Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
NUMBER:
661
AUTHOR:
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–63)
QUOTATION:
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it.
ATTRIBUTION:
President JOHN F. KENNEDY, inaugural address, January 20, 1961.—The Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961, pp. 2–3.
This is one of seven inscriptions carved on the walls at the gravesite of John F. Kennedy, Arlington National Cemetery.
