Freedom

Kennedy begins his inaugural address with the words, "We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom." The lofty idea of freedom is a suitable one to invoke during any presidential inaugural address, but world events at the time of Kennedy's inauguration—the spread of communism, the very real threat of nuclear war, and the escalating violent and nonviolent events related to the American civil rights movement—lent a sense of gravity to the notion of freedom because so many Americans were either living without it or were threatened with its loss. Kennedy makes it clear throughout the rest of his speech that freedom is not something one is handed but something that must be fought for. He reminds his listeners, "We dare not forget today that we are the heir of that first revolution." He refers, of course, to the American Revolution that...