HAS IT REALLY been five decades since JFK’s iconic inaugural address? The length of time is precise, but those of us in high school and college at the time, watching a vigorous, young president without coat or hat, recall his message as if it were yesterday:

President John F. Kennedy and his son, John Jr., at the White House circa 1963.
“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

It is not just that the video of those words, replayed on a seemingly endless loop over the intervening decades, has etched this phrase into our memories. It is that many did, indeed, respond, rearranging their lives. Many are still doing so, often as retirees in voluntary service to their communities. That speech, that phrase, truly inspired a generation to careers in service to the public.
JFK’s inaugural speech, delivered on Jan. 20, 1961, was immediately acclaimed as great rhetoric. It has been ranked by many as one of the “top speeches” and the most “splendid,” “magnificent,” “eloquent” or “greatest” oration vis à vis his 20th century peers.
Students, in particular, took this challenge to heart, signaling their willingness to sacrifice for the common good in Appalachia and Africa, in the Peace Corps and Vista, in schools and social service agencies, as volunteers and as visionaries. Foundations committed their resources to programs of service.

Kennedy had tapped into a latent desire for meaningful careers in public service, be they in government or not-for-profit organizations, and for volunteerism — uncompensated, but socially redeeming, work. His singular and powerful phrase transformed public service into a noble calling.

But it was not his only pronouncement; he repeatedly argued to “Let the public service be a proud and lively career.” If this impetus for public service waned in Gordon Gekko’s “Greed is good” 1980s, it is certainly resurgent today, and Kennedy’s “Ask not…” call to service is still cited as the foundation for that momentum, paraphrased by public officials, university presidents and school principals.
Kennedy’s challengeKennedy’s challenge consistently has been reworked by subsequent presidents. George H.W. Bush promoted volunteerism as service. Bill Clinton proposed a National Service Corps in the 1990s: “Citizen service is the very American idea that we meet our challenges not as isolated individuals but as members of a true community, with all of us working together. Our mission is nothing less than to spark a renewed sense of obligation, a new sense of duty, a new season of service.”
In his 2002 State of the Union Address, George W. Bush called on Americans to devote 4,000 hours over their lifetimes “to the service of your neighbors and your nation.”

President Obama, born after Kennedy’s inaugural address, channeled JFK: “In the end, service binds us to each other and to our community and to our country in a way that nothing else can.”
Obama advocates public service as rewarding for everyone: “Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. And it will leave you unfulfilled.”
‘For the freedom of man’Surprisingly, JKF’s signature line was not the only point of his speech. Much less remembered are other equally clear and bold statements, including another “Ask not.” The very next line following his challenge to America’s citizens has certainly not been emulated: “My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

Nor has America steadfastly resolved “…to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out… a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.”
Assertive, polarizing foreign policy statements in the address have, with great hindsight, been condemned as a great mistake, an aggressive posture that may well have led the Soviets to move into Cuba with “defensive” arms, triggering the Cuban Missile Crisis: “We dare not tempt them [our adversaries] with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.”
Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the inaugural was JFK’s recognition of the arts as a vital part of public discourse, beginning with poet Robert Frost’s recitation of his poem “Dedication” at the inauguration, and continuing with invitations to artists to perform at the White House. Kennedy valued not only public service, but the broad public discourse encouraged by the arts as vital to the health of society.

If Kennedy’s tenure was too brief and his list of accomplishments too short, he is certainly a memorable president who placed the intangible rewards of public service and public discourse at the center of our collective endeavors, reminding us of the purpose and context of a civil society.
Ancient Athens endures as an icon for much the same reasons — a promise to “transmit this city better than it was received” and to do so as the function of a great culture.