The Inauguration Speech of JFK

Leadership and Language

Does our common history matter anymore? Should our leaders be examples, people to emulate, people lighting a path for leaders who come behind them? Do words matter? Can language reveal a path to make us better? Can language pull us down into the depths of conflict and hatred?

Words do matter. Language matters – it can elevate us; it can demean and diminish us; it can lead us into useless wars, but it can also point the way to authentic acts of patriotism and altruism that benefits all humankind – and that is why we should read speeches like this one as often as we read bedtime stories to our toddlers.

Kennedy was a WWII war hero; he was of a new generation who had gone to war as young men and returned with the idea that they could overcome any obstacle. In the presidential election of 1960, he defeated the incumbent Vice President, Richard Nixon, by the closest margin in history to that point. Kennedy delivered this remarkable speech on Inauguration Day, January 20, 1961. The only speech rated higher from an American history perspective is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Had a Dream” speech.

Kennedy’s speech was uniquely American; it reverberated with American symbols and ideals. At the same time, it was an international speech, delivered to an international audience of both allies and enemies. Early in the speech, Kennedy acknowledged the atomic age when he said, “For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.” The juxtaposition of those two powerful images pointed to a future of choices, a future of choosing to use our immense power and wealth for the good of all humankind, or to use them in a never-ending arms race fueling the wars that are inevitably its product.

The victories of WWII had given America unprecedented power and prestige in the world and had given America unprecedented responsibility. Kennedy acknowledged both sides of this when he said, “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, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” The speech acknowledged the world situation of the day and anticipated emerging future challenges, specifically the communist infiltration into South America and the Caribbean.

In addressing this threat, he “offer(ed) a special pledge,” when he stated, “…Let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.”  The speech stands as a powerful and effective tool to use in examining both the opportunities and the challenges facing America in the aftermath of WWII. These same opportunities and challenges exist today, and instead of making a pitiful attempt to reinvent the wheel with neo-con and worse ideologies, wouldn’t we be smarter as a people and a nation to use what worked before?

The presence of nuclear weapons is a continuing problem with more and more countries joining the nuclear community. At the time of the speech, only five countries had nuclear weapons. Today that number has more than doubled with North Korea being the most recent. Poverty is rampant in the world, and regional conflicts are expanding at an alarming rate. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are examples.

A powerful oratorical device known as chiasmus is at work here. Chiasmus is a figure of speech in which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses reverses in the second. Theodore Sorenson, Kennedy’s top speechwriter, was a brilliant wordsmith, able to construct these devices with powerful results. Written chiasmus is strong, but spoken chiasmus is incredibly powerful. This example from early in the speech is not overtly powerful but it sets up a rhythm, and an awareness for what is to come. “United there is little we cannot do…. Divided there is little we can do.” Again, later in the speech, Kennedy said, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” All of this set up, near the conclusion of the address, what is one of the most famous statements in American history, one that inspired an entire generation to make America and the world a better place. “And so, my fellow American: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

Today, we should study the speech to examine its language to understand what made the speech powerful on the international stage. Then, if we dare, compare it to speeches by our present leaders. The comparison will reveal in transparent detail, not only why our international reputation is declining, but also why our own self-image as a nation is something too few among us are willing to face.

Numerous times during the speech, Kennedy called for a united effort to conquer poverty and other world ills, but it is in the language used when addressing enemies that fundamental differences between Kennedy and present leaders emerge. For example, Kennedy eloquently said, “…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….” In stark contrast to this offer, a few years ago, George Bush bluntly said, “You are either with us, or against us.” In another contrast, Kennedy places “our last best hope” in the United Nations, while both Bushes and Trump ignored and ignore the United Nations and the World Court on a daily basis.

It is worth the time expended to examine the language and the historical impact of the speech and to compare it to the language used by our present leaders and the results their words have wrought. We may come to some understanding of the causes of our current national and international predicaments.

As a model of powerful language, the speech is superb. The use of strong American symbols and ideals are evident throughout. Kennedy said, “Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike, that the torch (the torch of freedom) has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, 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 long been committed,…..” It is a simple, brilliant, and powerful use of American symbols. The use of light to symbolize hope, human rights, and peace on one hand, and dark to symbolize poverty, oppression, war, and the threat of annihilation on the other ties firmly to the bedrock of American ideals.

Kennedy spoke to the clear challenges ahead, saying, “Now the trumpet summons us……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.” Kennedy contrasted this darkness with “and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.”

To come to an understanding the problems we still face today, the speech is preeminent. To use this speech to measure the differences between Kennedy and contemporary leaders is to find cause for our present challenges. As a vehicle to demonstrate the power of language and words alone to change and influence history, the speech is perhaps the best example. We must study this speech and others like it to use as a blind man uses his cane to find the proper path, to find cause and hope in our common future.

Should we look to and for leaders with a JFK vision. Do we need leaders like every President of our lifetimes from both parties who believed in a hopeful and enriching vision of America, or do we need a leader with an apocalyptic vision for America’s future? We face this choice.

The language of the Right/MAGA appeals to our fears, our prejudices, and yes, our hate. The talk of secession and civil war hearken back to the 1850s, a new type of Lost Cause. The language creates “others” whoever they may be, and the “others” are the enemy, Racism isn’t strong enough anymore. The color of one’s skin is not a deep enough division. Now, for them, just disagreeing is enough to create the “others,” the enemy, who, in the words of the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina, “need killing.”

The language of the left is positive. America is still a great nation. The middle class is still the backbone of America and should have better opportunities. Immigrants help America. The rule of law is important. The right to vote is fundamental to American democracy. Women have right too. America is the land of Hope. This is an American vision with all its strength and positive dreams.

The choice is painfully obvious. Apocalypse or Hope.