John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Now, you may think this election is not so important, but it is vital.

I think it is the business of every citizen of the United States to make a judgment about what kind of a House of Representatives we're going to have and what kind of a Senate we're going to have, and what kind of a Governor we're going to…

I come here not because I enjoy driving around the countryside and making speeches, but because I have lived for 21 months with a closely divided Congress, where we have lost measures like medical care under Social Security by a change of…

As a President who was elected, out of 70 million people voting, by 100,000, I'm very conscious of who voted for me and who didn't.

I want to be sure in the 1970's that there are the people of this country who are the beneficiaries of what we did on the New Frontiers of 1962.

I have had an opportunity to examine with some care and some interest the record of the Republican Party, and I can tell you, in case you don't know it, that it is opposed, year in, year out, in the administration of Harry Truman in 1947…

Seventy-eight percent of the Republican members of the Senate voted against medical care for the aged under Social Security.

I hope you reelect Senator Clark.

We are the beneficiaries of the New Deal.

How can we possibly provide for the education of our children, jobs for our people, medical care for our older citizens, better housing, jobs, jobs, jobs, if we are going to lose 39 votes after we have won and lost bill after bill by 3, 4…

I believe that the Democratic Party does, and I believe the Republican Party - that's what we have to decide.

For the first time, committed itself to being first in 1961 and 1962.

We are here to elect Democratic candidates.

November 7th, the day after election, can be, in this State and in this country, a rising sun, and the beginning of a great new day.

So I have fought in the last 2 years, and we have passed many bills.

Now this is not a partisan statement.

So I come here today and ask your help in electing men and women in this State and in this country who will serve the people, who believe in progress, who believe that the National Government has a responsibility.

The right to vote, the necessity for registration, the commitment of yourselves and your families and your country to the forward movement of us all--that is the great issue of this election.

If we sit down in October and early November of 1962, the 88th Congress will meet in January and every proposal that we have will be in the control of a dominant Republican-Conservative Democratic coalition that will defeat progress on…

Of all the extraordinary feats, I think the first voyage of Columbus must go down as perhaps the most unusual.

Eighty-one percent of the Republican Members of the House of Representatives voted 'no' on a $50 a week for 40 hours minimum wage.

It is the responsibility of a President of the United States to have a program and to fight for it.

So I come today not as a candidate for office, but as one who, after 21 months as President, recognizes how important it is that this great country of ours be dynamic and progressive, and I ask your help in giving us men who believe in…

This election affects the security, the wellbeing, the opportunities, of everyone in this city or country.

I do not believe that in this most critical and dangerous period in the life of our country that Presidents, or anyone else, should confine themselves to ceremonial occasions.