April 29, 2024 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, during some of the most tense moments of the Cold War, President Kennedy on July 4th 1962 visited Independence Hall to give a motivating speech highlighting the importance of democracy and free enterprise around the world.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue here with our American stories. On July fourth,
nineteen sixty two, President John F. Kennedy gave one of
his very best and least known speeches. JFK was a patriot, and,
though born to a family of wealth and privilege, served
in the Pacific in World War Two in the Solomon Islands. Specifically,
(00:30):
he and his Navy mates ran into trouble on a
torpedo patrol boat E T one O nine. When asked
how he came to be a World War II hero,
which Kennedy was, he answered with his usual humor, it
was involuntary. They sank my boat. He won the Purple
Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Medals for his heroism.
(00:52):
His brother, Joseph, the oldest of nine Kennedy children, was
killed in action during World War Two while serving as
a land based patrol bomber pilot. He was posthumously awarded
the Navy Cross. The Kennedy family's love of country and
devotion to country was on display in the war that
saved Western civilization, and JFK's love and affection for the
(01:15):
nation's founding document, our birth Certificate, was on full display
on that warm summer day in front of Independence Hall,
the very building in which the fifty six founders signed
the Declaration of Independence. After the usual greetings and thanks,
all fifty governors were present and a huge crowd, Kennedy
(01:37):
got started.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You and I are the executives all the testament handed
down by those who gat it in this historic hall
one hundred and eighty six years ago today. For they
gathered to affix their names to a document which was
above all else, a document, not a rhetoric, but a
(02:01):
bold decision. It was, it is true, a document of protest,
but protests had been made before. It set forth their
grievances with eloquence. But such eloquence had been heard before by.
What distinguished this paper from all the others was the final,
(02:24):
irrevocable decision that it took to assert the independence of
free states in place of colonies, and to commit to
that goal their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Kennedy then connected the struggle for independence in America in
the eighteenth century to the struggle for independence across the
globe in the twentieth century.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Today. One hundred and eighty six years laid up that
declaration whose yellow imparchment and fading almost illegible. I saw
in the past week in the National Archives in Washington
is still a revolutionary document. To read it today is
(03:12):
to hear a trumpet call for that declaration unleashed, not
merely a revolution against the British, by a revolution in
human affairs. Its authors were highly conscious of its worldwide imprecations,
and George Washington declared that liberty and self government were,
(03:36):
in his words, finally staked on the experiment in trusted
to the hands of the American people. This prophecy has
been born out for one hundred and eighty six years.
This doctrine of national independence has shaken the globe, and
(03:56):
it remains the most powerful face anywhere they are in
the world today. There are those struggling to eke out
a bare existence in a barren land, who have never
heard of free enterprise, but who cherished the idea of independence.
There are those who are grappling with overpowering problems of
(04:21):
the illiteracy and ill health, and who are illecrypted to
hold free elections, but they are determined to hold fast
to their national independence. Even those unwilling or unable to
take part in any struggle between East and West are
(04:42):
strongly on the side of their own national independence.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Kennedy then propelled the founder's vision to the present is
present and the great global struggle happening under his watch,
the struggle between communism and nations around the world longing
to be free.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
If there is a single issue in the world which
divides the world, it is independence. The independence of Berlin
or laos of Vietnam, the longing for independence behind the
Iron Curtain, the peaceful transition to independence in those newly
emerging areas whose troubles some hope to exploit. The theory
(05:26):
of independence is as old as man himself, and it
was not invented in this hall. But it was in
this hall that the theory became a practice, that the
word went out to all in Thomas Jefferson's phrase that
the God who gave us life gave us liberty at
(05:48):
the same time. And nation conceived in a revolution, nurtured
in liberty maturing in independence, caused no intention of abdicating
(06:12):
its leadership in that worldwide movement for independence to any
nation or society committed to systematic human oppression.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And here is how President John F. Kennedy closed things out.
On July fourth, nineteen sixty two, in front of Independence
Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
On Washington's birthday in eighteen sixty one. Standing right there,
President Elect Abraham Lincoln spoke at this hall on his
way to the nation's capital, and he paid a brief
but eloquent tribute to the man who wrote, who fought for,
(07:00):
and who died for the Declaration of Independence. Its essence,
he said, was its promise not only of liberty to
the people of this country, but hope to the world,
hope that in due time the weights should be lifted
from the shoulders of all men, and that all should
(07:23):
have an equal chance. On this fourth day of July
nineteen sixty two, we who are guided at this same health,
entrusted with the faith and future of our states and nation, declare.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Now all vow to do our part.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
To lift the weights from the shoulders of all, to
join other men and nations in preserving both peace and freedom,
and to regard any threat to the peace freedom of
one as a threat to the peace and freedom of all.
