John Fitzgerald Kennedy

5/29/1917 - 11/22/1963

The Administration of John F. Kennedy was marked by a breathless series of major events– the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion, the Berlin Wall, riots at the University of Mississippi and other places in the battle for civil rights, and the Cuban showdown.

But from the moment Premier Khrushchev announced the dismantling of the missile bases and withdrawal of the missiles from Cuba in October, 1962, a period of comparative relaxation in cold war tensions began, a tranquil time internationally that was only mildly disturbed by incidents such as the recent arrest and release of Prof. Frederick C. Barghoorn.

For 13 months the nation has been living without fear of imminent war. In this period the President was able to turn his main attention to domestic issues such as civil rights and the lagging economy, issues he had made part of his program from the beginning.
Tone Set at Inaugural

Mr. Kennedy’s inaugural address was only 1,355 words long–one of the shorter introductory messages of recent American Presidents.

“Now the trumpet summons us again,” he declared, “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.”

And in what probably became his most celebrated passage, he implored:

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what America will do for you–ask what you can do for your country.”

Polls showed that his popularity declined somewhat as a result of Administration support for militant civil-rights leaders. President Kennedy himself said he expected a close race in 1964.

Source: NY Times