Ill Never Fight Fire With My Bare Hands Again

​ Mind to the speech.

Inaugural Accost of President John F. Kennedy
Washington, D.C.
January twenty, 1961

Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, Reverend Clergy, beau citizens:

Nosotros observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an finish as well as a commencement--signifying renewal as well every bit modify. For I have sworn earlier yous and Almighty God the same solemn adjuration our forebears prescribed near a century and three-quarters ago.

The world is very different at present. For man holds in his mortal easily the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human being life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at effect around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come up not from the generosity of the land but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that showtime revolution. Permit the word become along 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 state of war, disciplined past a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or allow the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the globe.

Allow every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay whatever cost, carry any brunt, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge--and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins nosotros share, nosotros pledge the loyalty of true-blue friends. United there is piddling we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is piddling we can practise--for nosotros dare non meet a powerful challenge at odds and divide asunder.

To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away but to exist replaced by a far more atomic number 26 tyranny. We shall not ever expect to find them supporting our view. Simply we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their ain freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

To those people in the huts and villages of half the world struggling to pause the bonds of mass misery, nosotros pledge our best efforts to aid them aid themselves, for whatsoever period is required--non because the communists may be doing information technology, non because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot aid the many who are poor, information technology cannot save the few who are rich.

To our sister republics south of our border, nosotros offer a special pledge--to catechumen our skilful words into good deeds--in a new alliance for progress--to assistance free men and gratuitous governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of promise cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Permit all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And permit 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 terminal best hope in an historic period where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of back up--to prevent it from condign merely a forum for invective--to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak--and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

Finally, to those nations who would brand themselves our antagonist, we offer non a pledge but a asking: that both sides brainstorm anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of devastation unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or adventitious self-destruction.

Nosotros cartel non tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient across doubt can we be certain beyond dubiety that they volition never exist employed.

But neither can 2 bang-up and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course--both sides overburdened by the toll of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly cantlet, yet both racing to alter that uncertain residuum of terror that stays the manus of mankind'due south final war.

And then let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is non a sign of weakness, and sincerity is e'er subject field to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fearfulness to negotiate.

Let both sides explore what bug unite us instead of belaboring those problems which split usa.

Allow both sides, for the showtime time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms--and bring the accented ability to destroy other nations nether the accented control of all nations.

Permit both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together permit u.s.a. explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the sea depths 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 burdens . . . (and) let the oppressed go free."

And if a beachhead of cooperation may push dorsum the jungle of suspicion, allow both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of ability, but a new world of police, where the strong are but and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

All this volition non be finished in the commencement ane hundred days. Nor will it exist finished in the start i chiliad days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

In your hands, my beau citizens, more than mine, will remainder the concluding success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of immature Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

Now the trumpet summons us once again--non equally a telephone call to bear arms, though artillery we need--non as a call to battle, though embattled we are-- just a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, twelvemonth in and twelvemonth out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, illness and war itself.

Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global brotherhood, Northward and South, E and West, that tin assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

In the long history of the earth, only a few generations accept been granted the part of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I practise not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not believe that any of u.s. would exchange places with any other people or whatever other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which nosotros bring to this endeavor volition light our land and all who serve information technology--and the glow from that fire tin can truly light the earth.

And so, my boyfriend Americans: ask not what your land can practice for you--ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the earth: ask not what America will exercise for you, but what together we can practice for the freedom of human.

Finally, whether y'all are citizens of America or citizens of the earth, ask of us here the same loftier standards of force and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a skilful conscience our merely sure reward, with history the final guess of our deeds, let usa go forth to atomic number 82 the land nosotros dear, request His blessing and His help, only knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

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Source: https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/inaugural-address-19610120