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Introduction 3
Constitution USA 3
Nation Grows. Washington Through Jackson. Jefferson 5
Presidents of the United States 7
Thomas Jefferson 8
Jefferson's Reason 8
The “American Creed' and Mankind's Spiritual History 9
Jacksonian Democracy 11
Jonh F. Kennedy 12
Presidents at a Glance 18
Excerpts from Inaugural Addresses of American Presidents 22
The literature 24
Introduction
The US is a federal Union of 50 states each of them has its own
government. The seat of the central (federal) government is Washington,
D.C.
The population of the USA is about 250 million people; most of the
population lives in towns and cities.
The United States is rich in natural and mineral resources. It produces
copper, oil, iron ore and coal. It's a highly developed industrial and
agricultural country. There are many big cities in the USA, such as New
York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and others. The national capital
is Washington, D.C. Its population is about 3.4 million. It was built in
the late eighteenth century as the centre of government. It was named after
George Washington, the first president of USA and general of war.
The USA are the fourth largest country in the World (after Russia,
Canada, and China). It occupies the southern part of North America and
stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. It also includes Alaska
in the North and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The total area of the country
is about nine and half million square kilometers. The USA borders on Canada
in the North and on Mexico in the South. It also has a sea border with
Russia.
The USA is a presidential republic. The legislative branch of the US
Government, or the Congress, represents all of the American states. It
consists of two parts: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each
state has two senators, who are elected every 6 years. A senator must be at
least 30 years old, a citizen of the US for 9 years and live the state she
or he will represent. A representative must be at least 25 years old, a
citizen for 7 years and live in the state.
USA - the very first state accepted the constitution. It is one of the
first countries which have established democracy by the basic form of
board. In this report we shall tell about the reasons of occurrence of the
constitution and about its influence on development of the state on an
example of president's institute.
Constitution USA
With independence came many problems. The U. S. were joined together
under one government by the Articles of Confederation. The articles listed
the powers of the central government and the powers of the states. There
was a national Congress made up of representatives from each state. But
Congress had almost no power at all. The 13 states acted like 13 separate
little nations. There were many times when states would not cooperate with
the central government. They were too busy quarrelling with each other. The
U. S. was in danger of falling.
In May 1787 a meeting began in Philadelphia to change the Articles of
Confederation. Representatives from all the states except Rhode Island were
present. It was soon decided that whole new constitution had to be written.
A constitution is set of laws by which a country is governed.
This meeting became known as the Constitutional Convention. Washington
was chosen president of the convention. A 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin
took part in its work. A new group of first-rate leaders were at this
meeting. Among these leaders were James Madison and Gouverneur Morris. The
people who attended the convention did their work very well. The
Constitution has lasted to the present.
What kind of government would be the best for the USA?
The delegates all agreed that the new government should continue to be a
republic. This means that the people would elect representatives to manage
their country.
The delegates knew that they wanted a federal government. In such a
government the power is divided between the national and the state
governments. The national government would collect taxes and borrow money.
It would control trade with foreign countries and between states. The
national government would print or coin money. It alone could declare war.
All other powers were left to the states. Matters within a state would be
settled by that state.
The members of the Constitutional Convention wanted a government that
would protect the people's rights, not take them away. So they divided the
government's power into three parts, or branches. This is called separation
of powers.
The legislative branch was the Congress. Its major job was to make laws.
The executive branch was the President and his helpers. It was their job to
carry out the laws the Congress passed. The judicial branch was the courts.
They had to decide the meaning of the laws.
Each branch had some power over the other two. No one branch would be
allowed more power than the others.
A big debate at the convention was over the matter of who would control
Congress. Large states wanted representatives to Congress based on the
number of people in the state. Small states wanted an equal vote with the
larger states. This problem was solved by giving Congress two parts.
Regardless of size each state would send two representatives to the Senate,
one part of Congress. States with more people would send more delegates to
the House of Representatives, the other part of Congress. In order for a
law to be passed, it had to go through both parts of Congress.
The new Constitution included a way to make changes, called amendments.
If things didn't work out, or if the USA grew о changes, the Constitution
could be amended without being entirely changed. This was to prove helpful
very soon.
Nine state governments had to approve the Constitution be fore it could
become the law of the land. Many states refused to do so unless the
Constitution listed people's rights as well as the rights of the
government. They argued that important freedoms must be written down. Once
the states were promised that this would happen, the Constitution would
become law.
James Madison saw to it that these freedoms were written down. Madison
had been very active at the Constitutional Convention. After the Convention
he worked hard to explain the Constitution to the people. Once the new
government was started, Madison wrote many amendments that would make
rights like freedom the press, speech and worship part of the Constitution.
Ten of these amendments were passed by the states. These first ten
amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights.
Nation Grows. Washington Through Jackson. Jefferson
April 30, 1789 was Inauguration Day for the young nation's first
President. An inauguration is the ceremony that puts someone office.
Washington did not want to be President. He wanted to live at his beautiful
home Mount Vernon. But he put his love for his country ahead of his own
wishes. Washington traveled from Mount Vernon to New York City. New York
City was the nation's first capital. Washington took the oath of office on
the Bible. He promised to do his best to keep, protect and defend the
Constitution. The Constitution listed the powers and duties of the
President.
The new government was started with a Constitution, a Congress, a
President and little else. Both Washington and the Congress knew that the
new government would have to show its strength very quickly.
The job of President was too big for one person alone. Congress formed
three departments to help Washington. These departments went to work on
three of the biggest problems facing the new nation.
The State Department would work on relations with other nations. The War
Department would build a national navy and army. It is now called the
Department of Defense. The Treasury Department would handle the nation's
money problems.
Washington chose able leaders for each of these departments. Each leader
would be called a secretary. Thomas Jefferson became secretary of state;
Henry Knox, secretary of war and Alexander Hamilton secretary of treasury.
Each of these men advised the President. Final decisions were made by the
President, however.
The group of advisors became known as the Cabinet. Future Presidents
would all have a Cabinet.
The Constitution called for a third branch of government - a Supreme
Court. All questions about the Constitution and federal laws would be
settled by this court. Washington appointed John Jay as head of the Supreme
Court. He was called the Chief Justice.
In 1791 Congress passed a tax law in order to raise money for the new
government. Some people thought they would rather fight than pay these
taxes. Washington formed an army to stop them. He showed future Presidents
how to be a strong leader.
The nation also grew and expanded while Washington was President. The new
states - Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee - entered the Union.
