11-24-2023, 05:56 PM -
“It is right that we should be grateful for the plenty amidst which we live; the productivity of our farms, the output of our factories, the skill of our artisans, and the ingenuity of our inventors,” said President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated 60 years ago yesterday, in his first Thanksgiving Day proclamation, in 1961.
“We give thanks, too,” he continued, “for our freedom as a nation; for the strength of our arms and the faith of our friends; for the beliefs and confidence we share; for our determination to stand firmly for what we believe to be right and to resist mightily what we believe to be base; and for the heritage of liberty bequeathed by our ancestors which we are privileged to preserve for our children and our children’s children.”
But gratitude points to responsibilities, an insight he offered in all three of his proclamations. First to our descendents. “We recognize that we are the beneficiaries of the toil and devotion of our fathers and that we can pass their legacy on to our children only by equal toil and equal devotion,” he said in 1962.
And second, to the rest of the world. “In the midst of our thanksgiving, let us not be unmindful of the plight of those in many parts of the world to whom hunger is no stranger and the plight of those millions more who live without the blessings of liberty and freedom.”
And....As he said the next year, America should offer to all “hope that we shall not fail in our unceasing efforts to make this a peaceful and prosperous world for all mankind” and “a more perfect community within this nation and around the earth.”
https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/edi...2311230066
They had their personal flaws but we now sorely miss the eloquent and passionate patriotism, as well as the deep concerns for those in the US and around the world who are less fortunate, of JFK, RFK, and Teddy.
Political speeches these days are just nowhere near the same.
“We give thanks, too,” he continued, “for our freedom as a nation; for the strength of our arms and the faith of our friends; for the beliefs and confidence we share; for our determination to stand firmly for what we believe to be right and to resist mightily what we believe to be base; and for the heritage of liberty bequeathed by our ancestors which we are privileged to preserve for our children and our children’s children.”
But gratitude points to responsibilities, an insight he offered in all three of his proclamations. First to our descendents. “We recognize that we are the beneficiaries of the toil and devotion of our fathers and that we can pass their legacy on to our children only by equal toil and equal devotion,” he said in 1962.
And second, to the rest of the world. “In the midst of our thanksgiving, let us not be unmindful of the plight of those in many parts of the world to whom hunger is no stranger and the plight of those millions more who live without the blessings of liberty and freedom.”
And....As he said the next year, America should offer to all “hope that we shall not fail in our unceasing efforts to make this a peaceful and prosperous world for all mankind” and “a more perfect community within this nation and around the earth.”
https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/edi...2311230066
They had their personal flaws but we now sorely miss the eloquent and passionate patriotism, as well as the deep concerns for those in the US and around the world who are less fortunate, of JFK, RFK, and Teddy.
Political speeches these days are just nowhere near the same.