Rosa Cantoro - English

Italy is going through a "delicate" period. Reading the following article, I noticed the words in bold. They made me stop and think about their importance today. You can read the complete article in its original version with JFK's inaugural speech.

"We have been going a little vintage lately, and we’ll have to do it one more day. For today marks the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, the begining of a presidency that inspired many, even though it lasted scarcely more than 1000 days. Kennedy’s inaugural speech ran 1364 words and took 14 minutes to deliver. That makes it significantly shorter than the longest inaugural address (William Henry Harrison took 8,445 words in 1841) but longer than the tersest one – George Washington spoke merely 135 words during his second address. With 50 years of hindsight, we still consider Kennedy’s speech one of the finest inaugural addresses because, as E.J. Dionne writes this week, it challenged the nation (and still does today) “to harness realism to idealism, patriotism to service, national interest to universal aspiration,” especially with the eternal line: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” You can revisit the speech in full above, and also find other great archival footage within the new YouTube Channel sponsored by the JFK Presidential Library."