Washington could have been President for life. But he didn't feel this
was right. He had devoted most of his life to helping his country. Now, he
was 65 years old and had served two terms, or four-year periods as
President. With the exception of Franklin Roosevelt, every President has
followed Washington's two-term tradition. In 1797 Washington retired. He
went back to the life he loved at Mount Vernon.
Не did not enjoy it for long time. On December 12, 1799 he was caught
in a snowstorm while riding around his farm and became sick. Two days later
he died. The second president be-came John Adams. He was a true patriot as
well as a brave and stubborn man. Near the end of Adam's term as President,
the government moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D. C. The most
important of Adam's deeds was that he took responsibility of the peace with
France in 1800.
The third president of the USA was a very remarkable man, Thomas
Jefferson. He was a man of many talents: He was a lawyer. He wrote the
Declaration of Independence. He was the representative of the United States
at the court of the king of France A person who does this kind of work is
called a diplomat. He was the first secretary of state, second vice-
president and third President of the USA. While he was President the size
of the country doubled.
He came from Virginia. He served that state as governor and Congressman.
As an architect he drew the plans for many building in Virginia. At the
same time he was also a fine violinist and composer. He studied Native
American languages. He knew Greek, Latin and Hebrew. He could speak French
and Italian.
His work as scientist and inventor shouldn't be forgotten. He did
practical things such as improving farming methods by in venting a new type
of plow. He experimented with different seeds. He worked much in education.
Jefferson's greatest accomplishment as President was the Louisiana
Purchase. At this time Louisiana included just above all the land from the
Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The Mississippi River was a
highway for those Americans who lived west of the Appalachian Mountains.
They took their goods downriver to the port of New Orleans. New Orleans was
not part of the U. S. It belonged to France which had received the city and
the rest of what is called the Louisiana Territory from Spain in 1800.
Americans living in the West were afraid that France would not allow them
to use the port of New Orleans for trade. This was because Napoleon wanted
to start another French empire in America. The Americans were to try to buy
New Orleans from the French for ten million dollars.
Haiti was a French colony in the Caribbean Sea. Napoleon needed a strong
naval base in Haiti if he wanted a French empire in America. But a former
slave Toussaint L'Ouverture led the people of Haiti in successful fight for
freedom at this time. With out Haiti, Louisiana lost some of its appeal for
Napoleon. It also looked as though France would soon be fighting Great
Britain. If so, France would be unable to defend Louisiana. The soldiers
would be needed in Europe. Napoleon decided to sell the entire Louisiana
territory to the USA. It was bought for 15 million dollars. By this act the
USA doubled its size.
Jefferson wanted to know more about Louisiana. He wished to find out
about the Native Americans, the animals, the minerals, the climate and the
type of land. To make such an exploration Jefferson chose Merewether Lewis,
his personal secretary, and William dark, Lewis's close friend. They were
to try to find a route all the way to the Pacific Ocean. They built a fort
and spent the winter on the shores of the Pacific. In the spring they
started the trip home, finally reaching St Louis in September 1806. Their
diary was a document of great importance. Jefferson received an excellent
report of their journey. He learned a great deal about the geography of the
new territory. He learned about the animals, trees and plants there. The
work of Lewis and dark gave the USA a claim to the Oregon Country. In 1846
this area became part of the USA.
Presidents of the United States
Who can be President? Any natural-born citizen of the United States who
is over the age of thirty-five and has lived in the United States for
fourteen years or more.
What does a President do? The President is the chief executive of the
United States. According to the Constitution, he 'shall take care that the
laws be faithfully executed.' From time to time, he informs Congress in his
State of the Union message what has been done and what needs to be done.
Although he cannot force Congress to act, he can suggest a program for
them to consider. And as leader of his political party, he can often see
that program is carried out, when his party has a majority of seats. He can
also prevent Congress from acting by using the presidential veto.
The President plays the chief part in shaping foreign policy. With the
Senate's approval, he makes treaties with other nations and appoint
ambassadors. But he can also make executive agreements with other nations
without approval of the Senate.
He nominates Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, and many other high
officials. These nominations must be approved by the Senate However, he can
fill thousands of other important posts under his own power.
The President is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and commissions
officers in all branches of the service.
How is the President elected? The voters of each state choose a number of
electors equal to the number of senators and representatives they have in
Congress. The electoral college, made up of the electors from every vote
for the candidate supported by the voters of their state When there are
more than two presidential candidates and none gets a clear majority,
Congress selects the President from the three candidates who received the
most votes.
How long is the President in office? The President is elected to a term
of four years. Since Article XXII of the Constitution became effective, in
1951, no President may be elected to more than two terms
When does the President take office? The new President takes office at
noon of January 20 of the year following his election, on taking this oath
of office: 'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute
the office of president of the United States, and will, to the best of my
ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States.'
Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson's Reason
Jefferson's words are written and spoken in the USA many times everyday;
most often as if the words, phrases and ideas, by themselves alone,
constituted some sort of complete statements, some sort of ultimate and
final truths about man, world and society. This is a deep, though very
popular mistake; one this piece shall try somewhat to amend. The phrases
and ideas are admittedly grand, noble and inspiring; most Americans - at
least those native born - do not read these words without emotion (due of
course to intellectual and emotional culture and education). They are an
essential part of what it is to be an 'American'. Even persons in the USA
who may only be educated in the most meager way (and there are
unfortunately tens of millions in the USA who are labeled 'functionally-
illiterate'), often still can at least repeat portions of these famous
words quoted above. (This author has observed some of the very poorest,
least educated, most socially- and economically - disadvantaged people in
America- whose daily lives are surrounded by chronic poverty; drugs,
uncontrolled crime and random violence; joblessness; hopelessness;
broken families, etc. - repeat small parts of Jefferson's words, in
trying to explain their lives. Jefferson could never have pictured this.)
Jefferson had been raised as a child in the moderate beliefs, doctrines
and services of the Anglican Church; it had its original lineage from the
Roman Catholic Church, and generally in America became the Episcopal
Church. It was the established church of the Virginia colony where
Jefferson lived. (Later Jefferson would be influential in disestablishing
this church. In other words, he was raised as a boy in the traditions and
beliefs of the Christian cosmos with its ancient elements. But this would
soon be profoundly challenged. When he, beginning at the age of 16,
attended the College of William and Mary, he began a rapid transition from
a mild, uncritical world of theological beliefs the Anglican Church is not
one of emotional fervor in religion) into the modem critical ideas of the
so-called Enlightenment, into the 'Age of Reason'. And in fact it is
necessary to understand not only what Jefferson believed when he wrote
Declaration of Independence at the age of 33, but what he did not believe,
in order to clearly recognize the meaning of the 'American Creed'.
