country because all of us and all the people who came here had an equal chance to develop their talents.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“The 1930’s taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged ultimately leads to war.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Any system of government will work when everything is going well. It’s the system that functions in the pinches that survives.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“For of those to whom much is given, much is required.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“The complacent, the self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris of history. Only the strong, only the industrious, only the determined, only the courageous, only the visionary who determine the real nature of our struggle can possibly survive.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Confident and unafraid, we labor on—not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“The President of a great democracy such as ours, and the editors of great newspapers such as yours, owe a common obligation to the people: an obligation to present the facts, to present them with candor, and to present them in perspective.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“If the self-discipline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist—in economic, political, scientific and all the other kinds of struggles as well as the military—then the peril to freedom will continue to rise.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Any unilateral American intervention, in the absence of an external attack upon ourselves or an ally, would have been contrary to our traditions and to our international obligations.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary sourceFranklin D. Roosevelt Abraham Lincoln Caspar Weinberger Ronald Reagan Theodore Roosevelt