April 20, 2013
JFK SPOKE AT BOSTON COLLEGE CENTENNIAL 50 YEARS AGO TODAY
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts (JFK+50) 50 years ago today, April 20, 1963, President John F. Kennedy spoke at the centennial celebration of Boston College.*
*Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 6 miles outside downtown Boston. The college was founded in 1863 and in 2009 was ranked 16th among "America's Best Colleges" by Forbes.
St. Ignatius Gate
Boston College
President Kennedy began with a touch of humor...
"It is a great pleasure to come back to a city where my accent is considered normal and where they pronounce the words the way they are spelled."
JFK then reminded his audience that...
"This university...was founded in the darkest days of the Civil War."
The President spoke about "the growing...importance of universities in our national life."
He said...
"From the office that I hold...there can be no doubt today of the growing meaning of universities in America."
JFK discussed 4 ways "the new realities of our day have combined to intensify the...role of the university in our Nation's life."
These ways included....
1) the world has come to our doorstep and the university must be its student
2) the knowledge explosion in the sciences, history, letters and the arts
3) men must learn to judge across their own ignorance
4) dedication to the Nation's service
Gasson Tower
Boston College
Photo by en: User: Jdonovan
The President closed with this quotation from Woodrow Wilson...
"It is not learning but the spirit of service that will give a college place in the public annals of the Nation. It is indispensable if it is to do its right service, that the air of affairs should be admitted to all its classrooms...the air of the world's transactions, the consciousness of the solidarity of the race, the sense of duty of man toward man."
You Tube Video
JFK SPOKE AT BOSTON COLLEGE CENTENNIAL 50 YEARS AGO TODAY
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts (JFK+50) 50 years ago today, April 20, 1963, President John F. Kennedy spoke at the centennial celebration of Boston College.*
*Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 6 miles outside downtown Boston. The college was founded in 1863 and in 2009 was ranked 16th among "America's Best Colleges" by Forbes.
St. Ignatius Gate
Boston College
President Kennedy began with a touch of humor...
"It is a great pleasure to come back to a city where my accent is considered normal and where they pronounce the words the way they are spelled."
JFK then reminded his audience that...
"This university...was founded in the darkest days of the Civil War."
The President spoke about "the growing...importance of universities in our national life."
He said...
"From the office that I hold...there can be no doubt today of the growing meaning of universities in America."
JFK discussed 4 ways "the new realities of our day have combined to intensify the...role of the university in our Nation's life."
These ways included....
1) the world has come to our doorstep and the university must be its student
2) the knowledge explosion in the sciences, history, letters and the arts
3) men must learn to judge across their own ignorance
4) dedication to the Nation's service
Gasson Tower
Boston College
Photo by en: User: Jdonovan
The President closed with this quotation from Woodrow Wilson...
"It is not learning but the spirit of service that will give a college place in the public annals of the Nation. It is indispensable if it is to do its right service, that the air of affairs should be admitted to all its classrooms...the air of the world's transactions, the consciousness of the solidarity of the race, the sense of duty of man toward man."
You Tube Video
