JFK Coalition

We are coming together to form this coalition of concerned citizens of all parties, Democrat
Republican, Independents, and others to work together to fulfill the purpose and goals of
President John F Kennedy for our great nation and the world. The following are some of
President Kennedy’s thoughts.
Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961
“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 forebears 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.

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 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.

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.

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.”
ADDRESS AT RICE UNIVERSITY ON THE NATION’S SPACE EFFORT
Rice University, Houston, Texas,
John F. Kennedy
September 12, 1963
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other
things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to
organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we
are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the
others, too.”
Rice University, Houston, Texas,
John F. Kennedy
September 12, 1963
Most of us will agree that our country is now divided, polarized, more than at any time since the
Civil War. We understand that there is more at stake than elections or political parties. Our
nation is in grave danger if it continues on its present course. Let us join together to bring our
country back from the brink to the days when President Kennedy made these immortal
statements, to as Lincoln said:
“… [to insure] that this nation, under God, … have a new birth of freedom — and that government
of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”