John F. Kennedy: “In short, whatever is required will be done to back up all our efforts abroad, and to make certain that, in the future…”

Before my term has ended, we shall have to test anew whether a nation organized and governed such as ours can endure.

If, on the other hand, we hang back in deference to local economic pressures, we will find ourselves cut off from our major allies.

But the world was not meant to be a prison in which man awaits his execution.

For you and I are privileged to serve the great Republic in what could be the most decisive decade in its long history.