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John F. Kennedy’s Your name

Inaugural Address
UNITED STATES | 1961

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, won the 1960 presidential elec-
tion against Richard Nixon, a Republican. Kennedy delivered this address at his inauguration
as president on 20 January 1961, which took place on the east steps of the United States
Capitol in Washington, D.C. A little less than three years later, on 22 November 1963, he
would become the fourth president in U.S. history to be assassinated when he was shot
while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.

1 Vice President Johnson,1 Mr. Speaker,2
Mr. Chief Justice,3 President Eisenhower,4
Vice President Nixon,5 President Truman,6
Reverend Clergy, fellow citizens:
heirs of that first revolution. Let the word
go forth from this time and place, to friend
25 and foe alike, that the torch has been passed
to a new generation of Americans—born in
this century, tempered by war, disciplined

W
5 e 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
10 you and Almighty God the same solemn
oath our forbears prescribed nearly a cen-
tury and three-quarters ago.*
The world is very different now. For
man holds in his mortal hands the power to
15 abolish all forms of human poverty and all
forms of human life. And yet the same rev-
olutionary beliefs for which our forebears
fought are still at issue around the globe—
the belief that the rights of man come not
20 from the generosity of the state but from
the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the
In his salutation, Kennedy referred to the following individuals who were in attendance at the inauguration:
1. Vice President Johnson: Lyndon B. Johnson, who
served as Kennedy’s vice president. Johnson became
president himself when Kennedy was assassinated.
2. Mr. Speaker: The Speaker of the United States
House of Representatives, Sam Rayburn, a
Democrat from Texas.
3. Mr. Chief Justice: The chief justice of the United
States (the head of the Supreme Court),
Earl Warren.
4. President Eisenhower: Dwight D. Eisenhower, a
Republican, who served as president from 1953 to
1961, immediately before Kennedy.
by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our
ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness
30 or permit the slow undoing of those human
rights to which this nation has always been
committed, and to which we are commit-
ted today at home and around the world.
Let every nation know, whether it
35 wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any
price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe to as-
sure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge—and more.
40 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— * The presidential oath of
45 for we dare not meet a powerful challenge office is prescribed in Article II,
Section 1, of the Constitution
of the United States: “I do
solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will faithfully execute
5. Vice President Nixon: Richard Nixon, who served as the Office of President of
vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nixon the United States, and will
lost the 1960 presidential election to Kennedy, to the best of my Ability,
though he would later serve as president from 1969 preserve, protect and defend
to his resignation in 1974 because of the Watergate the Constitution of the United
scandal. States.” It is traditionally
6. President Truman: Harry S. Truman, a Democrat, followed by the words, “So help
who served as president of the United States me God.” The chief justice of
from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in 1945 to the United States, Earl Warren,
1953. He was succeeded by Kennedy’s immediate administered the oath of office
to Kennedy immediately before
predecessor in the office, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Kennedy delivered this address.
 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
50 have passed away merely to be replaced by
a far more iron tyranny. We shall not al-
ways expect to find them supporting our
view. But we shall always hope to find them
strongly supporting their own freedom—
55 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 villag-
es of half the globe struggling to break the
60 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
65 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 con-
vert our good words into good deeds—in
70 a new alliance for progress—to assist free
men and free governments in casting off
the chains of poverty. But this peaceful rev-
olution of hope cannot become the prey of
hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know
75 that we shall join with them to oppose ag-
gression or subversion anywhere in the
Americas. And let every other power know
that this Hemisphere intends to remain the
master of its own house.
80 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
85 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
90 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
95 accidental self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weak- John F. Kennedy’s
ness. For only when our arms are sufficient Inaugural Address
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beyond doubt can we be certain beyond
doubt that they will never be employed.
100 But neither can two great and power-
ful groups of nations take comfort from
our present course—both sides overbur-
dened by the cost of modern weapons, both
rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the
105 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
110 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 prob-
115 lems which divide us.
Let both sides, for the first time, for-
mulate serious and precise proposals for the
inspection and control of arms—and bring
the absolute power to destroy other nations
120 under the absolute control of all nations.
Let both sides seek to invoke the won-
ders of science instead of its terrors. Togeth-
er let us explore the stars, conquer the des-
erts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths
125 and encourage the arts and commerce.
Let both sides unite to heed in all cor-
ners of the earth the command of Isaiah—
to “undo the heavy burdens, and … let the
oppressed go free.Ӡ
130 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
135 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
140 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 Ameri- † This is a reference to Isaiah
145 cans has been summoned to give testimony 58:6 in the Old Testament.
 to its national loyalty. The graves of young that any of us would exchange places with John F. Kennedy’s
Americans who answered the call to service any other people or any other generation. Inaugural Address
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surround the globe. 170 The energy, the faith, the devotion which
Now the trumpet summons us again— we bring to this endeavor will light our
150 not as a call to bear arms, though arms country and all who serve it—and the glow
we need—not as a call to battle, though from that fire can truly light the world.
embattled we are—but a call to bear the And so, my fellow Americans: ask not
burden of a long twilight struggle, year in 175 what your country can do for you—ask
and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in what you can do for your country.
155 tribulation”‡—a struggle against the com- My fellow citizens of the world: ask
mon enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, dis- not what America will do for you, but what
ease and war itself. together we can do for the freedom of man.
Can we forge against these enemies 180 Finally, whether you are citizens of
a grand and global alliance, North and America or citizens of the world, ask of us
160 South, East and West, that can assure a here the same high standards of strength
more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a
join in that historic effort? good conscience our only sure reward, with
In the long history of the world, only a 185 history the final judge of our deeds, let us
few generations have been granted the role go forth to lead the land we love, asking His
165 of defending freedom in its hour of maxi- blessing and His help, but knowing that
mum danger. I do not shrink from this re- here on earth God’s work must truly be our
sponsibility—I welcome it. I do not believe own.

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Copies of this document may be made only by the original purchaser for use in a classroom or other educational setting.
This copyright notice should appear on all copies made. ‡ This is a reference to Romans
Source of text: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, Massachusetts 12:12 in the New Testament.