Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "193921",
    "label": "Address at Yale University, 11 June 1962",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193921"
}

{
    "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"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/21/1939/193921/content/presidential-libraries/kennedy/POF/JFKPOF-039-001/JFKPOF-039-001-p0002.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/21/1939/193921/content/presidential-libraries/kennedy/POF/JFKPOF-039-001/JFKPOF-039-001-p0002.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/21/1939/193921/content/presidential-libraries/kennedy/POF/JFKPOF-039-001/JFKPOF-039-001-p0002.jpg",
    "imageCount": 169,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193921",
    "naId": 193921,
    "coverageEndDate": {
        "day": 11,
        "logicalDate": "1962-06-11",
        "month": 6,
        "year": 1962
    },
    "coverageStartDate": {
        "day": 10,
        "logicalDate": "1962-06-10",
        "month": 6,
        "year": 1962
    },
    "itemCount": 1,
    "levelOfDescription": "fileUnit",
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 4,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/21/1939/193921/content/presidential-libraries/kennedy/POF/JFKPOF-039-001/JFKPOF-039-001-p0005.jpg",
    "mediaId": "34611ae7870b1185",
    "ocrText": "- 4-\nThis budget, in relation to the great problems sf\nfederal fiscal policy, is not simply irrelevant; it can be\nactively misleading. And yet there is a mythology that\nmeasures all of our national soundness or unsoundness on\nthe single simple basis of this same annual administrative\nbudget. If our federal budget is to sefve, not the debate,\nbut the country, we must and will find ways afo clarifying\nthis area of discourse.\nStill in the area of fiscal policy, let me say a\nword\nabout deficits. The myth persists that federal\ndeficits create inflation and budget surpluses prevent it.\nYet sizeable budget surpluses after the war did not prevent\ninflation, and persistent deficits for the last several years\nhave not upset our basic price stability. Obviously deficits\nare sometimes dangerous -- and so are surpluses. But\nhonest assessment plainly requires a more sophisticated view\nthan the old and automatic cliche that deficits automatically\nbring inflation.\nThere are myths also about our public debt. It is\nwidely supposed that this debt is growing at a dangerously\nrapid rate. In fact, both the debt per person and the debt\nax a proportion af our gross national product have declined\nsharply since the Second World War. In absolute terms the\nnational debt increased only 8 per cent, while private debt\nwas increasing 305 per cent, andthe debts of state and local\ngovernments increased 378 per cent. Moreover, debts, public\nand private, are neither good nor bad, in and of themselves.\nBorrowing can lead to over-extension and collapse -- but it\ncan also lead to expansionandstrength There is no single,\nsimple slogan in this field that we can trust\nFinally, I come to the problem of confidence.\nConfidence is a matter of myth and also a matter of truth --\nand this time let me take the truth of the matter first.\nIt is true- and of high importance -- that the\nprosperity of this country depends on assurance that all major\nelements within it will live up to their responsibilities.\nIf business were to neglect its obligations to the public;\nif labor were blind to all publiowresponsibility; above\nall, if government were to abandon its obvious -- and\nstatutory -- duty of watchful concern for our economic\nhealth -- if any of these things should happen, then\nconfidence might well be weakened and danger of stagnation\nwould increase. This is the true issue of confidence."
}