10 Powerful Quotes from President John F. Kennedy

50 years ago President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. There’s been a lot of fascinating coverage of President Kennedy’s life, serving as a reminder of the power of his words and the lasting impact he has made on society.

If you’re looking to learn more about president Kennedy, Esri has created a great story map charting his life. The story map starts with his birth on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, and walks through key life events up to his assassination in 1963. You view the full Story Map by going here:

The Story Maps website (http://storymaps.esri.com/home/) states “[Story Maps] combine intelligent web maps with web applications and templates that incorporate text, multimedia, and interactive functions. Story maps inform, educate, entertain, and inspire people about a wide variety of topics.” With Story Maps, anyone can build, create, or modify a map to tell a compelling story. Maps have been used to create stories around visiting the National Mall, the sinking of the Titanic, and dozens of other important events. The JFK Story Map is a great example of how you can leverage Story Maps.

I really enjoyed flipping through this Story Map. Like many Americans, JFK has always served as an inspirational figure to me. Many of Kennedy’s speeches have stood the test of time, and continue to serve as a source of inspiration. In no particular order, here are 10 great quotes that I rounded up from a quick Google search:

  1. “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”

  2. “There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risk and costs of comfortable inaction.”

  3. “The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.”

  4. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

  5. “I would rather be accused of breaking precedents than breaking promises.”

  6. “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”

  7. “The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.”

  8. “If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.”

  9. “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

  10. “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

What JFK quotes inspire you?


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Peter Sperry

Pierre Salinger will be remembered as one of the best presidential speechwriters who ever held the job. He could make a dinner menu seem eloquent and profound.