Transcript:
I swear I John Fitzgerald Kennedy do solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will to the best of your ability and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help you God so help me God. Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, Reverend clergy, fellow citizens We observe today not a victory of party, But a celebration of freedom symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change for. I have sworn before you and Almighty God. The same solemn oath, Our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago. The world is very different. Now for men holds in his mortal hands, The power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life, and yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe. The beliefs that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. We do not forget today that we are. The heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans born in this century tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights till which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed today at home and around the world, let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill that we shall pay any price bear. Any burden meet any hardship support. Any friend oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of Liberty this much, we pledged and more to those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share. We pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United there is little. We cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures divided. There is little we can do for. We do not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder to those new States. When we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view, but we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom and to remember that in the past, those who foolishly thought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside to those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery. We pledged our best efforts to help them help themselves for whatever period is required, not because the Communists may be doing it not because we seek their votes, but because it is right, if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich to our sister. Republic’s south of our border, we offer a special pledge to convert our good words into good deeds in a new alliance for progress to assist free men and free government in casting off the chains of poverty, but this peaceful revolution of Hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion, anywhere in the Americas and let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house to that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations Our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective to strengthen its yield of the new and the weak and to enlarge the area in which it’s written a run finally to those nations who would make themselves our adversary. We also not a pledge, but a request that both sides begin anew the quest for peace before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science, engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt, can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed, but neither can to great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course, both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to order that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind final war. So let us begin anew. Remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems, which divide us. Let both sides for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors together. I’ll let us explore the Stars conquer the desert. Eradicate disease, tap the ocean depth and encourage the arts and commerce let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth, the command of Isaiah to undo the heavy burden and let the oppressed go free.