A year ago, in assuming the tasks of the Presidency, I said that few generations, in all history, had been granted the role of being the great defender of freedom in its hour of maximum danger.
Kennedy reflects on the historical significance of his presidency in defending freedom.
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Our Constitution wisely assigns both joint and separate roles to each branch of the government; and a President and a Congress who hold each other in mutual respect will neither permit nor attempt any trespass.
Our aim is not simply to be first on the moon, any more than Charles Lindbergh's real aim was to be the first to Paris.
And we will have forged across the Atlantic a trading partnership with vast resources for freedom.
But there is no comfort or security for us in evasion, no solution in abdication, no relief in irresponsibility.