From his personal notebooks - where he wrote ideas which were of real
importance to him (they also constitute one of the few sources of insight
we have as to the young Jefferson's mind) - we are able to see into his new
ideas of the world. Jefferson, while young, was deeply affected by his
educational experiences at the College of William and Mary, both by his
personal contacts (for example, he came to dine and converse regularly with
the Governor of Virginia, whose father had worked for Sir Isaac Newton), as
well as by his readings. While only one of the seven faculty members at the
College was not an Anglican clergyman: Dr. William Small of Scotland; it
was he who the young Jefferson was most influenced by. Of him Jefferson
later wrote that he was 'a man profound in most of the useful branches of
science...from his conversations I got my first views of the expansion of
science and of the system of things in which we are placed.' (This is a
clear, if later-written, indication of Jefferson's transition from a
theological-religious to a natural scientific world-view.)
We know from his notebooks that be was deeply impacted by the writings
concerning religious and philosophical themes and history of Lord Boling
broke (1678-1751), whose works are a rather tedious, rationalist,
empiricist critique of all of the religious and philosophical systems then
known of in the world. Jefferson seems, from his note-taking, to have read
all of the several volumes at this early period as a student. (Jefferson
would eventually come to assemble one of the greatest personal libraries of
his time in America; it became the core of the current Library of Congress,
for, after the British burnt the first one in 1814, Jefferson sold his
personal library of about 6,500 books to the US Congress to rebuild its
library. Even with this comparatively small reading in Boling broke,
Jefferson received a broader and more solid intellectual education than
today most Americans do after many years of schooling.)
If Jefferson lived uncritically in the Christian cosmos as a child,
Boling broke's critical works (and not only this author) would have deeply
affected the Jefferson's young understanding - and this effect in his ideas
and philosophy lasted for the rest of his life. So that when we look to see
what Jefferson did mean of man and cosmos when he wrote the words still
famous around the world today, we find that he did not hold a religious or
spiritual view of man and cosmos, as had the early settlers (and still many
of Jefferson's contemporaries) of the 'age of faith' in American history.
Indeed, Jefferson had rejected most of their ideas and beliefs, believing
rather in a material, physical, natural scientific view of man and world.
(He held a Deist view of God, as the original creator, who had ordered
nature and life through the 'laws of nature', but otherwise was detached
from earthly life. And in general he tended to reduce all religion to
morality.) Closer to Darwin in spirit and time (of whose later writings he
could know nothing of course), Jefferson would later symptomatically place
busts of Bacon, Locke and Newton in his self- designed home of Monticello -
which is now become a place of American pilgrimage. This is an indication
of his lifelong adherence - beginning as a student - to a natural-
scientific view of man and world. Jefferson rejected most religions and
metaphysical philosophies and their ideas as myths. (He especially disliked
for example Plato, St. Paul, Athanasius and Calvin.) Sometimes he viewed
them as the deliberate fabrications of priests and kings to manipulate and
control their people. Jefferson thought that man's 'reason' should rule
man.
The “American Creed' and Mankind's Spiritual History
Jefferson's words came to be repeated on e. g. 'Fourth of July
Celebrations' throughout America over the years and came to be a sort of
creedal statement as to what it means to be 'American' - as we saw also in
the President's address in November of 1995 But in fact very few Americans
are clear about either the original context or meaning of the 'American
Creed' - the 'cosmos' of these words - or of Jefferson’s rejection of most
of the spiritual beliefs which many of these Americans personally hold,
commonly blended together with Jefferson's contrasting, antithetically-
conceived grand expressions! In other words, these ideas from 1776, still
alive today, are in fact only truly to be understood within a scientific-
natural view of man, nature, society. God and world. And this is so even
though the religious, spiritual and philosophical beliefs of the vast
majority of the US people - who often use them in close association with
Jefferson's phrases, when they explain and understand America and life -
were in fact rejected by Jefferson before (and after) he wrote them. His
human and social ideals were conceived within a natural cosmos of man; they
are ideals of man in this world. He had rejected a spiritual cosmos and
anthropology to man.
Jefferson would, symptomatically, at the end of his great life (devoted
largely to serving America) attempt (unsuccessfully) to exclude the
teaching of religion from the University of Virginia which he had brought
into being. Contrariwise, most Americans - in their (generally) extremely
limited knowledge of even their own nation's history-place together views
which Jefferson himself considered to be fundamentally antithetical. The
beliefs of a greater spiritual cosmos, e.g. Dante's world's, the spiritual-
metaphysical beliefs of man and world, cannot properly be fit inside of
Jefferson's world and his ideals - at least not realistically
intellectually. The cosmos of the 'American Creed' has its own reality and
dignity - but it is not such that all of the ideas which Americans have
come to place inside of its famous phrases, can, truthfully and
unproblematically, be placed.
In my view - and no one who reads this great man's biography can doubt
his devotion and service to America, Jefferson was true to the history,
reality and life of mankind in his time. One of his biographers called him
'one of the most devoted disciples of the Age of Reason'. (Nostalgia and
longing for the 'age of faith' - like the time before the 'Fall of Man' -
is understandable; but the 'age of reason' was, if not an inevitability or
necessity of history, still nevertheless a new more realistic relationship
of man to nature. So that no mere easy return to the past is true or
realistic.) He was a realistic man of science; he could not and would not
rest in the 'age of faith'. And, as was characteristic of this and later
time, once the Bible and religion were subjected to the 'age of reason',
the beliefs of the 'age of faith' could never be immediately accepted
unquestioned again.
While he was close to Darwin in his scientific attitude, he would have
deeply lamented Darwin's eventual rejection both of a creator God (chance
and natural selection rather than divine design) and the view of man's
reason and conscience as special 'gifts' (Jefferson) of God to man.
In fact, Darwin and Jefferson (as well as many of their contemporaries of
course), were offended by many of the same 'unbelievable' aspects of
Christianity and in relationship to Jefferson's phrases as well!
