John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy | Introduction & Overview

John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address Introduction

On January 20, 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered one of America's few standout inaugural addresses and one of the finest speeches in American history. By invoking the American dream and extending its promise to the rest of the world, Kennedy's speech was an inspirational call to action that resonates even today.

It is no coincidence that the 1961 inaugural address is continually compared to Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address as well as the "Gettysburg Address," both of Woodrow Wilson's inaugural addresses, and several of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's and Winston Churchill's finest speeches—Kennedy looked to these gifted orators and their wise and beautiful words for inspiration. According to Thurston Clarke in his book, Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America,

[Kennedy] knew this speech represented an extraordinary opportunity to present himself, as he chose to be seen, for the pages of...
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