For the unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.
John F. Kennedy
The Public Record
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president, at 43 years, and the first Catholic president. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress before his presidency.
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But these are honest differences among honorable associates--more real and frequent, in fact, among our Western European allies than between them and the United States.
Far from resenting the new Europe, we regard her as a welcome partner, not a rival.
Defying the old prophecies of Marx, consenting to what no conqueror could ever compel, the free nations of Europe are moving toward a unity of purpose and power and policy in every sphere of activity.
The era of colonial expansion has passed; the era of national rivalries is fading; and a new era of interdependence and unity is taking shape.
The world's prognosis prescribes, in short, not a year's vacation for us, but a year of obligation and opportunity.
But complacency or self-congratulation can imperil our security as much as the weapons of tyranny.
These domestic tasks do not divert energy from our security--they provide the very foundation for freedom's survival and success.
Nothing we could do to help the developing countries would help them half as much as a booming U.S. economy.
We shall be judged more by what we do at home than by what we preach abroad.
If we do not plan today for the future growth of these and other great natural assets--not only parks and forests but wildlife and wilderness preserves, and water projects of all kinds--our children and their children will be poorer in…
We must maintain a stockpile of strategic materials, but the $8.5 billion we have acquired--for reasons both good and bad--is much more than we need; and we should be empowered to dispose of the excess in ways which will not cause market…