Here is an aspect - perhaps even more fundamental and definitive in some
ways than the problem of the popular and noble 'American Dream' - of how
Americans are unaware and unconscious of the lineage of their own spiritual
and intellectual origin and history. Very, very few even college-graduate
Americans could even begin to give a serious account of the relation-ship
between their own personal spiritual beliefs, the cosmos of their 'American
Creed' and the intellectual and spiritual history of mankind (e.g. Indo-
European sources, Dionysus the Areopagite's cosmography, Dante's Comedy,
even Newton, Laplace, et al). They are simply unaware and uninformed of how
America's 'ideas' acutally stand inside of not only European, but
Occidental and world intellectual and spiritual history. Indeed, I am
certain that even the current President of the USA himself- himself an
active Christian Southern Baptist believer - would find it difficult to
give such an account of the relationship of his Baptist religious beliefs,
to the natural ideas of man and cosmos in the 'American Creed' which he had
cited in his November 1995 speech, in which he defined America to the
world. But American ideals - the cosmos of the American Creed-do stand
within the entire spiritual and intellectual history of Mankind - however
little this may be clearly conceived and worried by Americans themselves.
The cosmos of the 'American Creed' is a natural, not a spiritual one. The
failure to recognize and understand this clearly cannot be of spiritual and
intellectual hope, health and help to Mankind. If America is now in many
ways leading the world, it should, presumably, know and understand more
deeply and clearly what America and her ideals are actually about.
Jacksonian Democracy
Andrew Jackson became the U. S. President in 1828. For weeks thousands of
people had been coming to Washington, D. C. to see his inauguration.
Jackson was the hero of common people. He was truly a President of the
people.
Jackson was a fighter. He took part in the Revolutionary War. His
soldiers called him 'Old Hickory' because hickory wood was the toughest
thing they knew. When he had moved to Tennessee he served its people as a
lawyer, judge, Congressman and senator. But he won his greatest fame as a
soldier. Because of his activities in Florida, the U. S. was able to take
control of that area from Spain.
Jackson believed in people who loved him. He felt that common people
could run the government. This idea has come to be called Jacksonian
democracy. These people elected him as their President. He gave them their
first chance to really have a part in government.
Not everyone benefited while Jackson was President- Women, black and
Native Americans were not able to take part in gov_ernment. In fact, in
some cases, the government worked against them.
The Cherokee nation serves as an example of what happened to many Native
American tribes and people in Jackson's times. The Cherokees had a great
deal of land in Georgia and Alabama. They were farmers. They had roads and
lived in houses. They had a written language and a weekly newspaper. Their
government was democratic. But white settlers wanted their land.
The land was promised to the Cherokee nation by treaty. Missionaries,
Congressman Henry Clay, and the Supreme Court all said that the Cherokees
had rights to their claims. Even so, the Cherokees were thrown off their
land. They were told to go to Oklahoma. With soldiers watching them, they
had little choice but to obey.
This journey lasted several months. Disease, hunger and cold brought
death to many. Over 4,000 Cherokees Were buried along the Trial of Tears
which stretched from Georgia to Oklahoma.
Jackson said that their removal was necessary. Without it, he said, the
Cherokees all would have been killed by white settlers looking for more
land. Jackson did agreat deal to make people feel a part of government. But
he was not ready to give equality to Native Americans. A slave holder, all
his life Jackson did not believe in equality for blacks either.
Yet in Jackson's time, some people were starting to oppose slavery. These
people were called abolitionists.
Jonh F. Kennedy
For many Americans the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy as the 35th
President of the United States in 1960 marked the beginning of a new era in
this country's political history. Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic and
the youngest man ever chosen Chief Executive. He was also the first person
bom in the 20th century to hold the nation's highest office.
Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29. 1917, Kennedy was
descended from two politically conscious, Irish-American families that had
emigrated from Ireland to Boston shortly after potato blight and economic
upheavals had struck their homeland in the 1840s. Kennedy's grandfathers,
Patrick J. Kennedy and John F. ('Honey Fitz') Fitzgerald, became closely
associated with the local Democratic Party; Kennedy served in the
Massachusetts legislature, and Fitzgerald won election as mayor of Boston.
In 1914 the marriage of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald united the
two families. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the second eldest of Joseph and
Rose Kennedy's four sons and five daughters.
Joseph P. Kennedy was an extraordinarily successful businessman.
Despite the relatively modest means of his family, Kennedy attended Harvard
College, and upon graduation in 1912 began a career in banking. During the
1920s he amassed a substantial fortune from his investments in motion
pictures, real estate, and other enterprises, and unlike many magnates of
his era he escaped unscathed from the stock market crash of 1929. Joseph
Kennedy himself was never a candidate for elective office, but he was
deeply interested in the Democratic Party. He made large contributions to
the presidential campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932; in return,
Roosevelt appointed him chairman of the recently established Securities and
Exchange Commission, where his business expertise proved especially helpful
in drafting legislation designed to regulate the stock market. In 1937
Roosevelt named Kennedy US ambassador to Great Britain.
Despite his wealth and political influence, the Democratic Irish-
Catholic Joseph Kennedy never won the acceptance of Boston's Protestant
elite. He deeply resented this, and determined that his sons' achievements
would equal, if not excel, those of their Brahmin counter-parts. Toward
this end he modeled their lives and education after those enjoyed by the
Yankee upper class.
John Kennedy, like his brothers and sisters, grew up in comfortable
homes and attended some of the nation's most prestigious preparatory
schools and colleges. He was enrolled at the age of 13 at Canterbury, a
Catholic preparatory school staffed by laymen, but transferred after a year
to the nonsectarian Choate School, where he completed his secondary
education before entering Princeton University. Illness forced him to leave
the college before the end of Ins freshman year. but the following'. autumn
he resumed his studies, at Hanard.
Kennedy's college years coincided with a time of world crisis 'The
future President had unusual opportunities to combine know ledge gained in
the classroom with his own firsthand observations. As a government major at
Harvard he benefited from the teachings of some of the nation's most
prominent political scientists and historians. men who in the late 1930s
were acutely aware of the growing menace of Nazism. Moreover, in 1938
Kennedy spent six months in London assisting his father. who was then
serving as US ambassador. 'This slay in England gave the young student an
excellent opportunity to witness for himself the British response to the
Nazi aggression of the 1930s, and he used the insight gained from the
experience in writing his senior thesis. This thesis, in which Kennedy
attempted to explain England's hesitant reaction to German rearmament, was
extremely perceptive. and in 1940 it was published in expanded form in the
United States and 6reat Britain under the title Why England Slept.
After receiving his B.S. degree cum laude from Harvard in 1940, Kennedy
briefly attended ihe Stanford University Graduate School ot Business, and
then spent several months traveling through South America. Late in 1941,
when the United States' entry into World War II seemed imminent. Kennedy
joined the US Navy. As an officer he served in the South Pacific Theater,
where he commanded one of the small PT or torpedo boats that patrolled off
the Solomon Islands.
