A speech never delivered

World+Biz

TBS Report
23 November, 2019, 11:50 am
Last modified: 23 November, 2019, 12:40 pm
Moments before he was going to deliver his speech, John F Kennedy was brutally shot to death

On November 22, 1963, exactly 56 years ago, President John F Kennedy was scheduled to give a speech to the Democratic Party. But he never made it.

Before JFK had a chance to deliver what turned out to be his last unsaid speech, Lee Harvey Oswald fired three bullets, two of which killed the youngest elected president of The United States. He had assassinated the president.

According to the JFK Library Foundation, "Kennedy was going to speak to the Democratic State Committee at the Municipal Auditorium in Austin, Texas on November 22, 1963, the same day of his brutal and public assassination. The speech was to cover the long-standing relationship between Texas and the Democratic Party and the administration's comprehensive foreign and domestic accomplishments."

"Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves when our Nation's future is at stake," Kennedy's undelivered speech says. "Let us stand together with renewed confidence in our cause -- united in our heritage of the past and our hopes for the future -- and determined that this land we love shall lead all mankind into new frontiers of peace and abundance."

The speech was aimed at unifying the nation during a time of conflict and division, a much needed speech for today. Today, the only thing that unites Americans are just how divided they are.

Statistically speaking, in 2019, there are 91% of Americans who feel that they are polarized and 74% feel that they are extremely polarized, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

JFK's speech reads, "In today's world, freedom can be lost without a shot being fired, by ballots as well as bullets."

As The United States contemplate their future, the words of Kennedy's undelivered speech may very well resonate through every American today.

This piece was originally published in the CNN.

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