Franklin Roosevelt's vs. John Kennedy's Inaugural Addresses

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Franklin Roosevelt's vs. John Kennedy's Inaugural Addresses
“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” Many have heard these words but they may not know who exactly the first person to say them was. This was part of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech in 1961. The speech was shorter than most of the thirty four made before his. It was more poignant especially since it was a much younger president offering it, the cold war had just ended and the Soviet Union was building on their nuclear arsenals. The country never needed encouragement and guidance more than it did then. The only other speech that was able to resonate with Americans as John Kennedy’s was Franklin Roosevelt’s on March fourth, twenty eight years earlier. The country was then reeling from the aftereffects of world war one as well as a huge economic crisis. A huge percentage of the American population was jobless and they all needed guidance as well. Roosevelt and Kennedy delivered speeches that touched not only the American society but the world as a whole.
In Franklin’s speech he highlighted the fact that the downturn of the economy that the Americans were experiencing was not divine. Fellow unscrupulous individuals had helped orchestrate it and hence it was reversible. It was during the depression, exactly three years after the depression had started. He outlined the reasons why the economic revamp plans were not working. He suggested that the two best courses of actions for the country were to build a stronger currency and to supervise and monitor money lending and investments. These courses of action are effect...