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John Fitzgerald Kennedy citations
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy dit Jack Kennedy, souvent désigné par ses initiales JFK, né le 29 mai 1917 à Brookline est un homme d'État américain, 35e président des États-Unis. Il est assassiné le 22 novembre 1963 à Dallas, moins de trois ans après son entrée à la Maison-Blanche. Entré en fonction le 20 janvier 1961, il est à 43 ans la plus jeune personne élue à ce poste.

Il laisse son empreinte dans l'histoire des États-Unis par sa gestion de la crise des missiles de Cuba, son autorisation du débarquement de la baie des Cochons, son engagement pour le traité d'interdiction partielle des essais nucléaires, son programme spatial dans le cadre de la course à l'espace, son opposition à la construction du mur de Berlin et sa politique d'égalité des genres. Ses prises de position en faveur de l'Accord général sur les tarifs douaniers et le commerce lui valurent d'être respecté jusque chez les républicains, et le mouvement afro-américain des droits civiques — qu'il soutenait, voulant mieux intégrer les minorités dans la société — qui prit place durant sa présidence annonçait la déségrégation ; dans un même temps, il fut admiré par les dirigeants étrangers pour l'aide qu'il fournit aux pays en développement au travers de l'Alliance pour le Progrès et des Corps de la Paix. Son programme, basé sur le slogan « Nouvelle Frontière », de stimulation de l'économie, de lutte contre la pauvreté et de magnification de l'Amérique par l'innovation, fut également réutilisé par les démocrates après sa mort en son honneur.

✵ 29. mai 1917 – 22. novembre 1963
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy: 472   citations 0   J'aime

John Fitzgerald Kennedy citations célèbres

“Vos succès ne sont pas rendus publics; vos échecs sont annoncés à la trompette.”

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Your successes are unheralded, your failures are trumpeted.
en
Discours au QG de la CIA le 28 novembre 1961

“Ceux qui rendent une révolution pacifique impossible rendront une révolution violente inévitable.”

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
en

Cette traduction est en attente de révision. Est-ce correct?

“Les droits de tous sont diminués lorsque les droits d'un seul homme sont menacés.”

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Citations en anglais

“Secondly, the educated citizen has an obligation to serve the public. He may be a precinct worker or President. He may give his talents at the courthouse, the State house, the White House. He may be a civil servant or a Senator, a candidate or a campaign worker, a winner or a loser. But he must be a participant and not a spectator. "At the Olympic games," Aristotle wrote, "it is not the finest and strongest men who are crowned, but they who enter the lists-for out of these the prize-men are elected. So, too, in life, of the honorable and the good, it is they who act who rightly win the prizes."”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, Address at Vanderbilt University

“We can say with some assurance that, although children may be the victims of fate, they will not be the victims of our neglect.”

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John F. Kennedy

"Remarks upon signing the Maternal and Child Health and Mental Retardation Planning Bill (434)" (24 October 1963)]
1963

“And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights — the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation — the right to breathe air as nature provided it — the right of future generations to a healthy existence?”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, American University speech

“One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, Civil Rights Address

“These burdens and frustrations are accepted by most Americans with maturity and understanding. They may long for the days when war meant charging up San Juan Hill-or when our isolation was guarded by two oceans — or when the atomic bomb was ours alone — or when much of the industrialized world depended upon our resources and our aid. But they now know that those days are gone — and that gone with them are the old policies and the old complacency's. And they know, too, that we must make the best of our new problems and our new opportunities, whatever the risk and the cost.
But there are others who cannot bear the burden of a long twilight struggle. They lack confidence in our long-run capacity to survive and succeed. Hating communism, yet they see communism in the long run, perhaps, as the wave of the future. And they want some quick and easy and final and cheap solution — now.
There are two groups of these frustrated citizens, far apart in their views yet very much alike in their approach. On the one hand are those who urge upon us what I regard to be the pathway of surrender-appeasing our enemies, compromising our commitments, purchasing peace at any price, disavowing our arms, our friends, our obligations. If their view had prevailed, the world of free choice would be smaller today.
On the other hand are those who urge upon us what I regard to be the pathway of war: equating negotiations with appeasement and substituting rigidity for firmness. If their view had prevailed, we would be at war today, and in more than one place.
It is a curious fact that each of these extreme opposites resembles the other. Each believes that we have only two choices: appeasement or war, suicide or surrender, humiliation or holocaust, to be either Red or dead. Each side sees only "hard" and "soft" nations, hard and soft policies, hard and soft men. Each believes that any departure from its own course inevitably leads to the other: one group believes that any peaceful solution means appeasement; the other believes that any arms build-up means war. One group regards everyone else as warmongers, the other regards everyone else as appeasers. Neither side admits that its path will lead to disaster — but neither can tell us how or where to draw the line once we descend the slippery slopes of appeasement or constant intervention.
In short, while both extremes profess to be the true realists of our time, neither could be more unrealistic. While both claim to be doing the nation a service, they could do it no greater disservice. This kind of talk and easy solutions to difficult problems, if believed, could inspire a lack of confidence among our people when they must all — above all else — be united in recognizing the long and difficult days that lie ahead. It could inspire uncertainty among our allies when above all else they must be confident in us. And even more dangerously, it could, if believed, inspire doubt among our adversaries when they must above all be convinced that we will defend our vital interests.
The essential fact that both of these groups fail to grasp is that diplomacy and defense are not substitutes for one another. Either alone would fail. A willingness to resist force, unaccompanied by a willingness to talk, could provoke belligerence — while a willingness to talk, unaccompanied by a willingness to resist force, could invite disaster.”

