This is an IHeart podcast.

And we continue here with our American stories, our special Fourth of July show, all show long. On July 4, 1962, President John F.

Kennedy gave one of his very best and least known speeches. JFK was a patriot, and though born to a

family of wealth and privilege, served in the Pacific in World War II. In the Solomon Islands specifically,

he and his Navy mates ran into trouble

on a torpedo patrol boat, PT-109.

When asked how he came to be a World War II hero,

which Kennedy was, he answered with his usual humor.

It was involuntary.

They sank my boat. He won the Purple Heart

and the Navy and Marine Corps medals for his heroism. His brother Joseph, the oldest of nine

Kennedy children, was killed in action during World War II while serving as a land-based

patrol bomber pilot. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

The Kennedy family's love of country and devotion to country was on display

in the war that saved Western civilization,

and JFK's love and affection for the nation's founding document,

our birth certificate, was on full display on that

warm summer day in front of Independence Hall, the very building in which the 56 founders signed

the Declaration of Independence. After the usual greetings and thanks, all 50 governors were

present and a huge crowd, Kennedy got started. You and thanks. All 50 governors were present and a huge crowd. Kennedy got started.

You and I are the executives of the Testament handed down by those who gathered in this

historic hall 186 years ago today. For they gathered to affix their names to a document which was, above all else,

...