TO TURN THE TIDE

One needs only sorily to match this volume of President Kennedy's speeches, reports, with an earlier collection (The Strategy of Peace 1960) to see how tremendously he has matured not only in his thinking and his concepts, but in his brilliant facility in coordinating his material and bringing thought into the written word. This collection will surprise even his admirers, while his bitterest opponents- though they may disagree with what he is saying will recognize his gift for making his ideas understandable. Before the inauguration the President-Elect addressed the Massachusetts State legislature and prophetically proclaimed that much will be required from us to whom much is given throughout all of our lives in the struggle to assure the survival of liberty. This note one finds again in the inaugural address and through successive speeches, newspaper interviews, radio and TV appearances and most recently of all in that inspired address to the UN assembly after the death of Dag Hammarskjold. In his reports to Congress one further finds his ability to bring sense, logic and a touch of humanity even to budget planning and legislative recommendations. Just how much of what he hopes for can be implemented remains to be seen. The inspiration is there... Carl Sandburg has contributed a poetic and inspiring foreword.