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John F. Kennedy

1961, Address at the University of Washington

“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

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John F. Kennedy

Address at a White House dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners (29 April 1962), quoted in The White House Diary, at the JFK Library http://www.jfklibrary.org/white%20house%20diary/1962/April/29
1962

“I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians.”

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John F. Kennedy

Quoted in Bill Adler, "The Presidency," The Wit of President Kennedy (1964).

[JFK was speaking]...To a group of women delegates to the United Nations who had suggested that there might one day be a woman President.
Attributed

“If I should lose on the real issues, I shall return to my seat in the Senate, satisfied that I had tried my best and was fairly judged. But if this election is decided on the basis that 40 million Americans lost their chance of being President on the day they were baptized, then it is the whole nation that will be the loser, in the eyes of Catholics and non-Catholics around the world, in the eyes of history, and in the eyes of our own people.”

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John F. Kennedy

1960, Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

“A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.”

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John F. Kennedy

Upon hearing about the construction of the Berlin Wall, as quoted in "Savage century" in "The Sunday Times (28 May 2006) http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article724547.ece
Attributed

“But we are well aware that all issues of principle are not settled, and that principles alone are not enough. It is therefore our intention to challenge the Soviet Union, not to an arms race, but to a peace race- -to advance together step by step, stage by stage, until general and complete disarmament has been achieved. We invite them now to go beyond agreement in principle to reach agreement on actual plans.”

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John F. Kennedy

1961, UN speech

“The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad.”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, American University speech

“For this country is moving and it must not stop. It cannot stop. For this is a time for courage and a time for challenge. Neither conformity nor complacency will do. Neither the fanatics nor the faint-hearted are needed. And our duty as a Party is not to our Party alone, but to the nation, and, indeed, to all mankind. Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom.”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, Remarks Intended for Delivery to the Texas Democratic State Committee in the Municipal Auditorium in Austin

“In the Chinese language, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters, one representing danger and the other, opportunity.”

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John F. Kennedy

Remarks at the United Negro College Fund, Indianapolis, Indiana (12 April 1959) http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx; Box 902, Senate Speech Files, Pre-Presidential Papers, John F. Kennedy Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library; also in Remarks at Valley Forge Country Club, Pennsylvania (29 October 1960), Box 914, Senate Speech Files, Pre-Presidential Papers, John F. Kennedy Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
Pre-1960

“I would hope that all educated citizens would fulfill this obligation — in politics, in Government, here in Nashville, here in this State, in the Peace Corps, in the Foreign Service, in the Government Service, in the Tennessee Valley, in the world. You will find the pressures greater than the pay. You may endure more public attacks than support. But you will have the unequaled satisfaction of knowing that your character and talent are contributing to the direction and success of this free society.”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, Address at Vanderbilt University

“But life is never easy. There is work to be done and obligations to be met — obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty.”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, Address at the Free University of Berlin

“After visiting these places, you can easily understand how that within a few years Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived. He had boundless ambition for his country which rendered him a menace to the peace of the world, but he had a mystery about him in the way that he lived and in the manner of his death that will live and grow after him. He had in him the stuff of which legends are made.”

