HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!
Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) Happy Independence Day, July 4, 2025. Today marks the 249th anniversary of the adoption of The Declaration of Independence.
On July 4, 1776, we declared our independence from Great Britain and in doing so "mutually pledged to each other our lives, our Fortunes and our sacred honor."
For that Declaration to have any meaning, the colonies would have to defeat the most powerful military nation in the world. When that was accomplished in the final battle at Yorktown (Virginia), the British army band on the field of surrender played "The World Turned Upside Down*."
Probably the most quoted part of the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, is...
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
What is not often discussed is the long list of charges against King George III of Great Britain including his attempt to establish "an absolute Tyranny over these States." Jefferson concludes that this "tyrant...is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
John F. Kennedy was born and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts not far from where the first battles of the American Revolution were fought, Lexington and Concord. His mother, Rose, took him to all the historic sites in the area including the Old North Church where the lanterns were hung on April 18, 1775, and Bunker Hill where Patriots stood strong until running out of ammunition.
JFK came to the presidency with a deep knowledge of United States and World History and the importance of America's revolution was not lost on him as he prepared his inaugural address. He wrote...
"The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue...the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.
Let every nation know...that we shall pay any price...to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
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 shrink from this responsibility, I welcome it."
The National Archives says that while his colleagues submitted ideas for the inaugural address, "the speech was distinctively the work of Kennedy himself."
JFK+50 NOTE
It seems that President Kennedy used repeatedly in his speeches terms like "liberty," "freedom," and "republic," constantly reminding us of the importance of the ideals on which this country was founded.
I'm sure presidents since JFK have used those terms on occasion, but not with the regularity that he did.
I have a personal note to add on this 4th of July. I taught US History for 40 years & every year I spent a good deal of time teaching about JFK. I like to think my students appreciated my efforts in that regard.
Yesterday I was having coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts near my home, when a lady came up to me and said "Aren't you Mr. White?" I said, yes.
She told me that she had been my student back in high school in 2002 & always remembered my teaching about JFK. She said she thought if I ever have a daughter, I'm going to name her 'Kennedy.'
She said, I did have a daughter and Kennedy will be five years old this year. I think that is so sweet.
*The World Turned Upside Down was an English ballad first published in the 1640s against the policies of Parliament relating to celebrating Christmas. The playing of the tune at Yorktown is legend, in part, because accounts of it did not appear until a century after the fact.
SOURCES
"Declaration of Independence: A Transcription," America's Founding Documents, National Archives, www.archives.gov/
"President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address (1961), Milestone Documents, National Archives, www.archives.gov/
