Kennedy's 50th Anniversary Inauguration address

John F. kennedy inaugural address-John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a 43-year-old man who took the nation, and the globe, by storm.  He had a narrow electoral win over Richard Nixon, and all of his Hollywood friends (including one Francis Albert Sinatra) were standing by to celebrate.  But first, there was the little matter of the inaugural address.  On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy made his most famous speech to the world, and today, Google is honouring the 50th anniversary of JFK’s inaugural address with a special-made Google Doodle.

The U.S. Army was put in charge of clearing the streets and former president Herbert Hoover missed the induction ceremony because he couldn't fly into the city. When the ceremony did start, a lectern caught fire during the prayer, which some complained was too long, and Vice President Lyndon Johnson fumbled his words during his induction.

Yet the temper surrounding the event was one that Americans hadn't felt in years.

"There was this marvellous sense of vigour and yes, hope and optimism. It was also a time when we were entering a huge monetary boom," remembers ABC News contributor Cokie Roberts, a college freshman at the time who was not capable to make it to the inauguration because of the snow

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.  My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

Several people contributed to the speech, including Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith, but most of the heavy lifting was done by Theodore Sorenson, Kennedy’s primary speech writer, and Kennedy himself, who generously peppered his speeches with famous quotations from other speakers.  Perhaps then it’s fitting that the words are what gain the greatest emphasis in Google’s JFK Doodle, not the man himself.  After all, the words of the speech are unforgettable as the man who delivered it.