The President-Elect: City Upon a Hill

For his final formal public address before assuming the presidency, Jack Kennedy returned to his native Massachusetts to appear before the state legislature. His speech was brief, graceful and in places eloquent; and it evoked the New England tradition as a basis—tried by history and proved true—for success in U.S. leadership. Excerpts:

"I speak neither from false provincial pride nor artful political flattery. For no man about to enter high office in this country can ever be unmindful of the contribution which this state has made to our national greatness. Its leaders have shaped our destiny since long before the great...

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