WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:08.759 We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom, 2 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:18.359 symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change. 3 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:25.399 For I has formed before you and Almighty God, the same solemn mode 4 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:34.200 our four Theirs prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago. The world is 5 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:42.759 very different now, for man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish 6 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:50.280 all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yes, 7 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:59.479 the same revolutionary beliefs for which our four Theirs thought hostility issue around the globe, 8 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.519 the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the 9 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:11.920 state, but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that 10 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:19.760 we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from 11 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:26.000 this time and place to friend and full alight that the torch has been passed 12 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:34.159 to a new generation of Americans born in this century, tempered by war, 13 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:44.680 discipline by a hard and bitter be proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling 14 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:55.079 to witness or permit a small undoing of those human rights to which this nation 15 00:01:55.319 --> 00:02:00.239 has always been committed, and to which we are committed today. At home 16 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:15.400 and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well 17 00:02:15.639 --> 00:02:24.120 or ill, that we shall pay any price, there any burden, meet 18 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:34.080 any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival 19 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:46.360 and the success of liberty. This much we pledge and more For those old 20 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:54.560 allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful 21 00:02:54.599 --> 00:03:01.039 friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative 22 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:07.759 ventures. Divided, there is little we can do. All we dare not 23 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:15.919 meet a powerful challenge at odd and split asunder. To those new states whom 24 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:22.680 we welcome to the ranks of the free, we plange our words that one 25 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:30.439 form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a 26 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:36.919 far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our 27 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:45.080 view, but we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom, 28 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:52.439 and to remember that in the past, those who foolishly thought power by 29 00:03:52.560 --> 00:04:04.840 riding the back of the tiger ended up inside. To those people in the 30 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:13.000 Houston villagers, a post the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass history, 31 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:19.360 we plant our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period 32 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:25.920 is required, not because the communists may be doing it, not because we 33 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:32.800 seek their votes, god because it is right. If a free society cannot 34 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:38.720 help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. 35 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:51.360 To our history republics south of our boyer, we offer a special pledge 36 00:04:53.319 --> 00:05:00.000 to convert our good words into good deeds in a new alliance for progress, 37 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:08.000 to assist free men hand free governments in casting off the change of poverty. 38 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:16.639 But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let 39 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:25.759 all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression of subversion 40 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:32.319 anywhere in the Americans. And let every other power know that this hemisphere intends 41 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:45.600 to remain the master of his own house. To that world assembly of sovereign 42 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:51.680 states, the United Ations, our lost best hope in an age where the 43 00:05:51.720 --> 00:06:00.920 instruments of war have far our path the instruments of peace, our pange of 44 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:09.199 support to prevent it from becoming merely a forum per executive, to strengthen its 45 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:15.120 shields of the new and the whek, and to enlarge the area in which 46 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:23.240 it's written a run. Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our 47 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:31.120 adversary, we offer not a pledge, but a request that both guides begin 48 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:41.199 anew the quest for peace before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science in 49 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:48.439 golf all humanity, in planned or accidental self destruction. We dare not tempt 50 00:06:48.439 --> 00:06:57.160 them with weakness, are only with our arms are sufficient beyond out? Can 51 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:02.720 we be certain beyond out that they will never be employed? But neither can 52 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:11.680 two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course. Both 53 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:19.319 sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both brightly alarmed by the sety 54 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:27.519 spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to order that uncertain balance of 55 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:33.800 terror that saves the hand of mankind's final war. So let us begin anew, 56 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:42.160 remembering on both sides that stability is not a sign of weakness, and 57 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:48.920 sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear God, 58 00:07:49.079 --> 00:08:01.160 let us never fear to negotiate. That both both sides explore what problems 59 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:09.519 unite us, instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. Let both sides, 60 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:16.639 for the first time pomulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control 61 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:24.480 of arms, and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute 62 00:08:24.519 --> 00:08:37.279 control of all nations. Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science 63 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:43.720 instead of its terrors. Together, let us explore the stars, talk of 64 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:52.159 the desert, eradicate disease, half the ocean depth, and encourage the arts 65 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:58.720 and commerce leant. Both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth 66 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:05.639 the command end of Isaiah, to undo the heavy burden and let the oppressed 67 00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:13.440 go free. And if a beachhead of cooperation, they pushed back the jungle 68 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:20.960 of suspicion. Let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a 69 00:09:22.039 --> 00:09:26.799 new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong 70 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:35.639 adjusts and the weak secured, and the peace preserved. All this will not 71 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:41.639 be finished in the first one hundred days, nor will it be finished in 72 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:48.559 the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor 73 00:09:48.600 --> 00:10:01.559 even cracked in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin. In 74 00:10:01.639 --> 00:10:09.200 your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final 75 00:10:09.480 --> 00:10:16.600 success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation 76 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:24.960 of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves 77 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:33.000 of young Americans who answered the call of service surround the globe. Now the 78 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:41.440 trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms. The arms 79 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:46.039 we need, not as the calls of battle go in battle. We are 80 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:54.840 but a cause to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in 81 00:10:54.960 --> 00:11:03.960 and year out, rejoicing in hope, haitian and tribulation, a struggle against 82 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:09.840 the common enemies of man, tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself. 83 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:20.840 Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance north and south, 84 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:26.919 east and west that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? 85 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:41.600 Will you join in that historic efforts. In the long history of the world, 86 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:50.080 only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its 87 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:56.200 power of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility. High welcome 88 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:07.840 him. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any 89 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:13.639 other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion 90 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:20.840 which we bring to this endeavor we'll light our country and all who serve it, 91 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:28.039 And the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so 92 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:35.919 my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask 93 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:50.039 what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, 94 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:56.200 ask not what American will do for you, but what together we can do 95 00:12:56.840 --> 00:13:09.080 for the freedom of man. Finally, whether you are citizens of America or 96 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:16.639 citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength 97 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:24.120 and sacrifice which we ask of you, with a good conscience, our only 98 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:31.639 sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds. Let us go 99 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:39.240 forth to leave the land we love, asking his blessing and his health, 100 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:46.480 but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.