American Minute for May 29th:
Awarded the Navy's medal of heroism during World War II and the Pulitzer Prize for his book Profiles in Courage, he was the youngest elected President, serving just over 1,000 days before being shot. This was John F. Kennedy, born MAY 29, 1917. Kennedy stated in his Inaugural, January 20, 1961: "I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears 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." John F. Kennedy continued: "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." Writing to Brazil's President, Janio da Silva Quadros, January 31, 1961, John F. Kennedy stated: "Once in every 20 years presidential inaugurations in your country and mine occur within days of each other. This year of 1961 is signalized by the happy coincidence. At this time, each of us assumes challenging duties...To each of us is entrusted the heavy responsibility of guiding the affairs of a democratic nation founded on Christian ideals."
Endnotes
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald. Jan. 20, 1961, Inaugural Address. Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States - From George Washington 1789 to Richard Milhous Nixon 1969 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office; 91 Congress, 1 Session, House Document 91-142, 1969), pp. 267-270. Department of State Bulletin (published weekly by the Office of Public Services, Bureau of Public Affairs, Feb. 6, 1961). Davis Newton Lott, The Inaugural Addresses of the American Presidents (NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1961), p. 269. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court & Public Prayer (NY: Fordham University Press, 1964), p. 193. Benjamin Weiss, God in American History: A Documentation of America's Religious Heritage (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1966), p. 146. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. XVIII, pp. 5-7. Lillian W. Kay, ed., The Ground on Which We Stand - Basic Documents of American History (NY: Franklin Watts., Inc, 1969), p. 296. Willard Cantelon, Money Master of the World (Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1976), p. 121-122. Bob Arnebeck, "FDR Invoked God Too," Washington Post, September 21, 1986. Vincent J. Wilson, ed., The Book of Great American Documents (Brookfield, MD: American History Research Associates, 1987), p. 84. Halford Ross Ryan, American Rhetoric from Roosevelt to Reagan (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1987), p. 156. Jeffrey K. Hadden & Anson Shupe, Televangelism - Power & Politics on God's Frontier (NY: Henry Holt & Co., 1988), p. 272. Ronald Reid, ed., Three Centuries of American Rhetorical Discourse: An Anthology & a Review (Prospect Heights, Il: Waveland Press, Inc., 1988), p. 711. William Safire, ed., Lend Me Your Ears - Great Speeches in History (NY: W.W. Norton & Co. 1992), p. 812. Peter Marshall & David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart 'N Home, Inc., 1991), 1.20. J. Michael Sharman, J.D., Faith of the Fathers (Culpepper, Virginia: Victory Publishing, 1995), pp. 111-112.
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