"MY RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION...IS NOT RELEVANT"

JFK ACCEPTS DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) On July 15, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States here in Los Angeles.

The Senator gave his acceptance speech at the Los Angeles Coliseum.  He  became the first Roman Catholic candidate for the office since Al Smith of New York in 1928.

JFK speechwriter Theodore Sorensen said that the decision to move the acceptance speech from the indoor Sports Arena Convention Hall to the outdoor Coliseum was not made until "after the convention started."

One of the major issues in the 1960 campaign was religion.  Mr. Kennedy addressed the issue by saying...

"I hope that no American...will...vote either for me or against me because of my religious affiliation.  It is not relevant." 

SOURCES

"Obama Outdoor Speech Echoes JFK's 1960 Move," by Rick Hampson, USA Today, August 28, 2008, www.abcnews.com/

 "The New Frontier":  Acceptance Speech of Senator John F. Kennedy, Democratic National Convention, 15 July 1960, www.jfklibrary.org/ 

 

 

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

by Richard H. Kim (2007)

 

 

 

 

 

 

"ALL I HAVE I WOULD HAVE GIVEN GLADLY NOT TO BE STANDING HERE TODAY"

NEW PRESIDENT SPEAKS TO CONGRESS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 27, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke to a joint session of Congress.  It was only five days earlier when he assumed the office on the death of John F. Kennedy.

Ashley Barrett describes the new Chief Executive as "humbly" standing "before his former colleagues" and exhibiting "an air of self confidence and diligence."

President Johnson began with these words...

"All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today.  The greatest leader of our time has been struck down by the foulest deed of our time."

Barrett says that LBJ rejected early drafts of the speech by JFK speechwriter Theodore Sorensen because they "moved to celebrate Kennedy."  President Johnson turned to "his longtime speechwriter and friend, Horace Busby*."

The tone of the speech shifted from the past to the present and future.  President Johnson said...

"On the 20th day of January, in 19 and 61, John F. Kennedy told his countrymen that our national work would not be finished...'in the life of this administration...but...let us begin.'   Today in this moment of new resolve I...say...let us continue."

*Horace Wooster Busby, Jr. (1924-2000) served as special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson 1964-65.  HWB was hired by LBJ in 1946.  After leaving the White House, Mr. Busby was a political consultant to Mobil Oil and American Airlines.

SOURCES

"LBJ Adviser Horace 'Buzz' Busby Jr., 76, Dies," by Adam Bernstein, June 1, 2000, www.washingtonpost.com/

"Lyndon B. Johnson, Let Us Continue (27 NOV 1963)", by Ashley Barrett, Baylor University.

"Lyndon B. Johnson, Let Us Continue", American Rhetoric, Top 100 Speeches, www.americanrhetoric.com/