On April 25. 1943, Kennedy assumed command of P 1 -109, the vessel on
which, only a little more than four months later, his courage and strength
were put to their first serious test. On the night of August 2, 1943, the
Japanese destroyer Amagiri rammed PT-109. The force of the destroyer sliced
the American craft in half and plunged its 11 -man crew into the waters of
Ferguson Passage. Burning gasoline spewed forth from the wrecked torpedo
boat, setting the waters of the passage aflame: but Lieutenant Kennedy
retained his composure, directed the rescue of his crew, and personally
saved the lives of three of the men. Kennedy and the other survivors found
refuge on a small unoccupied island, and during the days that followed he
swam long distances to obtain food and aid for his men. Finally, on the
sixth day of the ordeal the crew was rescued.
Kennedy's bravery did not go unnoticed. For his deeds in August 1943 he
subsequently received the Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
Injuries sustained during his courageous exploits and an attack of malaria
ended Kennedy's active military service, however. Later in 1943 he returned
to the United States, and in 1945 he was honorably discharged from the
navy.
After leaving the navy, Kennedy, like many other young men who had
served their country during World War II. had to make a decision about his
literature career. At Harvard he had become increasingly interested in
government. but he did hot originally plan to seek public office. Members
of the Kennedy family had expected that the eldest son. navy pilot Joseph
P. Kennedy Jr., would enter politics - a hope cut short when he was killed
in a plane crash during the war Deeply affected by his older brother's
death. Jonh Kennedy in 1945 compiled a memorial volume. As We Remember Joe.
which was privately printed. Shortly afterwards he determined to pursue the
career that had been the choice of his late brother
Appropriately. Kennedy sought his first elective office in Easl Boston,
the low-income area with a large immigrant population that several decades
before had been the scene of both his grandfathers political activities.
Announcing his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the US House of
Representatives in the 11th Congressional District early in 1946, Kennedy,
with the assistance of his family and friends, campaigned hard and long
against several of the party's veterans and won the primary. Since the
district was overwhelmingly Democratic, Kennedy's victory in the primary
virtually guaranteed his election in the November contest. As expected, on
November 5, 1946, he easily defeated his Republican rival and at the age of
29 began his political career as a member of the House of Representatives.
East Boston voters returned Kennedy to Congress in 1948 and 1950, and
for the six years he represented the 11th District he continuously worked
to expand federal programs, such as public housing, social security, and
minimum wage laws. that benefited his constituents. However, in 1952 the
young politician decided against running for another term In the House.
Instead he sought the Senate seat held by the Republican Henry Cabot Lodge.
The incumbent Lodge was well known and popular throughout
Massachusetts; in contrast, Kennedy had almost no following outside of
Boston. But from the moment he announced his candidacy for the Senate,
Kennedy, assisted by his family, friends, and thousands of volunteers,
conducted a massive and intense grassroots campaign. This hard work brought
results: on November 4, 1952, when the landslide presidential victory of
Dwight D. Eisenhower carried hundreds of other Republican candidates into
local, state, and federal offices throughout the nation, the Democratic
Kennedy defeated Lodge by a narrow margin to become the junior senator from
Massachusetts.
On September 12,1953, Kennedy married the beautiful and socially
prominent Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, who was 12 years his junior. Shortly
after their marriage, Kennedy became increasingly disabled by an old spinal
injury, and in October 1954 and again in February 1955 he underwent serious
surgery. A product of the months of convalescence that followed was his
Profiles in Courage, a study of American statesmen who had risked their
political careers for what they believed to be the needs of their nation.
Published in 1956, Profiles in Courage immediately became a bestseller, and
in May 1957 it won for its author the Pulitzer Prize for biography.
During his years in the House and for the first half of his Senate
term, Kennedy concerned himself primarily with the issues that particularly
interested or affected his Massachusetts constituents. However, when he
resumed his congressional duties alter Ins prolonged convalescence,
national rather than local or state affairs primarily attracted his
attention.
His determination to run for higher office became evident at the
Democratic National Convention in 1956. Adam Stevenson, the party's
presidential nominee, declined to name a running male. and instead left the
choice of a vice presidential candidate to a vote of the delegates. Seizing
this opportunity. Kennedy mounted a strong, if last-minute, campaign lorshe
nomination in which he was narrowly defeated by Senator Lstes Kefauver of
Tennessee Kennedy's efforts were no entirely unrewarded however. He proved
himself to be a formidable contender and. perhaps more important, lie came
to the attention of the millions of television viewers across the nation
who watched; the eonvention proceeding. He was redeemed to the US Senate in
1958.
Shortly after defeat of Stevenson in 1956. Kennedy launched a
nationwide campaign to gain the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination.
During the tour intervening years, ihe Massachusetts senator developed the
organisation that would help him win his goal. Through his personal
appearances, ami writings, he also made himself known to the voters ol the
United Stales. Kennedy's tactics were successful He won all the state
primaries he entered in 1960 including a critical contest in West
Virginia, where an overwhelmingly Protestant electorate dispelled the
notion that a Catholic candidate could not be victorious - and he also
earned the endorsement of a number of state party conventions.
The Democratic National Convention of 1960 selected Kennedy as its
presidential candidate on the first ballot. Then, to the surprise of many,
Kennedy asked Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, who had himself aspired
to the first place on the ticket, to be his running mate. Johnson agreed,
and the Demoeralic slate was complete. For its ticket, the Republican
National Convention in I960 chose Vice President Richard Millions Nixon and
Kennedy's earlier political rival. Henry Cabot Lodge.
Throughout the fall of 1960, Kennedy and Nixon waged tireless campaigns
to win popular support. Kennedy drew strength from the organization he had
put together and from the fact that registered Democratic voters
outnumbered their Republican counterparts. Nixon's strength stemmed from
his close association with the popular President Eisenhower and from his
own experience as Vice President, which suggested an ability to hold his
own with. representatives of the Soviet Union in foreign affairs. The
turning point of the 1960 presidential race, however, may have been the
series of four televised debates between the candidates, which gave voters
an opportunity to assess their positions on important issues, and
unintentionally also tested each man's television 'presence.' Kennedy
excelled in the latter area and political experts have since claimed that
his ability to exploit the mass media may have been a significant factor in
the outcome of the election.
On November 8, I960, the voters of the United States cast a record 68.8
million ballots, and selected Kcnnedy over Nixon by the narrow margin of
fewer than 120,000 votes in the closest popular vote in the nation's
history. In the Electoral College the tally was 303 votes to 21 John
Fitzgerald Kennedy took the oath of office as the 35th President of the
United States on January 20, 1961. A number of notable Americans
participated in the ceremonies: Richard Cardinal Gushing of Boston offered
the invocation, Marian Anderson sang the national anthem, and Robert Frost
read one of his poems. Kennedy's inaugural address, urging Americans to
'ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your
country,' was memorable. The new Chief Executive also asserted, 'Now the
trumpet summons us again ... to bear the burden of a long twilight
struggle... against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease
and war itself.'
