Kennedy Inaugurated: Ask Not What Your Country Can Do
John F. Kennedy took the oath of office on a freezing January afternoon in 1961, the youngest elected president in American history at forty-three. Robert Frost read a poem. Cardinal Cushing gave an invocation so long that smoke from the podium's heating system made spectators fear a fire. Then Kennedy delivered 1,366 words that electrified a generation. 'Ask not what your country can do for you' was the line everyone remembered, but the speech's real power was its tone: urgent, idealistic, and addressed to the entire world, not just Americans. Kennedy promised to 'pay any price, bear any burden' in the defense of liberty, a commitment that would lead directly to Vietnam. He proposed the Peace Corps, the Alliance for Progress, and the space race. The youngest president was also setting the most ambitious agenda since FDR, though he had only a thousand days to pursue it.
January 20, 1961
65 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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