ENGLISH SPEECH PRESIDENT KENNEDY 1961 Inaugural Address English Subtitles
Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief
Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President
Nixon, President Truman, Reverend Clergy,
fellow citizens:
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.
For I have sworn before you and Almighty God
the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed
nearly a century and three-quarters ago.
The world is very different now.
For man holds in his mortal hands the power
to abolish all forms of human poverty and
all forms of human life.
And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for
which our forebears fought are still at issue
around the globe the belief that the rights
of man come not from the generosity of the
state but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs
of that first revolution.
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
born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined
by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient
heritage and unwilling to witness or permit
the slow undoing of those human rights to
which this nation has always been committed,
and to which we are committed today at home
and around the world.
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.
This much we pledge and more.
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 for we dare
not meet a powerful challenge 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 have
passed away merely to be replaced by a far
more iron tyranny.
We shall not always expect to find them supporting
our view.
But we shall always hope to find them strongly
supporting their own freedom 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 villages of
half the globe struggling to break the 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 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 convert our good
words into good deeds in a new alliance for
progress to assist free men and free governments
in casting off the chains of poverty.
But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot
become the prey of hostile powers.
Let all our neighbors know that we shall join
with them to oppose aggression or subversion
anywhere in the Americas.
And let every other power know that this Hemisphere
intends to remain the master of its own house.
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 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 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 accidental self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weakness.
For only when our arms are sufficient beyond
doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that
they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups
of nations take comfort from our present course
both sides overburdened by the cost of modern
weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady
spread of the 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 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 problems which
divide us.
Let both sides, for the first time, formulate
serious and precise proposals for the inspection
and control of arms and bring the absolute
power to destroy other nations under the absolute
control of all nations.
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders
of science instead of its terrors.
Together let us explore the stars, conquer
the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean
depths and encourage the arts and commerce.
Let both sides unite to heed in all corners
of the earth the command of Isaiah to “undo
the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go
free.”
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 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 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 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.
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.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand
and global alliance, North and South, East
and West, that can assure a more fruitful
life for all mankind?
Will you join in that historic effort?
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.
I do not believe that any of us would exchange
places with any other people or any other
generation.
The energy, the faith, the devotion which
we bring to this endeavor will light our country
and all who serve it and the glow from that
fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what
your country can do for you ask what you can
do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what
America will do for you, but what together
we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America
or citizens of the world, ask of us here the
same high standards of strength and sacrifice
which we ask of you.
With a good conscience our only sure reward,
with history the final judge of our deeds,
let us go forth to lead the land we love,
asking His blessing and His help, but knowing
that here on earth God’s work must truly be
our own.