It certainly did to most of the nation’s press corps. They would record how Washington, captured once again from the stolid stand-pat Republicans, crackled back to life at the arrival of John F. Kennedy’s brash young band of brothers, the day breaking cold and clear, the man, coatless and hatless in the stinging wind, still aglow from the birth of his second child. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.... And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. The joy of new life, of idealism, the promise of youth: this is how the day would be remembered.
