John F. Kennedy’s Forgotten Independence Day Address
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2026
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, during some of the tensest moments of the Cold War, President Kennedy on July 4th, 1962 visited Independence Hall to give a motivating speech highlighting the importance of democracy and free enterprise around the world.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:14.0 | And we continue here with our American stories. |
| 0:17.7 | On July 4, 1962, President John F. Kennedy gave one of his very best and least known speeches. |
| 0:25.3 | JFK was a patriot, and though born to a family of wealth and privilege, served in the Pacific in World |
| 0:31.3 | War II. In the Solomon Islands, specifically, he and his Navymates ran into trouble on a torpedo patrol boat, |
| 0:39.8 | ET109. When asked how he came to be a World War II hero, which Kennedy was, he answered |
| 0:46.2 | with his usual humor. It was involuntary. They sank my boat. He won the Purple Heart and the Navy |
| 0:53.6 | and Marine Corps medals for his heroism. |
| 0:57.0 | His brother Joseph, the oldest of nine Kennedy children, was killed in action during World |
| 1:02.2 | War II while serving as a land-based patrol bomber pilot. |
| 1:06.6 | He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. |
| 1:10.1 | The Kennedy family's love of country and devotion to country was on display in the war that |
| 1:15.5 | saved Western civilization. |
| 1:18.1 | And JFK's love and affection for the nation's founding document, our birth certificate, was on |
| 1:23.8 | full display on that warm summer day in front of Independence Hall, |
| 1:29.1 | the very building in which the 56 founders signed the Declaration of Independence. |
| 1:34.4 | After the usual greetings and thanks, all 50 governors were present and a huge crowd, |
| 1:41.0 | Kennedy got started. |
| 1:42.9 | You and I are the executives of the Testament handed down by those who gathered in this |
| 1:51.5 | historic whole 186 years ago today. |
| 1:56.2 | For they gathered to affix their names to a document which was, above all else, a document |
... |
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