PRESIDENT ADDRESSES MANUFACTURERS IN BIG APPLE
New York City (JFK+50) On December 6, 1961, President John F. Kennedy spoke to a meeting of the National Association of Manufacturers* at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel here in New York City.
The President, beginning in a joking mood, said...
"I understand that President (William) McKinley and I are the only two POTUS to ever address such an occasion. I suppose that President McKinley and I are the only two that are regarded as fiscally sound enough to be qualified for admission to this organization..."
JFK went on to admit that the members of the NAM were not "among my strongest supporters" and that in the last election (1960) "most of you supported my opponent (Richard M. Nixon) except for a very few who were under the impression that I was my father's son."**
These opening remarks evoked laughter from the audience.
The remainder of the speech is very serious. The President sought to explain why his "New Frontier"*** should not be considered "anti-business."
JFK argued that when American businesses do well there is full employment and we have "a prosperous and vital country." He added that full employment goes hand-in-hand with business profits, reinvestment and productivity.
In addition, the President noted that "government resources come from you...when you fail, we fail."
*National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), founded in 1894 by Thomas P. Eagan of Cincinnati, Ohio, is the largest manufacturing industrial trade association representing 14,000 companies in all 50 states.
**Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (1888-1969) was born in Boston, MA & earned his B.S. in economics at Harvard University (1912). JPK served as the 1st chairman of the Security & Exchange Commission, head of the US Maritime Commission & US Ambassador to UK 1938-1940.
***New Frontier was a term used by JFK in his acceptance speech of July 15, 1960 when he said "We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier." It came to identify President Kennedy's domestic & foreign policy & programs.
SOURCE
"John F. Kennedy, Address in New York City to the National Association of Manufacturers, Online," by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The Presidency Project, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