Both challenges were in keeping with what observers would later mark as
Kennedy's greatest contribution: a quality of leadership that extracted
from others their best efforts toward specific goals. Many felt themselves
influenced by his later reminder to a group of young people visiting the
White House - that 'the Greeks defined happiness as the full use of your
powers along the lines of excellence.'
Whether because of his-leadership, the climate of the times, or the
conjunction of the two, Kennedy's term as President coincided with a marked
transformation in the mood of the nation. Before that, complacent in their
peace-time prosperity, most Americans were preoccupied with individual
concerns. Now came a widespread awareness of needs not previously
recognized. No longer could Americans ignore pressing problems that
confronted them both at home and abroad, and increasingly, they showed a
willingness to try to effect meaningful changes. The new mood was one of
challenge, but also one of hope.
As he had promised in his inaugural address, Kennedy successfully
sought the enactment of programs designed to assist the 'people in the huts
and villages of half the world.' The Alliance for Progress, a program-
ambitious but ultimately less than successful - for the economic growth and
social improvement of Latin America, was launched in August 1961 at an
Inter American Conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay. The Peace Corps,
which offered Americans a unique opportunity to spend approximately two
years living and working with peoples in underdeveloped countries, was a
more successful attempt to aid emerging nations throughout the world.
In the realm of foreign affairs, Kennedy's record was a mixture of
notable triumphs and dangerous setbacks. He allowed the Central
Intelligence Agency to carry out plans laid before his administration for
an invasion of Cuba by anti-Communist refugees from that island. Between
1,400 and 1,500 exiles landed on April 17, 1961, at the Bay of Pigs, but
suffered defeat when an anticipated mass insurrection by the Cuban people
failed to materialize. Severely embarrassed, the administration
nevertheless successfully encouraged the creation of a private committee,
which ransomed 1,178 invasion prisoners for $62 million.
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro, after repelling the Bay of Pigs invasion,
turned to the Soviet Union for military support and allowed the Russians to
install secret missile sites in Cuba. From these locations, 90 miles from
US soil, the USSR could launch missiles capable of striking deep into the
American heartland. Reconnaissance by US observation planes uncovered the
Soviet activities. Taking a decisive stand President Kennedy, on October
22, 1962, announced that the United States would prevent the delivery of
offensive weapons to Cuba. Kennedy demanded that the USSR abandon the bases
and threatened that the United States would 'regard any nuclear missile
launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an
attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full
retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.' After a week of intense
negotiations. Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev agreed to dismantle all
the installations in return for a US pledge not to invade Cuba.
President Kennedy gave wholehearted support to American efforts in
space exploration. During his administration the nation increased its
expenditures in that area fivefold, and the President promised that an
American would land on the moon before the end of the 1960s. (On July
20,1969, two American astronauts fulfilled the President's pledge by
becoming the first human beings to set foot on the lunar surface.)
During his presidential campaign, Kennedy had stressed the necessity of
improving the American economy, which was then suffering from a recession.
His aim was to follow a fiscally moderate course, and the achievement of a
bal_anced budget was one of his major goals. As President he managed to
stimulate the sluggish economy by accelerating federal purchasing and
construction programs, by the early release of more than $ 1 billion in
state highway funds, and by putting $ 1 billion in credit into the home
construction industry.
During his administration, however, increasing hostility developed
between the White House and the business community. Anxious to prevent
inflation, the President gave special attention to the steel industry,
whose price-wage structure affected so many other aspects of the economy.
After steel manufacturers insisted on raising their prices in April 1962,
Kennedy, by applying strong economic pressure, forced the producers to
return to the earlier lower price levels. His victory earned him the enmity
of many business people, however.
Kennedy sympathized with the aspirations of black Americans, but he
included no comprehensive civil rights legislation in his New Frontier
program, fearing that the introduction into a conservative Congress of such
measures would imperil all his other proposals. The President relied,
instead, on his executive powers and on the enforcement of existing voting
rights laws. He forbade discrimination in new federally aided housing,
appointed a large number of blacks to high offices, and supported Justice
Department efforts to secure voting rights and to end segregation in
interstate commerce. In 1962 he used regular army troops and federalized
National Guard units to force the admission of a black, James Meredith, to
the University of Mississippi, and in 1963 he used federal National
Guardsmen to watch over the integration of the University of Alabama.
Despite his broad visions of the American future, Kennedy enjoyed
limited success in translating his ideas into legislative reality. A
coalition of Republicans and conservative southern Democrats in the 87th
Congress stopped many of his plans for the introduction of social measures.
And even after the Demo_ratic Party increased its majority on Capitol Hill
in the 1962 elections. Congress was slow to cooperate, although it probably
was ready to do so just before his presidency came to an end.
John F. Kennedy presided over the execlusive branch of the United
States government for only a little more than 1,000 days. During that time
American involvement in Vietnam and other areas of Southeast Asia increased
moderately, but the beginnings of a thaw in the cold war were also
noticeable, and in 1963 the. Soviet Union and the United States signed the
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Kennedy's years in the White House were also
marked by increased social consciousness by the US government. With the
Great Society program of his successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Congress
eventually enacted a number of Kennedy's proposals, including medical care
for the elderly and greater opportunities for black Americans.
In addition to his various governmental programs, Kennedy's presidency
was also no_table for a new, vital style. John and Jacqueline Kennedy and
their two children, Caroline and John Jr., quickly captured the imagination
of the nation, and their activities were widely reported by the media.
Cer_tainly the Kennedys exuded a youthful vi-brance, and their interests
seemed unending. Jacqueline Kennedy was responsible for redecorating the
public rooms of the White House and inviting a glittering array of
cul_tural and intellectual leaders to the executive mansion.
An assassin's bullet abruptly ended the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
on Novem_ber 22,1963, as he rode in a motorcade through the streets of
Dallas, Texas. The entire nation mourned the tragic death of the Chief
Executive. Many millions watched on television as the 35th President was
buried at Arlington National Cemetery on November 25, 1963.
Every state of the United States and almost every nation in the world
has erected memorials to Kennedy. One of the monu_ments dearest to his
family is the house at 83 Seals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, where
the late President's parents lived from 1914 until 1921 and where four of
their chil_dren - including John - were bom. The house was repurchased by
the Kennedys in 1966 and was designated a National Historic Site by
Congress in 1967. On May 29, 1969, the 52nd anniversary of John F.
