KENNEDY, JOHN FITZGERALD, President . Autograph manuscript of the first portion of his address to the Annual Convention of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Federation of Labor, n.p., n.d. [the speech delivered 12 August 1952. 11 pages, large 8vo, comprising about 210 words in all, written on rectos only in blue pen on Kennedy's stationery headed "Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.," noting in small type that Kennedy was on the Education and Labor Committee of the House. IN A "SUMMER OF DISCONTENT," KENNEDY SPEAKS OF COLD WAR DISSILLUSIONMENT AND THE NEED TO "CONTAIN THE TIDE OF COMMUNIST EXPANSION" A remarkable working manuscript with many deletions and revisions, graphically demonstrating the rapid flow of Kennedy's thoughts as he drafts an important speech. This portion, the beginning of the address, is almost entirely devoted to the worsening international climate and the growing Communist threat and anticipates a number of issues which took center stage during Kennedy's brief term as President nine years later. In the preamble, Kennedy notes that "this is the 6th time in as many years that the A.F. of L. has done me the high honor of inviting me to address their annual convention. I came here first in 1947 as a new member of Congress. "1947 was a year of great expectations: we looked forward to a world at peace -- At home we hoped that the industrial gains, a by product of war, would make a better life for the people of this country. Now, six years later, in this summer of discontent, all of that has changed and many of our glittering hopes...have turned to ashes around us. And the dread problems that march across our horizons...try our ingenuity and tax our imagination. Abroad, we are faced by an enemy, power[ful], unrelenting and implacable who seeks to dominate the world by subversion and conspiracy and when all else fails by military force -- of which he now possessses...a substantial superiority. In 1952 or 1953 while that superiority lasts he may choose to plunge the world into the most destructive war in the human race's long history. Or he may, believing that time is a friend, continue his efforts to seize control by more subtle methods...All problems are dwarfed by the necessity of the West to maintain against the Communists a balance of power -- and we note with concern the crumbling away of our defenses in many areas of the Middle & Far East. But in our efforts to contain the tide of Communist expansion, it would be a mistake to judge the Communist threat as primarily military, although it is Russian military prestige that gives force and persuasion to its political and economic dotrines...But the Communists also move ahead by exploiting...means more subtle but equally dangerous -- they exploit the resentment of those people too long deprived of their fair share of a nation's income -- of those who desiring to work -- but cannot find it -- by those who live on the marginal edge of starvation -- who see little hope for their children -- by those who seek to see their nation free and independent -- and yet are dominated...."
KENNEDY, JOHN FITZGERALD, President . Autograph manuscript of the first portion of his address to the Annual Convention of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Federation of Labor, n.p., n.d. [the speech delivered 12 August 1952. 11 pages, large 8vo, comprising about 210 words in all, written on rectos only in blue pen on Kennedy's stationery headed "Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.," noting in small type that Kennedy was on the Education and Labor Committee of the House. IN A "SUMMER OF DISCONTENT," KENNEDY SPEAKS OF COLD WAR DISSILLUSIONMENT AND THE NEED TO "CONTAIN THE TIDE OF COMMUNIST EXPANSION" A remarkable working manuscript with many deletions and revisions, graphically demonstrating the rapid flow of Kennedy's thoughts as he drafts an important speech. This portion, the beginning of the address, is almost entirely devoted to the worsening international climate and the growing Communist threat and anticipates a number of issues which took center stage during Kennedy's brief term as President nine years later. In the preamble, Kennedy notes that "this is the 6th time in as many years that the A.F. of L. has done me the high honor of inviting me to address their annual convention. I came here first in 1947 as a new member of Congress. "1947 was a year of great expectations: we looked forward to a world at peace -- At home we hoped that the industrial gains, a by product of war, would make a better life for the people of this country. Now, six years later, in this summer of discontent, all of that has changed and many of our glittering hopes...have turned to ashes around us. And the dread problems that march across our horizons...try our ingenuity and tax our imagination. Abroad, we are faced by an enemy, power[ful], unrelenting and implacable who seeks to dominate the world by subversion and conspiracy and when all else fails by military force -- of which he now possessses...a substantial superiority. In 1952 or 1953 while that superiority lasts he may choose to plunge the world into the most destructive war in the human race's long history. Or he may, believing that time is a friend, continue his efforts to seize control by more subtle methods...All problems are dwarfed by the necessity of the West to maintain against the Communists a balance of power -- and we note with concern the crumbling away of our defenses in many areas of the Middle & Far East. But in our efforts to contain the tide of Communist expansion, it would be a mistake to judge the Communist threat as primarily military, although it is Russian military prestige that gives force and persuasion to its political and economic dotrines...But the Communists also move ahead by exploiting...means more subtle but equally dangerous -- they exploit the resentment of those people too long deprived of their fair share of a nation's income -- of those who desiring to work -- but cannot find it -- by those who live on the marginal edge of starvation -- who see little hope for their children -- by those who seek to see their nation free and independent -- and yet are dominated...."
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