Talk:John F. Kennedy

Table of contents

1 A highly unlikely, and almost certainly spurious "quotation" 1 A famous misattribution 2 Did JFK say this? 3 "Ask not..."

A highly unlikely, and almost certainly spurious "quotation"

• "The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to destroy America's freedom and before I leave this office, I must inform the citizens of their plight."
  • Statement purportedly made at Columbia University, November 12, 1963

I am strongly against the total censorship of even the most absurd propositions, but was strongly impelled to remove this from the main quote page and paste it here instead, as unworthy to be included as if there actually were some reasonable likelihood of it's authenticity. I recommend similar response to future additions to quote pages that extensive research indicate are probably spurious. I originally simply made a footnote saying see "BS Alert", but do not feel that is a strong enough response in this case. The following notes trace some points of my research prior to making that decision:

A quote-mark enclosed google search for a key portion of this passage, provided less than 50 hits for this quote… nearly all of them on simple message boards about either a right-wing or left-wing conspiracy. All using the same snippet, and NONE stating in what context the statement was supposed to have been made, or why a President of the United States would make such a statement publicly without giving a clear context.

Further searching did turn up another variant which seems even more absurdly worded: ""The presidential bureau has been used to set up a plot to annihilate American People's freedom; and before I leave this bureau, I must inform the citizens of this critical state."

Extensive but not exhaustive searching of Google, and the Columbia University site gave no further indication of the precise origins of the supposed statement.

Another use of the "quote" actually provided a "Sourse" [sic] which was simply another conspiracy page using the same "quote".

ANYONE of any political or delusional persuasion who can actually provide ANY indication of an AUTHORATATIVE source for this quote is invited to do so.

It may simply be a case of someone, somewhen, endeavoring to tell a big enough lie, that they knew many would be eager to believe, and would come to be endlessly repeated by those who actually believe it. Until there is more evidence than quotations of other persons "quotations" the accuracy and actuality of this particular statement must be treated with extreme skepticism. Moby 15:24, 6 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I am intensely interested in honesty, accuracy, and fairness… and after using up many hours in searches, and going through all manner of conspiracy sites from all ranges of the political and lunatic spectrum, the most that I can come up with is the same quotation with no sources or references, and some discussions concerning it on message boards declaring that even among prominent researchers into various conspiracy theories, who have regularly encounterd the supposed statement there are several who flat out assert: there are NO reliable indications and NO documented evidence that President Kennedy even spoke at Columbia University at anytime between mid to late 1963 in any of the official presidential papers, nor are their any that I can find in any of Columbia's online Records, though an interesting dialog with Malcolm X is documented to have occured there on November 20th, 1963, just two days before the assassination. My personal assessment: this "quote" is total BUNK. Moby 04:14, 7 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Addition: 2/27/2005 Excellent analysis above. Concerned by such a quote, I have constructed a timeline of Kennedy's whereabouts for November 1963. No single source I have researched indicates Kennedy was at Columbia University in 1963. One such source includes direct contact with Columbia University officials, who agree there is no record of such a visit. In fact, historical records place Kennedy in the Oval Office on Tuesday November 12, 1963 during which time he met with Cartha DeLoach, the then new FBI Liason to the White House ("The Kennedy Men" by Lawrence Leamer, page 730).

Another source (James K. Galbraith, "Exit Strategy: In 1963, JFK ordered a complete withdrawal from Vietnam," Boston Review, October/November, 2003 ) indicates Kennedy also gave a press conference on Vietnam on 11/12/63 but makes no mention of Columbia University.

Kennedy's public whereabouts are very much public record. Had such a quote been made at Columbia University, it like all of his real speeches and quotes would be immortalized in hundreds of documents and websites around the world. Yet, there are a few small references to this "speech", whose citations are circular within those few small websites. Cover up? Get real - there are millions of people alive right now that were around in 1963. NOBODY has a recollection of this speech. NO VERIFIABLE RECORDS exist of this speech. However, there are ample witnesses and documents that accurately record the events of November 12, 1963 - and they all agree there was no speech given at Columbia University.

Addition: 3/17/05 I have long been interested in JFK and his Presidency, and have read quite a bit about him. I also collect quotations, and have never come across this particular quotation before now. I strongly agree that it is spurious. I presume, judging from the purported dating (just ten days before President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas), that whoever wrote it was trying to imply that Kennedy was silenced by those whose "plot" he was about to expose.

A famous misattribution

Kennedy once said that "Dante said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality." In fact Dante said nothing of the sort. [1] Is there any way to put this in the article? 209.149.235.254 15:40, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

This has been added, with the link to Bartleby's that you provided here. I would say Kennedy's summation of Dante's ideas were indicative of his intent, even if they were not entirely accurate. ~ Kalki 16:25, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Did JFK say this?

Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

"Ask not..."

When Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural speech, "ask not what your country can do for you --ask what you can do for your country." He was quoting Lebanese-American writer Khalil Gibran. Khalil Gibran is the one who wrote this famous saying! How come Khalil Gibran never gets aknowledged for making this great saying?

---

It has been reported at various places on the internet that in JFK's Inaugural address, the famous line "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", was inspired by, or even a direct quotation of the famous and much esteemed writer and poet Khalil Gibran. Gibran in 1925 wrote in Arabic a line that has been translated as:

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country?

If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.

However, this translation of Gibran is one that occurred over a decade after Kennedy's 1961 speech, appearing in A Third Treasury of Kahlil Gibran (1975) edited by Andrew Dib Sherfan, and the translator most likely drew upon Kennedy's famous words in expressing Gibran's prior ideas. A translation by Anthony R. Ferris in The Voice of the Master (1958) exists that could conceivably have been used as an inspiration, but it is less strikingly similar:

 Are you a politician who says to himself: "I will use my country for my own benefit"? If so, you are naught but a parasite living on the flesh of others. Or are you a devoted patriot, who whispers into the ear of his inner self: "I love to serve my country as a faithful servant." If so, you are an oasis in the desert, ready to quench the thirst of the wayfarer.

The title of Gibran's essay has been translated as The New Deal, or The New Frontier.

Other even earlier occurences of similar expressions or ideas are also known to exist, and have sometimes been cited as possible sources of inspiration:

It is now the moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Memorial Day speech in Keene, New Hampshire (30 May 1884)

As has often been said, the youth who loves his Alma Mater will always ask, not "What can she do for me?" but "What can I do for her?" ~ Lee Baron Russel Briggs, in "College Life", Routine and Ideals (1904)

In the great fulfillment we must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it, and more anxious about what it can do for the nation. ~ Warren G. Harding Speech at the Republican National Convention, Chicago, Illinois (7 June, 1916)

Occasionally it has also been stated that JFK was quoting, paraphrasing, or adapting a statement of the ancient Roman orator Cicero, but with no example provided, and research done for Wikiquote as yet indicates no clear sources or definite citations as to when or where Cicero made any such expressions. ~ Kalki 22:33, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)