The exact words
What Kennedy meant in 1961
Kennedy was forty-three when he took the oath of office, and his inaugural address was built around the idea that a new generation was taking charge in a dangerous world. The Cold War was at its most tense, the arms race was accelerating, and much of the speech speaks to allies and rivals abroad as much as to Americans at home. The famous line comes near the end, after he has promised to “pay any price, bear any burden” in defense of liberty.
Read in that setting, “ask what you can do for your country” is a call to take part. Kennedy was asking Americans to see citizenship as something active, whether that meant military service, government work or volunteering, and within weeks his administration created the Peace Corps, which sent young Americans to work in developing countries. The line was not a criticism of government help; Kennedy went on to propose expanded programs of his own.
The half everyone leaves out
The famous sentence is immediately followed by a second one aimed at the rest of the world: “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” The pair works as a set. The first asks Americans to serve their country, and the second asks the world to work with America rather than simply wait for its help. Quoting only the first half turns a speech about shared effort into a slogan about national duty alone.
Why it sticks
The line is a chiasmus, a figure of speech in which the second half reverses the first: country and you, then you and country. Speechwriters love the device because the reversal makes a sentence feel complete and easy to remember. Kennedy and his speechwriter Ted Sorensen used balanced opposites throughout the address, which is one reason so many of its phrases are still quoted.
The idea itself had echoes before 1961. In a Memorial Day address in 1884, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. spoke of recalling what our country has done for each of us and asking what we can do for our country in return. Kennedy’s version became the famous one because of its compact form and its moment: a televised inauguration watched by millions.
What people get wrong
A scolding that tells people to stop expecting anything from government.
An invitation to public service and shared effort, aimed first at Americans and then, in the next breath, at the whole world.
Timeline
- 1884Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., in a Memorial Day address, urges listeners to recall what their country has done for each of them and to ask what they can do for their country in return.
- January 20, 1961Kennedy delivers the line near the end of his inaugural address in front of the Capitol, on a bitterly cold, snowy day.
- 1961The Peace Corps is created by executive order in March, one of several programs that drew on the call to service.
- TodayQuoted constantly in speeches about service and duty, almost always without the second sentence about the citizens of the world.
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Who said “ask not what your country can do for you”?
John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address as the 35th president of the United States on January 20, 1961.
What is the full quote?
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Did Kennedy write it himself?
Kennedy worked on the address closely with his speechwriter Ted Sorensen, and both contributed to the final text. Similar ideas had been expressed before, including by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. in 1884.
What rhetorical device is “ask not what your country can do for you”?
It is a chiasmus, a figure where the second half reverses the order of the first (country, you / you, country). The reversal makes the line easy to remember.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.
Sources
- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address. The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Memorial Day address, Keene, New Hampshire, May 30, 1884.