(08:06):
And for the support I'm part of support of this
declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine
providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes,
(08:28):
and our sacred autumn.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And you've been listening to President John F. Kennedy on
July fourth, nineteen sixty two, giving what is one of
his great speeches of his presidency. One we bring to
you every July fourth, and we bring to you a
couple of other times each year as well, because it's
so worth hearing now. And then John F. Kennedy's July
(08:57):
fourth speech at Independence Hall nineteen sixty two, here on
our American story
And we continue here with our American stories. On July fourth,
nineteen sixty two, President John F. Kennedy gave one of
his very best and least known speeches. JFK was a patriot, and,
though born to a family of wealth and privilege, served
in the Pacific in World War Two in the Solomon Islands. Specifically,
(00:30):
he and his Navy mates ran into trouble on a
torpedo patrol boat E T one O nine. When asked
how he came to be a World War II hero,
which Kennedy was, he answered with his usual humor, it
was involuntary. They sank my boat. He won the Purple
Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Medals for his heroism.
(00:52):
His brother, Joseph, the oldest of nine Kennedy children, was
killed in action during World War Two while serving as
a land based patrol bomber pilot. He was posthumously awarded
the Navy Cross. The Kennedy family's love of country and
devotion to country was on display in the war that
saved Western civilization, and JFK's love and affection for the
(01:15):
nation's founding document, our birth Certificate, was on full display
on that warm summer day in front of Independence Hall,
the very building in which the fifty six founders signed
the Declaration of Independence. After the usual greetings and thanks,
all fifty governors were present and a huge crowd, Kennedy
(01:37):
got started.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You and I are the executives all the testament handed
down by those who gat it in this historic hall
one hundred and eighty six years ago today. For they
gathered to affix their names to a document which was
above all else, a document, not a rhetoric, but a
(02:01):
bold decision. It was, it is true, a document of protest,
but protests had been made before. It set forth their
grievances with eloquence. But such eloquence had been heard before by.
What distinguished this paper from all the others was the final,
(02:24):
irrevocable decision that it took to assert the independence of
free states in place of colonies, and to commit to
that goal their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Kennedy then connected the struggle for independence in America in
the eighteenth century to the struggle for independence across the
globe in the twentieth century.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Today. One hundred and eighty six years laid up that
declaration whose yellow imparchment and fading almost illegible. I saw
in the past week in the National Archives in Washington
is still a revolutionary document. To read it today is
(03:12):
to hear a trumpet call for that declaration unleashed, not
merely a revolution against the British, by a revolution in
human affairs. Its authors were highly conscious of its worldwide imprecations,
and George Washington declared that liberty and self government were,
(03:36):
in his words, finally staked on the experiment in trusted
to the hands of the American people. This prophecy has
been born out for one hundred and eighty six years.
This doctrine of national independence has shaken the globe, and
(03:56):
it remains the most powerful face anywhere they are in
the world today. There are those struggling to eke out
a bare existence in a barren land, who have never
heard of free enterprise, but who cherished the idea of independence.
There are those who are grappling with overpowering problems of
(04:21):
the illiteracy and ill health, and who are illecrypted to
hold free elections, but they are determined to hold fast
to their national independence. Even those unwilling or unable to
take part in any struggle between East and West are
(04:42):
strongly on the side of their own national independence.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Kennedy then propelled the founder's vision to the present is
present and the great global struggle happening under his watch,
the struggle between communism and nations around the world longing
to be free.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
If there is a single issue in the world which
divides the world, it is independence. The independence of Berlin
or laos of Vietnam, the longing for independence behind the
Iron Curtain, the peaceful transition to independence in those newly
emerging areas whose troubles some hope to exploit. The theory
(05:26):
of independence is as old as man himself, and it
was not invented in this hall. But it was in
this hall that the theory became a practice, that the
word went out to all in Thomas Jefferson's phrase that
the God who gave us life gave us liberty at
(05:48):
the same time. And nation conceived in a revolution, nurtured
in liberty maturing in independence, caused no intention of abdicating
(06:12):
its leadership in that worldwide movement for independence to any
nation or society committed to systematic human oppression.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And here is how President John F. Kennedy closed things out.
On July fourth, nineteen sixty two, in front of Independence
Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
On Washington's birthday in eighteen sixty one. Standing right there,
President Elect Abraham Lincoln spoke at this hall on his
way to the nation's capital, and he paid a brief
but eloquent tribute to the man who wrote, who fought for,
(07:00):
and who died for the Declaration of Independence. Its essence,
he said, was its promise not only of liberty to
the people of this country, but hope to the world,
hope that in due time the weights should be lifted
from the shoulders of all men, and that all should
(07:23):
have an equal chance. On this fourth day of July
nineteen sixty two, we who are guided at this same health,
entrusted with the faith and future of our states and nation, declare.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Now all vow to do our part.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
To lift the weights from the shoulders of all, to
join other men and nations in preserving both peace and freedom,
and to regard any threat to the peace freedom of
one as a threat to the peace and freedom of all.
(08:06):
And for the support I'm part of support of this
declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine
providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes,
(08:28):
and our sacred autumn.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And you've been listening to President John F. Kennedy on
July fourth, nineteen sixty two, giving what is one of
his great speeches of his presidency. One we bring to
you every July fourth, and we bring to you a
couple of other times each year as well, because it's
so worth hearing now. And then John F. Kennedy's July
(08:57):
fourth speech at Independence Hall nineteen sixty two, here on
our American story
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.