Today is the sixtieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. While I do not write too often any more, it was on this very date three years ago on which I wrote what appears here.
Sunday, November 22, 2020
A Testament to the Endurance of Ideas
Fifty-seven years ago today President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while his motorcade snaked its way through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. He was scheduled to speak at a luncheon before the Dallas Citizens Council. The speech, which he never gave, remains as relevant and timely today as it was on the date he intended to deliver it.
Fifty-seven years ago.
On this very day.
We in this country, in this generation, are -
by destiny rather than by choice -
the watchmen on the walls of world freedom.
We ask therefore that
we may be worthy of our power and responsibility,
that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint,
and that we may achieve in our time and for all time
the ancient vision of "peace on earth, goodwill toward men."
That must always be our goal,
and the righteousness of our cause
must underlie its strength.
For as was written long ago:
'except the Lord keep the city,
the watchmen waketh but in vain'...
This Nation's strength and security
are not easily or cheaply obtained.
There are many kinds of strength
and no one kind will suffice...
Ignorance and misinformation can handicap the progress
of a city or company, but they can,
if allowed to prevail in foreign policy,
handicap this country's security.
In a world of complex and continuing problems,
in a world of frustrations and irritations,
America's leadership must be guided
by the lights of learning and reason -
or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality
and the plausible with the possible
will gain the popular ascendancy
with their seemingly swift and simple solutions
to every world problem.
President John F. Kennedy
Speech (not given) to Dallas Citizens Council
November 22, 1963
-AK
-AK
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