"Kennedy cooked the soup that Johnson had to eat."
~ Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of West Germany, On the Vietnam War, NY Times 24 Jan 73
"A new star with a tremendous national appeal, the skill of a consummate showman."
~ Russell Baker, On President John F Kennedy at his first televised press conference, NY Times 26 Jan 61
"The Kennedy organization doesn't run, it purrs."
~ Rowland Evans Jr, On John F Kennedy's presidential campaign, quoted by Ralph G Martin A Hero for Our Time Macmillan 83
"Underneath the beautiful exterior there was an element of ruthlessness and toughness that I had trouble either accepting or forgetting."
~ Hubert H Humphrey, US Senator, On presidential campaign of John F Kennedy, The Education of a Public Man Doubleday 76
"Dear God, please take care of your servant John Fitzgerald Kennedy."
~ Jacqueline Kennedy, Inscription for mass cards at her husband's funeral 25 Nov 63
"Jack doesn't belong anymore to just a family. He belongs to the country."
~ Joseph P Kennedy, Comment a few weeks before his son's inauguration, quoted by Hugh Sidey John F Kennedy, President Atheneum 63
"He may be president, but he still comes home and swipes my socks."
~ Joseph P Kennedy, On his son John, quoted by Hugh Sidey John F Kennedy, President Atheneum 63
"Your daddy's upstairs. You can call him "Mr President" now."
~ Maude Shaw, To Caroline Kennedy on morning after 1960 presidential election, quoted by Ralph G Martin A Hero for Our Time Macmillan 83
"It was a very spasmodic courtship, conducted mainly at long distance with a great clanking of coins in dozens of phone booths."
~ Jacqueline Kennedy, On her romance with John F Kennedy, quoted by Doris Kearns Goodwin The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys Simon & Schuster 87
"When at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each one of us - recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state - our success or failure, in whatever office we may hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions - were we truly men of courage ... were we truly men of judgment ... were we truly men of integrity ... were we truly men of dedication?"
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, As president-elect, to Massachusetts legislature, NY Times 10 Jan 61
"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed today at home and around the world."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Inaugural address 20 Jan 61
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Inaugural address 20 Jan 61
"Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Inaugural address 20 Jan 61
"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Inaugural address 20 Jan 61
"And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Inaugural address 20 Jan 61
"All this will not be finished in the first hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Inaugural address 20 Jan 61
"To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, On outgoing administration, State of the Union address 30 Jan 61
"Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, To Canadian Parliament 17 May 61
"Tell him, if he doesn't mind, we'll shake hands."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, On meeting Soviet Premier Nikita S Khrushchev in Vienna 4 Jun 61
"I hear it said that West Berlin is militarily untenable - and so was Bastogne, and so, in fact, was Stalingrad. Any danger spot is tenable if men - brave men - will make it so."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Address to the nation 25 Jul 61
"The freedom of the city is not negotiable. We cannot negotiate with those who say, "What's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable.""
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Address to the nation 25 Jul 61
"Khrushchev reminds me of the tiger hunter who has picked a place on the wall to hang the tiger's skin long before he has caught the tiger. This tiger has other ideas."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, NY Times 24 Dec 61
"My father always told me that all businessmen were sons of bitches, but I never believed it till now."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, On steel industry executives who increased prices, to staff members 11 Apr 62
"The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are. ... The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Announcing blockade of Cuba to stop delivery of Soviet missiles, address to the nation 22 Oct 62
"There are many people in the world who really don't understand - or say they don't - what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. ... Let them come to Berlin!"
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, At West Berlin City Hall 26 Jun 63
"All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!""
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, At West Berlin City Hall 26 Jun 63
"I don't think the intelligence reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Recalled on his death 22 Nov 63
"If anyone is crazy enough to want to kill a president of the United States, he can do it. All he must be prepared to do is give his life for the president's."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, Quoted by Pierre Salinger With Kennedy Doubleday 66
"[Like] dealing with Dad - all give and no take."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, On negotiating with Soviet Premier Nikita S Khrushchev, quoted by Peter Collier and David Horowitz The Kennedys Summit 84
"You never know what's hit you. A gunshot is the perfect way."
~ John F Kennedy, 35th US President, When asked how he would choose to die, quoted by Peter Collier and David Horowitz The Kennedys Summit 84
"Dear God, please take care of your servant John Fitzgerald Kennedy."
~ Jacqueline Kennedy, Inscription for mass cards at her husband's funeral 25 Nov 63
"Jack doesn't belong anymore to just a family. He belongs to the country."
~ Joseph P Kennedy, Comment a few weeks before his son's inauguration, quoted by Hugh Sidey John F Kennedy, President Atheneum 63
"He may be president, but he still comes home and swipes my socks."
~ Joseph P Kennedy, On his son John, quoted by Hugh Sidey John F Kennedy, President Atheneum 63
"Lee was such a fine, high-class boy. ... If my son killed the president he would have said so. That's the way he was brought up."
~ Marguerite Oswald, On Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin of President John F Kennedy, Time 13 Dec 63
