Description:

Kennedy John

John F. Kennedy, typewritten speech draft with notes and corrections in Kennedy's hand, delivered to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, April 30, 1962, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, Washington, DC, 4 pages, 8.5" x 11".

Excerpt (bold is in Kennedy's hand): “As businessmen, your interest is profits or the maintenance of an adequate margin of return between the prices which are beginning to rise reluctantly and the costs which seem to remain buoyant. To the extent that you want to protect your profit margins, our interests are identical for we exist off your profits. To the extent that you must raise your prices to make these profits, our interests at home and abroad stand in delicate conflict balance.

Similarly with the union leaders, whose interest lies in the rate of return on labor for their members. To the extent that their efforts are devoted to securing equitable wages for workers, our interests are identical, because we must have consumers to absorb our vast productive capacity …. I submit that the factor which rolled back the price of steel was less the aroused power of the federal government than the cold comprehension of important figures within the industry…”

Historical Background: On April 30, 1962, at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., President Kennedy congratulated the Chamber on its 50th anniversary, and Kennedy discusses the ways in which the government and businesses must cooperate in order to address mutual concerns of inflation, modernization, and competitive market forces. This early draft of the speech has handwritten changes in several hands, but most in the President’s hand. Economic adviser Walter Heller, Special Counsel and speechwriter Theodore Sorensen, and Bureau of the Budget director Kermit Gordon all had substantial input into the speech. President Kennedy took on big business when he challenged U.S. Steel. Despite an understanding that their unions would accept a pay freeze and the company would not hike prices, U.S. Steel raised its prices. At an April 11 press conference, President Kennedy called this act “a wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance of the public interest.” Privately he said, “My father always told me that all businessmen were sons of bitches, but I never believed it until now.” His battle with U.S. Steel was very much on his mind when he drafted this speech. He was well aware that the business community had not supported him during the election, but he worked hard to establish common ground with them. These pages account for about 40 percent of the delivered speech. Final Text of Speech John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University in 1940. He joined the United States Naval Reserve in 1941, and became the commander of a patrol torpedo boat in the South Pacific until 1945, when he was discharged. Kennedy served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953, and then in the U.S. Senate from 1953 to 1960, when he was elected as the 35th President at age 43.

Provenance: Sue Mortensen Vogelsinger, who worked for John F. Kennedy from 1958 to 1963, with speechwriter Ted Sorensen.

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