Pop History Moment: The Inauguration of JFK

Way, way, way back in the olden days - when it was expected that an eloquent person would be elected President - this is the kind of non-partisan unity-making speech one came to expect from the Leader of the Free World. So while John F. Kennedy's personal life may not have been entirely above reproach, when he was at the microphone - when it actually mattered - he was a leader.



The ideals expressed in this speech - the abolition of poverty, support for the family of nations and the quest for peace - were seemingly antithetical to the previous Administration, built even as it was on the previous President's promise (spoken twice! yet never once meant) to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The light at the end of the tunnel is this; on this day in 2009, at another inauguration which contained echoes of this previous one, someone took the oath of office (or tried to, anyway - thanks for nothing Chief Justice John Roberts, you douchebag) who wasn't even born on this day in 1960, and there's nothing but hope in the land that he, unlike his predecessor, will actually obey it.

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