JFK INAUGURATED 65 YEARS AGO, YOUNGEST ELECTED POTUS
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Sixty-five years ago today, January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy was inaugurated 35th President of the United States at the East Front of the Capitol Building here in Washington, D.C.
JFK's 14 minute Inaugural Address, according to the JFK Library, is "widely viewed as one of the most enduring inaugural messages in U.S. history."
Written by President Kennedy with assistance from his close advisor and speech-writer, Theodore Sorenson*, "the speech defined what it means to be an American and awakened the highest aspirations of citizenship for decades to come."
The most memorable line from the address (which appears on JFK+50's every post) is...
"My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
Sixty million Americans (I was one of them) watched the ceremonies on black and white television sets.
*Theodore Chaikin Sorenson (1928-2010) was born in Lincoln, Nebraska & earned his B.A. at the University of Nebraska & was 1st in his class at the University of Nebraska School of Law. TCS was JFK's aide & speech writer 1953-1963.
SOURCES
"Sixtieth Anniversary of JFK's Inaugural Address," JFK+50, January 20, 2021, www.jfk50.blogspot.com/
"Sixty Years Ago President Kennedy asked us...," January 20, 2021, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston, www.jfklibrary.org/
