"ON NATIONAL PURPOSE"
WE STAND FOR FREEDOM. THAT IS OUR CONVICTION FOR OURSELVES; THAT IS OUR COMMITMENT TO OTHERS. NO FRIEND, NO NEUTRAL AND NO ADVERSARY SHOULD THINK OTHERWISE. WE ARE NOT AGAINST ANY MAY -- OR ANY NATION -- OR ANY SYSTEM -- EXCEPT AS IT IS HOSTILE TO FREEDOM.
WHEN I TALKED ABOUT THE NEW FRONTIER, I WAS NOT TALKING ABOUT THE GEOGRAPHY OF THIS COUNTRY... I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE SPIRIT WHICH HAS BUILT OUR COUNTRY, THE KIND OF SPIRIT WHICH CAN BUILD OUR COUNTRY AGAIN.
THE AMERICAN, BY NATURE, IS OPTIMISTIC. HE IS EXPERIMENTAL, AN INVENTOR, AND A BUILDER WHO BUILDS BEST WHEN CALLED UPON TO BUILD GREATLY... THIS TRAIT OF THE AMERICAN CHARACTER IS OUR GREATEST SINGLE NATIONAL ASSET.
FOR ALL AMERICA -- ITS PRESIDENT AND ITS PEOPLE -- THE COMING YEARS WILL BE A TIME OF DECISION. WE MUST DECIDE WHETHER WE HAVE REACHED OUR LIMIT, OR WHETHER, IN THE WORDS OF THOMAS WOLFE, "THE TRUE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA IS BEFORE US -- THE TRUE FULFILLMENT OF OUR MIGHTY AND IMMORTAL LAND IS YET TO COME."
TOO OFTEN A PROJECT IS UNDERTAKEN IN THE EXCITEMENT OF A CRISIS AND THEN IT BEGINS TO LOSE ITS APPEAL AS THE PROBLEMS DRAG ON AND THE BILLS PILE UP. BUT WE MUST HAVE THE STEADFASTNESS TO SEE EVERY ENTERPRISE THROUGH.
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 AROUND THE WORLD. GOD WILLING THAT GOAL WILL BE ACHIEVED.
WE CAN MOVE FORWARD WITH THE CONFIDENCE THAT IS BORN OF SUCCESS AND THE SKILL THAT IS BORN OF EXPERIENCE. AND AS WE MOVE, LET US TAKE HEART FROM THE CERTAINTY THAT WE ARE UNITED NOT ONLY BY DANGER AND NECESSITY BUT BY HOPE AND PURPOSE AS WELL.
IT IS OUR TASK, IN OUR TIME AND IN OUR GENERATION TO HAND DOWN UNDIMINISHED TO THOSE WHO COME AFTER US, AS WAS HANDED DOWN TO US BY THOSE WHO WENT BEFORE, THE NATURAL WEALTH AND BEAUTY WHICH IS OURS.
THERE IS NO POINT IN SPEAKING OUT AGAINST THE SPREAD OF COMMUNISM IF WE ARE UNWILLING TO RECOGNIZE WHICH WEAPONS ARE MOST NEEDED IN THAT STRUGGLE. THERE IS NO POINT IN CALLING FOR VIGOROUS ACTION TO PROTECT OUR SECURITY IF WE ARE UNWILLING TO PAY THE PRICE.
WE SOMETIMES CHAFE AT THE BURDEN OF OUR OBLIGATIONS, THE COMPLEXITY OF OUR DECISIONS, THE AGONY OF OUR CHOICES. BUT THERE IS NO COMFORT OR SECURITY FOR US IN EVASION, NO SOLUTION IN ABDICATION, NO RELIEF IN IRRESPONSIBILITY.
I DON'T THINK THERE IS ANY AMERICAN WHO WANTS IT SAID THAT IN THE DAYS OF HIS GENERATION WHEN HE BORE RESPONSIBILITY AS A CITIZEN, THE POWER SHIFTED FROM THE FREE WORLD TO THAT OF THE COMMUNISTS. I DON'T WANT HISTORIANS IN 1970 TO SAY THAT IN THE 1950's AND 1960's THE COMMUNISTS MADE A DECISIVE BREAKTHROUGH.
MODERN AMERICAN CAPITALISM, WITH ITS UNIQUE COMBINATION OF PUBLIC EFFORT AND PRIVATE COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE, IS DYNAMIC, PROGRESSIVE, AND STILL EVOLVING. IT MAY, FROM TIME TO TIME, PAUSE OR SHOW WEAKNESS. BUT IT IS STILL CAPABLE OF GREATER HEIGHTS THAN ANY MR. KHRUSHCHEV HAS EVER SEEN OR IMAGINED.
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"JOHN F. KENNEDY: WORDS TO REMEMBER"
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