Appearing before the press in Washington, DC in the Senate Caucus
Room, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy
launched his presidential campaign with youthful energy and a pioneering
vision that inspired a generation of Americans to ask what they can do
for their country.
January 2, 1960
Universal Newsreel
Publci Domain
In a written statement to the press, Kennedy said:
I am today announcing my candidacy for the Presidency of the United States.
The Presidency is the most powerful office in the Free World. Through its leadership can come a more vital life for all of our people. In it are centered the hopes of the globe around us for freedom and a more secure life….
For 18 years, I have been in the service of the United States, first as a naval officer in the Pacific during World War II and for the past 14 years as a member of the Congress. In the last 20 years, I have traveled in nearly every continent and country -- from Leningrad to Saigon, from Bucharest to Lima. From all of this, I have developed an image of America as fulfilling a noble and historic role as the defender of freedom in a time of maximum peril -- and of the American people as confident, courageous and persevering.
It is with this image that I begin this campaign.