President John F. Kennedy
Articles
Historical Quotes
President John F. Kennedy
By Tom Kirvan
Nuclear tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union reached an all-time high on this date in 1962 when the Cuban Missile Crisis became the supreme test of the presidency of John F. Kennedy, the former Senator from Massachusetts whose heroism during World War II was chronicled in the book and movie titled, “PT 109.”
In a nationally televised address from the White House, President Kennedy revealed the presence of Soviet-built missile bases under construction in Cuba and announced a quarantine of all offensive military equipment being shipped to the Communist country just 90 miles from Florida.
“It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union,” Kennedy declared during the October 22 address.
President John F. Kennedy
Six days later, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev notified U.S. officials that Soviet missiles would be dismantled and removed from Cuba, a move that was tied to a secret U.S. agreement to remove its own missiles from Turkey.
A brilliant orator, Kennedy won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957 for his book, “Profiles in Courage,” which told the stories of eight U.S. senators whom the future president believed had shown extraordinary courage during the course of their careers.
“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction,” said Kennedy, who would be slain by an assassin on November 22, 1963.
Among some of his other notable quotes:
- “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”
- “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”
- “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
- “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”
- “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”