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Masters of Chiasmus: John F. Kennedy (Part 1)

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

In 1961, JFK became the 35th president of the United States, the youngest man—and the first Catholic—ever elected to the office. No American politician has used chiasmus more extensively—or more effectively. Is there anybody who hasn't heard these stirring words from his inaugural address?

"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Listen to the quote:

Like millions of others, I was profoundly moved by JFK's inaugural speech, and especially by these simple but powerful words. The power of this now-immortal line derives not only from what JFK was saying, but how he phrased it. When great content is combined with the intriguing structure of chiasmus, the result can be unforgettable.

During my research over the past decade, I discovered that the "ask not" sentiment was not completely original with Kennedy. In my Never Let a Fool Kiss You book, I present three other very similar sentiments from Warren G. Harding, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and LeBaron Russell Briggs, a popular turn-of-the century writing professor at Harvard who in 1904 urged students to think of their Alma Mater and: "Always ask, not 'What can she do for me?' but 'What can I do for her?'"

Since the book was published, I've discovered several additional quotes that bear a close resemblance to Kennedy's famous line. In an 1893 speech, for example, an English politician named St. John Broderick said: "The first duty of a citizen is to consider what he can do for the state and not what the state will do for him."

Was Kennedy inspired by any of these earlier quotes? It's certainly plausible, since he attended Harvard and was certainly familiar with the speeches of Harding and Holmes. We'll probably never know for sure, but my guess is that JFK was familiar with at least some of these earlier versions of the sentiment, and they lodged in the back of his mind, only to reappear years later. All of this is mere speculation, however, and only one conclusion is certain. Kennedy may not have said it first, but he clearly said it best.

The "Ask not" line wasn't the first chiastic phrase to come from the young president's mouth, nor would it be the last. With the help of a talented group of speechwriters that included Theodore Sorenson and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., JFK used chiasmus so often that William Safire, in The New Language of Politics, wrote that his speeches were said to be written in "the Sorenson Style."

The rhetorical flourish of chiasmus came to be so associated with Sorenson that he even took some playful ribbing about it. In a 1967 column, for example, William F. Buckley urged Americans to squarely face the world Communist revolution, or suffer the consequences. In a good-natured parody, he wrote: "Unless we learn how to cope with it, it will—as Theodore Sorenson would put it—cope with us."

And in his 1998 book Great Political Wit, Bob Dole reveals the lighter side of a politician not noted for a sense of humor, Richard Nixon. Here's the story, in Dole's own words:

Shortly after President Kennedy's famous inauguration in 1961, Nixon and presidential aide Ted Sorenson met. Their conversation turned to Kennedy's inaugural address. "I wish I had said some of those things," Nixon said.

"Which part?" Sorenson asked, justifiably proud of his speechwriting prowess. "That part about 'Ask not what your country can do for you?'"

"No," replied Nixon. "The part that starts, 'I do solemnly swear.'"

Now let's move on to other chiastic quotes from John F. Kennedy.

This line also comes from the 1961 inaugural address. Overshadowed by the enormous popularity of the "Ask not" line, it's not as familiar as it might otherwise have been. In a speech to the United Nations later in the year, Kennedy reprised the sentiment: "We shall never negotiate out of fear, we shall never fear to negotiate."

President-elect Kennedy delivered these words to a joint session at the Massachusetts State House in January of 1961, just prior to his inauguration.

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind."

Kennedy said this in a 1961 address to the United Nations. President Truman had said something similar in a 1946 speech: "If we do not abolish war on this earth, then surely, one day war will abolish us from the earth."

This came from an address at the 90th anniversary of Vanderbilt University in 1963.

Some of Kennedy's more memorable chiastic phrasings don't come from short, "sound-bite" quotes, but from somewhat more extensive passages. Here are several examples.

Kennedy was adept at winning people over with his sense of humor. This line drew hearty laughter and appreciative applause when JFK used it in a 1961 address to the American Newspaper Publishers Association. Most of the publishers in the audience had endorsed Richard Nixon in the 1960 election and many were highly critical in the early days of the Kennedy Administration. The speech, and especially this clever line, helped turn many early critics into eventual supporters—or at least respecters—of a president with such grace and wit.

This comes from a 1963 speech Kennedy gave at the University of Maine. The story has been told for centuries in England, demonstrating the popularity of chiasmus among academics and intellectuals.

 Continue to Part 2

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