Inauguration of John F. Kennedy

Inaugural address, East Portico of the U.S. Capitol, January 20, 1961 John F. Kennedy's inaugural is short, at 1,366 words, and it was the first inaugural address delivered to a television audience in color. A snowstorm had hit Washington the day before, and the glare off the snow stopped Robert Frost from reading his papers, so he recited "The Gift Outright" from memory instead. Watch the whole address rather than the clip of "ask not what your country can do for you": hearing the full speech puts that line back among the Cold War pledges around it, and the setting of a cold, bright Capitol is part of what made the day memorable.