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| Date | January 30, 1961 (1961-01-30) |
|---|---|
| Duration | 43 minutes[1] |
| Venue | House Chamber,United States Capitol |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°53′23″N77°00′32″W / 38.88972°N 77.00889°W /38.88972; -77.00889 |
| Type | State of the Union Address |
| Participants | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Sam Rayburn |
| Previous | January 12, 1961 State of the Union Address |
| Next | 1962 State of the Union Address |
The second1961State of the Union Address was given byJohn F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on Monday, January 30, 1961, to the87th United States Congress in the chamber of theUnited States House of Representatives.[2] It was Kennedy's firstState of the Union Address, which was delivered only 18 days after outgoing PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower delivered his final State of the Union Address in writing. Presiding over this joint session wasHouse speakerSam Rayburn, accompanied byVice PresidentLyndon B. Johnson, in his capacity as thepresident of the Senate.
In the speech, Kennedy discussed his major goals for the next four years of his term. After calling the state of the American economy "disturbing" and "in trouble" as a result of theRecession of 1958, he discussed his plans for economic growth for the United States. He also urged attentiveness to the risingcommunist movements in China and Latin America. Kennedy described the state of the world as one fraught with danger and uncertainty, but he expressed confidence in the commitment of American government, theUnited Nations, and the notion of American freedom which he believed would serve as an inspiration during theCold War.[1] Kennedy closed his speech by noting that January 30 was the birthday of former PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, and he quoted from the conclusion to Roosevelt's1945 State of the Union Address:
In the words of a great President, whose birthday we honor today, closing his final State of the Union Message sixteen years ago, "We pray that we may be worthy of the unlimited opportunities that God has given us."[2]
| Preceded by | State of the Union addresses 1961 | Succeeded by |
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