Kennedy's birth, the family turned over the deed of the house to the
National Park Service.
Both of President Kennedy's younger brothers, Robert F. and Edward M.
Kennedy, served in the Senate. Many of the former President's compatriots
hoped to see his goals and promise carried forward when Robert Kennedy, who
had served as his at_torney general and closest adviser, an_nounced early
in 1968 that he would seek the Democratic nomination for President. In
another tragedy that shook the nation to its roots, Robert Kennedy was shot
down by an assassin just after claiming victory in the California
presidential primary. He died in Los Angeles just over 25 hours later, on
June 6,1968.
Presidents at a Glance
|NAME |SERVED |ACHIEVEMENTS |
|1. George |1789-1797 |The first President, he determined in large |
|Washington | |measure what the job of President should be.|
| | |Held the country together during its early |
| | |days and gave it a chance to grow. Ranked by|
| | |historians as a 'great' President. |
|2. John Adams |1797-1801 |Saved his country from an unnecessary war. |
| | |Ranked by historians as a 'near great' |
| | |President. |
|3. Thomas |1801-1809 |Bought the Louisiana Territory and doubled |
|Jefferson | |the size of the country. Made sure the |
| | |government stayed in the hands of the |
| | |people. Ranked by historians as a 'great' or|
| | |'near great' President. |
|4. James |1809-1817 |Allowed the country to get into unnecessary |
|Madison | |war, but made peace as quickly as possible. |
| | |Ranked by historians as an 'average' |
| | |President. |
|5. James Monroe|1817-1825 |Took Florida from Spain. Created the Monroe |
| | |Doctrine. Signed the Missouri Compromise. |
| | |Ranked as one of the best of the 'average' |
| | |President. |
|6. John Quincy |1825—1829 |Rated by some historians as a failure |
|Adams | |because little was done during his term. |
| | |Some historians rank him as 'average'. |
|7. Andrew |1829-1837 |Did more to show how great the powers of the|
|Jackson | |office were than any President after |
| | |Washington. Used these powers to help make |
| | |laws. Ranked by historians as a 'great' or |
| | |'near great' President. |
|8. Martin Van|1837-1841 |Was caught in one of the nation's worst |
|Buren | |financial depressions. This was unfairly |
| | |blamed on him. Ranked by historians as an |
| | |'average' President. |
|9. William |1841 |Was President for only one month. |
|Henry Harrison | | |
|10. John Tyler |1841-1845 |Made clear that on the death a President the|
| | |Vice President became President with all the|
| | |powers of the office. Served as a President |
| | |without a party. Ranked by most historians |
| | |as 'below average'. |
|11 .James Knox |1845-1849 |Bullied a small, weak nation (Mexico) into |
|Polk | |fighting a war it did not want, but added |
| | |California and much of the South-west to the|
| | |United States. Settled the Canadian border |
| | |without war. Ranked by historians as a 'near|
| | |great' President. |
|12. Zachary |1849-1850 |Knew little about the duties of a President |
|Taylor | |but faced his problems honestly though with |
| | |little political talent. Served only two |
| | |years. Ranked by many historians as 'below |
| | |average.' |
|13. Millard |1850-1853 |Sent the U. S. fleet to open trade with |
|Fillmore | |Japan. Helped pass the Great Compromise of |
| | |1850. Ranked by historians as 'below |
| | |average.' |
|14. Franklin |1853-1857 |Put through the Gadsden Purchase acquiring |
|Pierce | |what is now southern Arizona and New Mexico.|
| | |Favored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which |
| | |opened the door to the Civil War. Ranked by |
| | |historians as 'below average.' |
|15. James |1857-1861 |Faced the final breakup of the nation over |
|Buchanan | |slavery. Tried hard to prevent war but made |
| | |matters worse instead of better. Ranked by |
| | |historians as 'below average.' |
|16. Abraham |1861-1865 |Held the nation together in its most |
|Lincoln | |difficult time. In a speech at the |
| | |Gettysburg battlefield he said it was the |
| | |people's duty to make sure 'that this |
| | |nation, under God, shall have a new birth of|
| | |freedom, and that government of the people, |
| | |by the people, for the people, shall not |
| | |perish from the earth.' More than any other |
| | |one man, he helped make these words come |
| | |true. Ranked by historians as a truly |
| | |'great' President. |
|17. Andrew |1865-1869 |Took office in a. time of great trouble. |
|Johnson | |Fought for what he believed was right, but |
| | |did not have the power to persuade and lead |
| | |men. Was impeached by Congress and came |
| | |within one vote of being removed from |
| | |office. Ranked by historians from 'near |
| | |great' to 'below average.' |
|18. Ulysses |1869-1877 |Was personally honest, but many of the men |
|Simpson Grant | |around him were crooks. His administration |
| | |was one of the most dishonest in American |
| | |history. One of the three Presidents rated |
| | |as a 'failure'. |
|19. Ruthertord |1877-1881 |Ended the period of Reconstruction. Tried to|
|Birchard Hayes | |reform the federal government after the |
| | |Grant administration. Tried to improve the |
| | |civil service system, but met with little |
| | |success. Ranked by historians as 'average.' |
|20. James Abram|1881 |Was killed only a few months after taking |
|Garfield | |office. Yet his death may have done more to |
| | |improve honesty in government than he could |
| | |have done had he lived. |
|21. Chester |1881-1885 |Helped pass the first effective civil |
|Alan Arthur | |service laws and administered them honestly.|
| | |Helped develop a modern navy. Ranked by |
| | |historians as 'average.' |
|22 and 24. |1885-1889 |Made needed reforms in the federal |
|Grover |and |government. Helped restore the confidence of|
|Cleveland |1893-1897 |the people in their government. His |
| | |intentions were always good, but his methods|
| | |sometimes failed. Ranked by historians as a |
| | |'near great' President. |
|23. Benjamin |1889-1893 |Favored a strong foreign policy. Enlarged |
|Harrison | |the navy. Wanted a better civil service, but|
| | |Congress continually opposed him. Ranked by |
| | |historians as 'average.' |
|25. William |1897-1901 |Allowed the United States to be pushed into |
|McKinley | |war with Spain, but made the United States a|
| | |world power. Acquired the Philippines, |
| | |Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico as United |
| | |States possessions. Ranked by historians as |
| | |'average.' |
|26. Theodore |1901-1909 |Brought tremendous energy and vitality to |
|Roosevelt | |the office of President. Used the powers of |
| | |his office to control the power of huge |
| | |business concerns. Worked to establish |
| | |national parks and forests and the Panama |
| | |Canal. Ranked by historians as one of the |
| | |'near great' President. |
|27. William |1909-1913 |Worked hard for conservation of natural |
|Howard Taft | |resources. Helped improve the Post Office |
| | |system. Fought to break the power of the |
| | |trusts. Ranked by historians as 'average.' |
|28. Woodrow |1913-1921 |Reformed the banking laws. Worked to improve|
|Wilson | |the antitrust laws, to help the American |
| | |worker, and to lower the tariff. Tried to |
| | |stay out of World War I, then tried hard to |
| | |make it a 'war to end all wars.' Worked for |
| | |a League of Nations to keep the world at |
| | |peace. Failed, but left an ideal of which |
| | |people still dream. Ranked by historians as |
| | |a 'great' President. |
|29. Warren |1921-1923 |In large measure let Congress and his |
