Two of the best presidential speeches in history, in my opinion, are JFK’s “peace speech” at American University, and his nationally televised civil rights speech.
Incredibly, they were made within one 48-hour period.
There is a context to both that helps explain how remarkable they were. JFK was effectively single-handedly working to thaw the cold war, with his new partner, the previously bellicose Nikita Kruschev.
As an example of Kennedy’s thinking, Americans generally think of the moon landing Kennedy initiated as a great cold war victory of the US over the USSR.
Not that many know that Kennedy directed the head of NASA to see if there was a way to include the Soviets in the project so it was an activity supporting peace between the countries.
It was the height of the cold war, months after the Cuban Missile crisis when the world came the closest it’s been to nuclear war.
Many senior government officials felt nuclear war with the Soviets was inevitable — and so we should have it sooner than later before they had more weapons.
The American people had no interest in a more positive view of the Soviet Union — yet that is exactly what Kennedy, the leader of the free world, told them: that they needed to rethink the cold war.
It was a courageous and moral message and is moving to this day. The slightest hint of “weakness” in our leader toward the other side risked political devastation — and he took the risk.
If you don’t know the speech, I recommend watching it:
Then, civil rights unrest in the south spurred him to make an unplanned national address.
His speechwriter, Ted Sorensen, had very little time to suddenly prepare the address, but it was the speech he had dreamt of all his life.
The best description I’ve seen of the speech is that it was the first time a president had told the nation that civil rights was a moral issue for the country — and that has set the tone since.
This was a time when the racist south was in the Democratic Party, and Kennedy had been told that if he pushed civil rights, his entire legislative agenda was dead on arrival in Congress.
A coalition of the Republicans and the south would defeat anything he wanted. This delayed his initiatives.
But during his presidency, he grew and experiences pushed him, and by 1963, he did submit those civil rights bills, and LBJ got them passed explicitly arguing their passage was a tribute to JFK.
The country was not very ready for this message. Imagine speaking to a trump rally in favor of new civil rights laws, and you aren’t far off. But he led.
That speech is still moving to watch:
We’re at a time that seeing a great president, as we’re about to have such a terrible one, is especially useful and refreshing.