On this exact spot, in this time and this place a great light was extinguished. It was as many have said for one brief and shining moment in the steady march of history a brilliant star that shone forth as a beacon of hope for all of mankind.
But just as a star whose life burned out millennia ago the light from this heavenly raiment continues to illuminate the best of human ambitions, desires, and dreams. For those of you who are younger and were not fortunate enough to have been alive while President Kennedy inspired this nation and the world, one need only view the photographs and watch the films to see how much the people loved this man.
However, it was not just the charm and charisma of John F. Kennedy that drew people to him, but it was the strength of his words which lit the fires of hope in the hearts of men and women around the world.
Indeed those words have survived beyond his mortal being and continue to draw us to his immortal soul. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is now a legend for the ages and just as his life provided us with comfort against the apocalyptic darkness, so too will the resolution of the mystery surrounding his death serve to protect us from the long shadows of crises and conflict.
For a moment let us listen to some of President Kennedy's words so that on the Fortieth anniversary of his death we may use them both as a shield to give us hope for humanity on the one hand and as a sword to give us the courage to smite the bodyguard of lies surrounding his death on the other hand.
What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek?
Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons
of war. Not the peace of the grave of the security of the slave.
I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes
life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations
to grow and to hope and to build a beffer life for their children,
not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women,
not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.
So, let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.
The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough, more than enough, of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared
if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our partto build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on, not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.
American University Washington, D.C. June 10, 1963
It is not a mission of self, defense alone, for that is a means, not an end. It is not a mission of arbitrary power, for we reject the idea of one nation dominating another. The mission is to create a new social order, founded on liberty and justice, in which men are the masters of their fate, in which states are the servants of their citizens, and in which all men and women can share a better life for themselves and their children. That is the object of our common policy.
To realize this vision, we must seek a world of peace, a world in which peoples dwell together in mutual respect and work together in mutual regard, a world where peace is not a mere interlude between wars, but an incentive to the creative energies of humanity. We will not find such a peace today, or even tomorrow. The obstacles to hope are large and menacing. Yet the goal of a peaceful world, today and tomorrow, must shape our decisions and inspire our purposes.
Paulskirche Assembly Hall
Frankfurt, federal Republic of Germany
June 25, 1963
We in this country, in this generation, are, by destiny rather than choice, the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of "peace on earth, goodwill toward men." That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago, "except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
Remarks prepared for delivery at Dallas
Trade Mart Luncheon (undelivered)
November 22 1963
Is there an honest man or woman among us that can deny that these selected passages from President Kennedy's aforementioned speeches stand in sharp contrast to events in the world today?
To further dramatize the power of President Kennedy's words, slight modifications can sometimes serve as a weapon to defend historical truth. Here is such an example using President Kennedy's Berlin Wall speech.
There are many people in the world who really
don't understand or say they don't, what is the great issue between
the Warren Commission apologists and the Assassination Research
community LET them come to THE GRASSY KNOLL.
There are some who say that lies are the wave of the future, LET them come to THE GRASSY KNOLL. And there are even a few who say that it is true lies are evil, but it permits us to protect our national security. LET them come to THE GRASSY KNOLL!
In conclusion, I would like to end with a poem by Emily Dickinson. President Kennedy loved poetry and so it is fitting that this memorial speech to his life and to the baffle for truth behind his death should end this way.
"Luck is not chance"
Luck is not chance , It's Toil, Fortune's expensive smile
Is earned, .
I took one Draught of Life, I'll tell you what I paid, Precisely an existence, The market price, they said.
They weighed me, Dust by Dust, They balanced Film with Film,
Then handed me my Being's worth, A single Dream of Heaven!
That such have died enable us
The tranquiller to die;
That such have lived, certificate
For immortality.
Emily Dickinson
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