|Gamaliel | |Cabinet run the nation. Was more loyal to |
|Harding | |his friends than to his country. His was |
| | |probably the most dishonest administration |
| | |in United States history. Ranked by |
| | |historians as a 'failure.' |
|30. Calvin |1923-1929 |Believed the powers of the President should |
|Coolidge | |be very limited and that government should |
| | |leave business alone. Took very little |
| | |action but restored honesty and dignity to |
| | |the presidency. Ranked by historians as |
| | |'below average.' |
|31. Herbert |1929-1933 |Saw the country plunged into its worst |
|Hoover | |financial depression and was unfairly blamed|
| | |for it. Tried to improve business, but his |
| | |efforts were not enough. Ranked by |
| | |historians as 'average.' |
|32. Franklin |1933-1945 |Saw the United States through two grave |
|Delano | |crises: the Great Depression of the 1930s |
|Roosevelt | |and World War II. Promoted laws that changed|
| | |the course of American government. Ranked by|
| | |historians as a 'great' President. |
|33. Harry S. |1945-1953 |Was faced by important decisions and made |
|Truman | |most of them correctly. Established the |
| | |Truman Doctrine by which the United States |
| | |would help other nati-ons trying to stay |
| | |free of Communist control. Worked for social|
| | |welfare and civil rights laws. Ranked by |
| | |most historians as a 'near great' President.|
|34. Dwight |1953-1961 |Ended the war in Korea. Tried to lessen |
|David | |troubles with the Soviet Union. Sent troops |
|Eisenhower | |to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce school |
| | |integration. Ranked by most historians as |
| | |'average.' |
|35. John |1961-1963 |Worked for equal rights for all citizens. |
|Fitzgerald | |Established the Peace Corps. Forced the |
|Kennedy | |Soviet Union to withdraw its missiles from |
| | |Cuba |
|36. Lyndon |1961-1969 |Pushed more important laws through Congress |
|Baines Johnson | |than any President since Franklin Roosevelt,|
| | |including civil rights and antipoverty |
| | |measures. Tried unsuccessfully to make peace|
| | |in Vietnam |
|37. Richard |1969-1974 |Ended U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. |
|Milhous Nixon | |Opened relations with Communist China. His |
| | |administration was caught in one of the |
| | |worst political scandals in American |
| | |history. |
|38. Gerald |1974-1977 |His fair and open administration helped to |
|Rudolph Ford | |heal the wounds of Watergate. Improved |
| | |relations with China. Was the first person |
| | |to occupy the White House without having |
| | |been elected either President or Vice |
| | |President. |
|39. Jimmy |1977—1981 |Helped bring about a peace treaty between |
|(James Earl) | |Israel and Egypt. Improved relations with |
|Carter | |Latin America by giving control of the |
| | |Panama Canal to Panama. Worked to improve |
| | |human rights throughout the world. |
|40. Ronald |1981-1989 |Built up U. S. military power Worked to |
|Wilson Reagan | |reduce inflation and led the fight to reduce|
| | |taxes. The national debt increased massively|
| | |during his administration. In his second |
| | |term, he began arms-limitation talks with |
| | |Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. |
|41. George |1989-1993 |His election marked the 200th anniversary of|
|Herbert Walker | |the U. S. presidency. Presided during the |
|Bush | |breakup of the Soviet Union and the fall of |
| | |Communist rule in Eastern Europe. In the |
| | |Persian Gulf war, led a coalition of nations|
| | |in driving the Iraqi army out of Kuwait. |
|42. Bill |1993— |Won back many of the Democratic and |
|(William | |independent voter' who supported Reagan |
|Jefferson | |during the previous decade. The first |
|Biythe) Clinton| |President born after World War II, he took |
| | |office in a time of transition. The Cold War|
| | |was over, and Americans were beginning to |
| | |focus on problems at home, including the |
| | |national debt and a sluggish economy. |
Excerpts from Inaugural Addresses of American Presidents
Every four years when the new President of the United States is
introduced into his office, i. e. inaugurated, he takes the oath of office
and delivers a speech on the steps of the Capitol.
The American Dream
Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and
Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative
government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the
exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; possessing a chosen
country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and
thousandth generation; enlightened by a benign religion, professed indeed,
and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth,
temperance, gratitude and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an
overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it
delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter -
with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and
prosperous people?
Thomas Jefferson, 1801
The Unity of the Nation
One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be
extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be
extended. This is the only substantial dispute.
My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole
subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. Such of you as are
now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the
sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new
administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either.
If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in
the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action.
In your hands, my dissatisfied country-fellowmen, and not in mine, is the
momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can
have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall
have the most solemn one 'to preserve, protect, and defend it.'
Abraham Lincoln, 1861
Good Will and World Politics
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall
pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend,
oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.
This much we pledge - and more.
To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we
pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot
do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do -
for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge
our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away
merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not
always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to
find them supporting their own freedom — and to remember that, in the past,
those who foolishly sought power by riding on the back of the tiger ended
up inside.
To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to
break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them
help themselves, for whatever period is required - not because the
Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it
is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot
save the few who are rich.
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we
offer not a pledge, but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for
peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf
all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.
John F. Kennedy. 1961
The literature
1. English №17 1998 – page 12
2. English № 48, page 1
3. English №16 1996 – page 2-3
4. English №19 2000 – page 14-15
5. Павлоцкий В. М. «Знакомимся с Америкой»
6. Учебное пособие по страноведению, США-М, 1995
7. SpeakOut 2000 №6, page 2-3, 4-5
