Remembering the late President Kennedy

Jan. 20, 2011, marked the 50th anniversary of late United States president John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, and the vision and message that his speech encompassed, as well as the effect he had on the American people is still prevalent to this day and even seen in present-day president Barak Obama.

President Kennedy, 1961 Inaugural Address.

With heavy snow on the ground, the newly elected 35th president of the United States stood at the podium at the East Portico and delivered his 13 minute and 59 second-long speech, the fourth-shortest inaugural address in U.S. history, to over 19 million people.

His uplifting and noble inaugural address emphasized American purpose and power, expressed a vision of what America could at that time and what it had the potential to become in the future, promoted a need to pursue peace while practicing vigilance, and is considered to be one of the best presidential inaugural addresses in American history.

Many people compare the current presidency of Barak Obama to the presidency of the late JFK. Both Obama and Kennedy brought Americans much hope and conjured a national yearning to believe during times in which America seemed to be in "a twilight between cold peace and hot war [and faced] a profound ideological challenge" (Bradley).

The hope Americans invested into both political figures and the strong desire they felt to believe in a better America are two reasons why Obama has become a major political figure and why Kennedy continues to be rated higher in polling than all other modern presidents.

However, neither presidents' prominence has much to do with ideology, policy, or even accomplishment; and skeptics actually disparaged JFK, as they now do Obama, as "callow and ill-versed in substantive issues" (Greenberg). So how did these two presidents manage to inspire millions of people even though they were perceived to be inexperienced and not quite up-to-par?

According to David Greenberg from Slate online magazine, Obama and Kennedy's popularity had a lot to do with their "sex appeal, cerebral cool, and. . . message of generational change." Both Obama and Kennedy managed to turn scrutinized personal characteristics of themselves—Obama's race and Kennedy's Catholicism—from liabilities into assets by presenting themselves in ways that broke national stereotypes. As a result, both men evoked a sense of not only hope, but "tolerance[,] and a future free of constricting prejudices of the past" (Greenberg) as well.

The late John F. Kennedy will forever be a shining symbol of an American yearning to believe and it is obvious that the effect he had on America will continue to live on and be looked for in presidents that follow him.

Video of President Kennedy's 1961 Inaugural Address under Read More.

Work Cited
Bradley, William. "Obama and the Significance of the JFK Inaugural 50 Years On." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., 22 Jan. 2011. Web. 29 Jan. 2011.
Greenberg, David. "Playing the Tolerance Card: How Obama is like JFK." Slate. Washington Post Network Interactive Co. LLC, 20 April 2007. Web. 29 Jan. 2011.