This was part of President Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address. President Kennedy was trying to get the country, especially the youth, to go out and do volunteer work. He was a big promoter of the Peace Corp and wanted Americans to do volunteer work overseas to improve the country's image and help developing nations at the same time.
On Friday, January 20, 1961, 35th U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy gave his first, and only, inaugural address at 12:51 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. He took 13 minutes and 59 seconds to speak 1,364 words. One of the most famous quotes from that address is the following: "And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."
JFK stole the speach from his old head master George St John.
in the 1930's when he was a school boy at Choate School in Connecticut
The speech its self is inspired by a few political figures including Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln.
It comes from his Inaugural Address on 20 January 1961: And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
He made the statement during his inaugural address on January 20, 1961.
On 20 January 1961.
From his old headmaster.
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy the 35th President.
That is not the correct quote. John F. Kennedy said "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
John Kennedy, during his inaugural speech in 1961.
No. John F. Kennedy made these words famous in his inaugural address in 1961.
It was John F. Kennedy in a now famous speech.John F Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy the 35th President.
John F. Kennedy VERY famously said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." (It is a shame that anyone living in America would not know that quote, it is the heart of community and therefore democracy.) JFK was quoting Khalil Gibran from "The New Frontier" which Gibran had written thirty six years earlier: "Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country?"
No, that was John F. Kennedy. Kennedy said this in his innaugural address. However, it is basically a paraphrase of a quote from Oliver Wendel Holmes, who said: "It is now the moment ...to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return." From Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s Memorial Day address in Keene, New Hampshire, on May 30, 1884.
President John F. Kennedy said those words in his inaugural speech in 1961.
The inaugural address of President John F. Kennedy was refreshing and one to remember. He used a phrase that said ask not what your government can give you but instead think of what you can do to help your country. It was a patriotic speech.