- I'm Caroline Kennedy.
May 29th would be my father's 100th birthday.
I've thought about him and missed him every day of my life.
But growing up without him was made easier
thanks to all the people who kept him in their hearts,
who told me that he inspired them to work
and fight and believe in a better world.
To give something back to this country
that has given so much to so many.
I remember hiding underneath my father's Oval Office desk
when I was little, and sitting on his lap on the Honey Fitz.
He would point out the white shark and the purple shark
who always followed the boat, although I could never
quite see them.
He said they especially liked to eat socks,
and would have his friends throw their socks overboard,
which I loved.
President Kennedy inspireda generation
that transformed America.
They marched for justice, they served in the Peace Corps,
in the inner cities, in outer space.
His brothers carried on that work, fighting against poverty,
violence and war, championing human rights,
health care and immigration.
As my father said in his inaugural address,
this work will not be finished in our lifetime.
It's up to us to continue to pass these values on
to our children and grandchildren.
- One of the defining relationships
in my life is with someone I have never met.
My grandfather, President John F. Kennedy.
It's a little odd to be connected to someone you don't know,
especially when everyone else has access to much
of the same information about him that you do.
Throughout my life, I have been able to connect
with my grandfather through the study of history,
which I know he loved, both studying his life
and studying the eras and patterns that fascinated him.
To me, that is where he lives,
as a historical figure rooted in the past
but also as a person connected to so much
of what came after him, through his writings
and from the stories my relatives have told me.
But while my grandfather had reverence for the past
and the lessons it could impart, he also knew
that America was a country where change was possible,
where we aren't bound solely by tradition
if we understand the past with which we are breaking.
- I'm inspired by my grandfather's sense of equality,
his courage in naming the injustices in American society,
and his call for action.
His words and his ideals mean so much to me
and to the world we live in today.
But we are still faced with tremendous inequality
and injustice, from voting rights to our
criminal justice system and mass incarceration.
My grandfather would be proud of how far we've come
as a nation since 1963, but he'd have been the first
to tell us that we have a long way to go.
I hope everyone, regardless of age or party,
will remember what President Kennedy
told America decades ago.
This nation was founded by men
of many nations and backgrounds.
It was founded on the principle that all men
are created equal, and that the rights of every man
are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.
- President Kennedy was elected on a platform
of challenges and not promises.
Not for what he would offer the American people
as president, but what he would ask of them.
My favorite speech is the one that President Kennedy
gave at Rice University, where he makes the case
for sending a man to the moon.
He said that that challenge was worthwhile not because
it would be easy but because it would be so hard.
My generation will inherit a complicated world,
with countless unsolved problems.
Climate change is just one of them,
but it's the type of change I think my grandfather
would have been energized about and eager to solve.
He cared deeply about the environment,
about science and technology,
and he recognized that only if America leads the world
in solving global problems can we make sure
that it's done right.
From that speech at Rice, and from the space program
he helped launch, we can learn a simple
but important lesson, great challenges are opportunities,
and it is each generation's responsibility
to meet those challenges with the same combination
of energy, faith and devotion that President Kennedy
and his contemporaries displayed decades ago.
I know that we're up to the task,
but we have to demand action from our leaders,
and we have to vote.
- As his family, we're so proud of what my father
stood for during his life,
and how powerful those values remain today.
I hope that these reflections on President Kennedy's life
and his influence on those of us who share his legacy
will encourage people across the United States
to look at challenges in their own corner of the world
and seek solutions that heal,
lift up the forgotten and make a difference
in the lives of others.
Thanks for watching.