Inaugural Address: "Pay Any Price, Bear Any Burden"
In his Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961, President Kennedy presented the American public with a blueprint upon which the future foreign policy initiatives of his administration would later follow and come to represent. In this Address, Kennedy warned “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, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”1 He also called upon the public to assist in “a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.”1 It is in this address that one begins to see the Cold War, us-versus-them mentality that came to dominate the Kennedy administration.
Read more about this topic: Kennedy Doctrine
Famous quotes containing the words pay, bear and/or burden:
“Just as soon as we notice that someone has to force himself to pay attention when dealing and talking with us, we have a valid demonstration that he does not love us or that he does not love us anymore.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)
“The impression made on a wise man is that of universal innocence. Poison is not poisonous after all, nor are any wounds fatal. Compassion is a very untenable ground. It must be expeditious. Its pleadings will not bear to be stereotyped.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“Ovid lies here, the poet, skilled in loves gentle sport;
By his own talents he worked his undoing.
Oh, you who pass by, if ever you have loved,
Think it not a burden to wish him calm repose.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)