Summary
ON JAN. 20, 1961, John Kennedy delivered his rousing inaugural address. But this speech was preceded, as William Galston of the Brookings Institution has reminded us, by an equally important speech: Dwight Eisenhower's farewell.
Kennedy's speech was an idealistic call to action. Eisenhower's speech was a calm warning against hubris. Kennedy celebrated courage; Eisenhower celebrated prudence. Kennedy asked the country to venture forth. Eisenhower asked the country to maintain its basic sense of balance.See the full content of this document
Extract
From Hubris to Passivity
While Kennedy gloried in the current moment, Eisenhower warned the country to "avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow." We cannot, he ...
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