Poignant Words of President Kennedy

Poignant Words of President Kennedy

We have just past the 55th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It is wise that we read again some of his profound observations regarding the country that he loved.

Some may not know that in addition to giving his life for his country on November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was also a decorated WW II hero who suffered severe injuries in his service to the nation that caused him to live with pain the rest of his life.

Among President Kennedy’s wise words of warning to the nation are these:

"This country was dedicated to ... two propositions that were reflected by the religious people who settled here. Among those people were... The Puritans and the Pilgrims of my own section of New England, the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Catholics of Maryland, the Presbyterians of North Carolina, the Methodists and Baptists who came later; all shared these two great traditions which, like silver threads, have run through the warp and the woof of American History ... First, a strong religious conviction, and secondly, a recognition that this conviction could flourish only under a system of freedom." 

Warning of the deep state, John F. Kennedy candidly addressed the American Newspaper Publishers Association at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, April 27, 1961:

"The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings ...We are opposed around the world by a ... ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence - on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day.

"It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed." 

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was on his way to the Dallas Trade Mart to deliver a speech, in which he had prepared to say:

"We in this country, in this generation, are - by destiny rather than 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 always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago, 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.'"