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{
    "localId": "193921",
    "label": "Address at Yale University, 11 June 1962",
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    "id": "193921",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193921",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Address at Yale University, 11 June 1962",
    "description": "This file contains materials collected by the office of President John F. Kennedy's secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, concerning President Kennedy's remarks at the 1962 Yale University graduation ceremony. In his speech the President thanks the University for the honorary degree bestowed upon him, and discusses three areas of domestic concern where the prevalence of myth dangerously impedes progress: fiscal policy, confidence in an administration, and the concept of \"big government.\" Materials in this folder include various memoranda of suggested talking points, a draft by Special Assistant to the President and speechwriter Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., a press copy, and a reading copy of the speech with handwritten notations by the President, as well as a luncheon menu, program for the commencement exercises, and an additional transcript of the speech published by Yale University.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193921",
    "identifierLocal": "JFKPOF-039-001",
    "creators": [
        "Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr., 1917-2007"
    ],
    "collections": [
        "Papers of John F. Kennedy: Presidential Papers: President's Office Files",
        "Speech Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Yale University"
    ],
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    "ocrText": "FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY MONDAY, JUNE 11, 1962\nOffice of the White House Press Secretary\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nREMARKS OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY,\nCOMMENCEMENT EXERCISES, YALE UNIVERSITY,\nNEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, JUNE 11, 1962\n(As Delivered)\nPresident Griswold; members of the faculty,\ngraduates and their families, ladies and gentlemen: Let\nme begin by expressing my appreciation for the very deep\nhonor that you have conferred upnn me, As General DeDaulle\noccasionally acknowledges, America to be the daughter of\nEurope, so I am pleased to come to Yale, the daughter of\nHarvard. It might be said now that I have the best of\nboth worlds, a Harvard education and a Yale degree.\nI am particularly glad to become a Yale man\nbecause as I think about my troubles, I find that a lot of\nthem have come from other Yale men. Among businessmen I\nhave had a minor disagreement with Roger Blough, of the\nLaw School Class of 1931, and I have had some complaints too\nfrom my friend Henry Ford, of the class of 1940. In\njournalism, I seem to have a difference with John Hay\nWhitney, of the class of 1926 -- and sometimes I also\ndisplease Henry Luce of the class of 1920, not to mention\nalsoWilliam F. Buckley, Jr., of the class of 1950. I even\nhave some trouble with my Yale advisors. I get along with\nthem, but I am not always sure how they get along with\neach other.\nI have the warmest feelings for Chester Bowles\nof the class of 1924 and for Dean Acheson, of the class\nof 1915, and my assistant, McGeorge Bundy, of the class of\n1940, but I aam not 100 per cent sure that these three wise\nand experienced Yale men wholly agree with each other on\nevery issue.\nSo this Administration which aims at peaceful\ncooperation among all Americans has been the victim of a\ncertain natural pugnacity developed in this city among\nYale men. Now that I, too, am a Yale man, it is time for\npeace. Last week at West Point, in the historic tradition\nof that Acadamy, I availed myself af the powers of\nCommander in Chief to remit all sentences of offending cadets.\nIn that same spirit, and in the histori c tradition of Yale,\nlet me now offer to smoke the clay piple of friendship with\nall of my brother Elis, and I hope that they may be\nfriends not only with me but even with each other.\nIn any event, I am very glad to be here and as\na new member of the club, I have been checking to see what\nearlier links existed between the institution of the\nPresidency and Yale, I found that à member of the class\nof 1878, William Howard Taft, served one term in the White\nHouse as preparation for becoming a member of this faculty.\nAnd a graduate of 1804, John C. Calhoun, regarded the Vice\nPresidency as too lowly a station for a Yale alumnus --\nand became the only man in history to ever resign that office.\nCalhoun in 1804 and Taft in 1878 graduated into a\nworld very different frcm ours today. They and their"
}