“When President Kennedy proposed the Peace Corps, the skeptics said it was impossible. American youth would not respond as volunteers and, if they did, they would not be responsible when sent overseas. Fortunately, ‘impossible’ was not in the President’s vocabulary ... You have proved him right.”
Our Quote of the Week honors our 35th president, John F. Kennedy, on the 109th anniversary of his birth. His infectious commitment to service allowed him to build an enduring legacy in a short period of time—a legacy that includes one of Sargent Shriver’s own achievements, the Peace Corps.
In 1964, Sargent Shriver addressed an audience at the Texas Tech Convocation. He jokes with the audience about his presidential boss, Lyndon Johnson, who was also a Texan, and then he says of the Texan people:
“You do not know the word, ‘impossible’ That is the spirit we need in the Peace Corps and in the war against poverty.”
In this context, he jokes about his brother-in-law, Kennedy, who also, according to Shriver, had not understood the word “impossible,” which is what led him to make possible the creation of the Peace Corps.
Kennedy’s refusal of the impossible allowed him to accomplish a great deal during a presidency that was tragically cut short when he was assassinated in November 1963. From establishing the Peace Corps and averting nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, to redefining the US space program with the Apollo missions, to laying the groundwork for the landmark Civil Rights act of 1964, John F. Kennedy’s example asks us to reject cynicism and to serve in whatever way we can. He continues to challenge us to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
Like this quote? Read the speech and subscribe to receive our Quote of the Week by email.
