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 Republic was born.
"The enduring qualities of Massachusetts—the common threads woven by the Pilgrim and the Puritan, the fisherman and the farmer, the Yankee and the immigrant—will not be and could not be forgotten in this nation's executive mansion. They are an indelible part of my life, my conviction, my view of the past, and my hopes for the future.
"During the last 60 days I have been engaged in the task of constructing an Administration. It has been a long and deliberate process. Some have counseled greater speed. Others have counseled more expedient tests.
"But I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella 331 years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a new and perilous frontier.
" 'We must always consider,' he said, 'that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us.'
"Today, the eyes of all people are truly upon us—and our Government, in every branch, at every level, must be as a city upon a hill."
The questions that the future would ask about his Administration, said Kennedy, were fourfold: "Were we truly men of courage? Were we truly men of judgment? Were we truly men of integrity? Were we truly men of dedication—with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest?
"These are the qualities which, with God's help, this son of Massachusetts hopes will characterize our Government's conduct in the four stormy years that lie ahead. Humbly I ask his help in this undertaking—but aware that on earth his will is worked by man, I ask for your help and your prayers, as I embark on this new and solemn journey."