Sixty years ago in his inaugural address, President Kennedy asked Americans what they could do for their country and this call to service still resonates today. But how did this speech come together? Watch and learn what influenced the history-making Inaugural address.
JFK’s inaugural address would cover themes mentioned on the campaign trail, and he also reached out to historians, politicians, economists, and writers to gather suggestions.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/TCSPP/062/TCSPP-062-002?image_identifier=TCSPP-062-002-p0004
“I don’t want people to think I’m a windbag.” JFK asked his advisor Ted Sorensen to count the words of earlier inaugural addresses. When delivered, his address would be just over 1,300 words.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/TCSPP/062/TCSPP-062-002?image_identifier=TCSPP-062-002-p0015
Sorensen’s notes from JFK on the address- he decided to exclude mention of domestic goals, which he thought sounded divisive and partisan.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/TCSPP/062/TCSPP-062-002?image_identifier=TCSPP-062-002-p0067
Traveling from Washington to Palm Beach, Florida on January 10, JFK dictated an early draft of the inaugural address to his secretary Evelyn Lincoln, who used shorthand and longhand to write it down.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/ELPP/007/ELPP-007-003?image_identifier=ELPP-007-003-p0045
Mrs. Lincoln later noted that the way JFK dictated his now-famous “Ask not” line differed slightly from the way he delivered it on January 20.

[crop] https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/ELPP/007/ELPP-007-003?image_identifier=ELPP-007-003-p0056
On January 17, Sorensen typed up this, the penultimate draft, after a meeting with JFK on January 16.

This page includes two quotes from the Bible, from the book of Isaiah (suggested by Rabbi Isaac Franck) and the Book of Romans.
Kennedy and Sorensen worked on the speech together on January 17, flying from Palm Beach to Washington.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/034/JFKPOF-034-002?image_identifier=JFKPOF-034-002-p0035
Proposed changes by Harris Wofford and Louis Martin, aides for JFK who worked in civil rights, who hoped that the new president would directly address the topic in his address.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/034/JFKPOF-034-002?image_identifier=JFKPOF-034-002-p0034
JFK incorporated the first suggested change, which was typed onto his reading copy of the address. He did not use the second proposed change.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/034/JFKPOF-034-002?image_identifier=JFKPOF-034-002-p0008
On January 18, Sorensen’s secretary typed this 14-page final version of the address, which was placed in a black binder.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/034/JFKPOF-034-002?image_identifier=JFKPOF-034-002-p0007
For JFK’s #Inauguration , the speech was brought to the Capitol, where the ceremony and his address was watched by 60 millions Americans on television.

[gif: JFK delivers his inaugural address]
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