Meet the Author
John F. Kennedy
American · 1917–1963 · 35th President of the United States
Portrait: Cecil W. Stoughton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The youngest person ever elected president, whose 1961 inaugural address is remembered for its call to ‘ask what you can do for your country.’
1 StoryBites Edition1 Speech or essay
Why read John F. Kennedy?
Kennedy and his speechwriter Theodore Sorensen built the inaugural address from balanced, reversible phrases meant to be remembered. It speaks in turn to old allies, new nations, rivals, and Kennedy’s own citizens, at a tense point in the Cold War. Read it to study antithesis and chiasmus in action, and to see how a new president framed a generation’s duty.
A life in six dates
- 1917Born in Brookline, Massachusetts
- 1943Commands the boat PT-109 when it is sunk in the Pacific
- 1946Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
- 1952Elected to the U.S. Senate
- 1957Wins the Pulitzer Prize for Biography for Profiles in Courage
- 1961Delivers his inaugural address
- 1963Assassinated in Dallas, Texas
Themes across the work
The StoryBites Editions
Context that actually matters
The Cold WarThe rivalry with the Soviet Union and the fear of nuclear war shape the speech’s warnings and its offer to ‘begin anew.’
DecolonizationMany former colonies in Africa and Asia were becoming independent nations, and the speech addresses these new states directly.
Television politicsThe 1960 campaign featured the first televised presidential debates, and Kennedy’s inauguration was broadcast to a national audience.