Civil Rights
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Excerpt from Voice of America Broadcast
My grandfather came to this country many years ago. He was brought up in Boston and when he went out to look for a job there were signs on many stores that no Irish were wanted. Now after some 40 or 50 years, an Irish Catholic is President of the United States
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Speech at the Dedication of the John F. Kennedy Interfaith Chapel at West Georgia College in Carrollton, Georgia
Many voices, many views all have combined into an American consensus, and it has been a consensus of good sense. “In the multitude of counselors, there is safety,” says the Bible, and so it is with American democracy. Tolerance is an expression of trust in that consensus and each new enlargement of tolerance is an…
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Speech at the Ceremonies Celebrating the 175th Anniversary of the Ratification of the Constitution, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Constitution of the United States, in a few thousand words, established a way of life that has built this Nation into greatness as the world’s leader and champion of freedom.
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Speech in Chicago
Time and time again the American people, facing danger and seemingly insurmountable odds, have mobilized the ingenuity, resourcefulness, strength and bravery to meet the situation and triumph. In this long and critical struggle, the American system of free enterprise must be our major weapon. We must continue to prove to the world that we can…
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Speech at the National Conference of Christians and Jews Dinner, Cleveland, Ohio
The great challenge to all Americans—indeed all free men and women— is to maintain loyalty to truth; to maintain loyalty to free institutions; to maintain loyalty to Freedom as a basic human value, and above all else to keep in our hearts and minds the tolerance and mutual trust that have been the genius of…
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Speech in South Africa
In the past five years the winds of change have blown as fiercely in the United States as anywhere in the world, and they will not—they cannot—abate.
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Address at the University of Chicago China Conference, Chicago, Illinois
It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, which can determine destiny. There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is the only…
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Speech at the Ceremonies Celebrating the 175th Anniversary of the Ratification of the Constitution, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The signers of the Constitution, for all their foresight, couldn’t have dreamed of the America we live in today. The remarkable thing is that their work is as alive and as meaningful for us as it was for them—and as it will be for our grandchildren.
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Address at the American Medical Center Judy Holliday Memorial Dinner, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City
Old age is something that happens to everybody, and if we are wise enough and unselfish enough and effective enough, then we can make those years a time in which to live, not just linger.
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Aaron Maybin
Born in Baltimore City, Maryland, in 1988, Maybin competed as an All-American linebacker at Penn State University before being chosen as the 11th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills. After a five-year career with the New York Jets and the Cincinnati Bengals, he chose to leave the NFL in 2014…
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John Lewis
One of the most courageous people the civil rights movement ever produced, U.S. Congressman John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he described as “The Beloved Community” in America. The “conscience of the U.S. Congress” grew up as the son of sharecroppers. He was inspired by…
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2023 Freedom Award ceremony: Stacey Abrams, Kerry Kennedy and Clayborne Carson honored
Tags Share “We no longer want to be a nation in which it is better to be rich and guilty than poor and innocent.” The Commercial Appeal covers the 2023 Freedom Award ceremony, noting our president Kerry Kennedy’s “rousing speech” and powerful commentary.
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