Looking Back at John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address that contained the famous sentence - "And so my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

[Click on this blog's title for a link to the full speech.]

January 20, 1961. I watched the ceremony on our black and white television. I was fourteen years old. Rereading it yesterday brought back the idealism Kennedy's words ignited.

"In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in 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."

Kennedy spoke to the America that answered his call to land on the moon before the end of the decade. He spoke to the eager citizens who answered his call to join the Peace Corps. Sadly, he also spoke to the millions of young Americans who were sent to fight in Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of them dying there. He spoke to the descendants of African slaves who had yet to achieve full citizenship in the land of the free and the brave. But on January 21, 1961, nothing seemed impossible if we just had the will to achieve it.

Looking back on the turbulent decade that followed his speech, I can seen much that was accomplished. None of it came easily. The price paid for some of them was high. The country was deeply divided about the Vietnam war and the battle for civil rights. Even the space program had its serious opponents.

Fifty years later the world has yet to achieve peace. The United States experiment in democracy still struggles to resolve the differences between its citizens. Civilization is threatened by global warming, racial and religious intolerance, terrorism, resource depletion and economic instability.

Like Kennedy, I still believe that human beings can accomplish amazing and wonderful things. But without worthy goals and the will to reach them, we will fail.