Posts tagged President Kennedy
There will never be another Camelot
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.
He was a fighting prince never free from pain, never far from trouble, never accepting the world he found, never wanting to be his father’s son. He was a far greater hero than he ever wished us to know.
The message of Christmas- the message of peace and good will towards all men- has been the guiding star of our endeavors.
A letter from Heaven
By Barbara Jones, 1963
Special Delivery-From Heaven
To the Kennedy Family
From John F. Kennedy
Sorry I had to leave right away
I look down and smile at you everyday
Little Patrick says to say Hi
I love you, I’m happy so please don’t cry
And Caroline I’d like to say
How proud daddy was of you that day
When you stood like a lady and watched me go by
You did just like mommy you tried not to cry
Little John John now that you’re the big man
Take care of mommy the best you can
You stood like a soldier , your salute was so brave
Thanks for the flag you put on my grave
And Jackie we had no time for good byes
But I’m sure you could read the farewell in my eyes
Take care of our children and love them for me
I’ll treasure your love through eternity
So please carry on as you did before
Till all of us meet on heaven’s bright shore
Remember I love you remember I care
I’ll always be with you
Though you don’t see me there
Love John 
We are not here to curse the darkness; we are here to light a candle. As Winston Churchill said on taking office some twenty years ago: If we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future. Today our concern must be with that future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.
An American scene:
Sixth-grade science classroom in a suburban elementary school, Oct. 23, 1962. At the front, the teacher — a tall, athletic young man — is weeping and telling his young charges, “We are so close to the end of the world.”
The 10- and 11-year-old students sit in stunned silence, at the messenger as well as the message. Few have seen a grown man cry, and certainly not a teacher.
But Oct. 23, 1962, was no ordinary day. The night before, President John F. Kennedy had revealed to the nation that the Soviet Union was placing nuclear missiles capable of destroying much of the United States in Cuba. And for a few days, the world rode the brink of extinction, saved only by the young president’s skillful handling of the crisis and the Soviets’ willingness to back down.
Little more than a year later, JFK was dead, but those students and the science teacher were alive — we were still alive .
- Jack Kennedy ‘Elusive Hero’ by Chris Matthews
The tale of two brothers..
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lieutenant in the United States Navy 1941-1945. Among others awarded with the Purple Heart and the World War II Victory Metal.
(Source: shuaaaat)
Forever young faces: the John F. Kennedy’s. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) and John F. Kennedy, Jr. (1960-1999).
If anything happens, we’re all going to stay right here with you, I just want to be with you, and I want to die with you, and the children do, too — than live without you.
‘I look forward to a world which will be safe not only for democracy and diversity but also for personal distinction.’
~ John Kennedy
(Source: profiler-in-courage)
American Icons John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) and Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) continue to have a legacy of hope that still inspires many of us.
”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 shank 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 endeavour 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.”
John F. Kennedy , January 20, 1961
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
Robert F. Kennedy, June 6, 1966
How strange it is - sometimes I think that the words of my husband that will be remembered most were words he did not even say in his own language:
Ich bin ein Berliner.
The younger years of Jack Kennedy.
John F. Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy.