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John F. Kennedy

After visiting such Nazi strongholds as were found in Berchtesgaden and Kehlsteinhaus; Personal diary (1 August 1945); published in Prelude to Leadership (1995)
Pre-1960

“O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.”

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John F. Kennedy

"Remarks in New York City at the Dedication of the East Coast Memorial to the Missing at Sea (203)" (23 May 1963) http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx Quoting an old Breton fishermen's prayer that Admiral Rickover had inscribed on plaques that he gave to newly commissioned submarine captains. Rickover presented President Kennedy with one of these plaques, which sat on his desk in the Oval Office. http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx
1963

“But let me stress again that these are my views — for contrary to common newspaper usage, I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters — and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President — on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject — I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise. But if the time should ever come — and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible — when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same.”

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John F. Kennedy

1960, Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

“The theory of independence is as old as man himself, and it was not invented in this hall. But it was in this hall that the theory became a practice; that the word went out to all, in Thomas Jefferson's phrase, that "the God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time." And today this Nation — conceived in revolution, nurtured in liberty, maturing in independence — has no intention of abdicating its leadership in that worldwide movement for independence to any nation or society committed to systematic human oppression.”

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John F. Kennedy

1962, Address at Independence Hall

“When I ran for Presidency of the United States, I knew that this country faced serious challenges, but I could not realize — nor could any man realize who does not bear the burdens of this office — how heavy and constant would be those burdens.”

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John F. Kennedy

1961, Berlin Crisis speech

“There is danger that totalitarian governments, not subject to vigorous popular debate, will underestimate the will and unity of democratic societies where vital interests are concerned.”

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John F. Kennedy

President Kennedy's 13th News Conferences on June 28, 1961 John Source: F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/Press-Conferences/News-Conference-13.aspx
1961

“This knowledge, the knowledge that the physical well-being of the citizen is an important foundation for the vigor and vitality of all the activities of the nation, is as old as Western civilization itself.”

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John F. Kennedy

1960, Sport at the New Frontier: The Soft American

“While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace.”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, Third State of the Union Address

“There are indications because of new inventions, that 10, 15, or 20 nations will have a nuclear capacity, including Red China, by the end of the Presidential office in 1964. This is extremely serious... I think the fate not only of our own civilization, but I think the fate of world and the future of the human race, is involved in preventing a nuclear war.”

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John F. Kennedy

Third Nixon-Kennedy Presidential Debate (13 October 1960)
1960

“And as Americans know from our history on our own old frontier, gun battles are caused by outlaws, and not by officers of the peace.”

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John F. Kennedy

1961, Berlin Crisis speech

“The 1930's taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged ultimately leads to war.”

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John F. Kennedy

1962, Cuban Missile Crisis speech

“And second, medical space research may revolutionize the technology and the techniques of modern medicine. Whatever new devices are created, for example, to monitor our astronauts, to measure their heart activity, their breathing, their brain waves, their eye motion, at great distances and under difficult conditions, will also represent a major advance in general medical instrumentation. Heart patients may even be able to wear a light monitor which will sound a warning if their activity exceeds certain limits. An instrument recently developed to record automatically the impact of acceleration upon an astronaut's eyes will also be of help to small children who are suffering miserably from eye defects, but are unable to describe their impairment. And also by the use of instruments similar to those used in Project Mercury, this Nation's private as well as public nursing services are being improved, enabling one nurse now to give more critically ill patients greater attention than they ever could in the past.”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, President John F. Kennedy's last formal speech and public words

“Today we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. And when Americans are sent to Vietnam or West Berlin, we do not ask for whites only. It ought to be possible, therefore, for American students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops.”

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John F. Kennedy

1963, Civil Rights Address

“We are a great and strong country — perhaps the greatest and strongest in the history of the world. But greatness and strength are not our natural right. They are not gifts which are automatically ours forever. It took toil and courage and determination to build this country — and it will take those same qualities if we are to maintain it. For, although a country may stand still, history never stands still. Thus, if we do not soon begin to move forward again, we will inevitably be left behind. And I know that Americans today are tired of standing still — and that we do not intend to be left behind. But effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. For, as Socrates told us, "If a man does not know to what port he is sailing, no wind is favorable."”

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John F. Kennedy

Speech at the Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina" (17 September 1960) http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=74076
1960

“For one true measure of a nation is its success in fulfilling the promise of a better life for each of its members. Let this be the measure of our nation.”

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John F. Kennedy

Special message to the Congress on National Health Needs (65)" (27 February 1962) http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx
1962

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