View speech on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhupT9o-nxk
Read full text of speech:http://library.sdsu.edu/sites/default/files/JFK-Transcript_0.pdf
By Miriam Raftery
November 21, 2013 (San Diego) – Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of that fateful day in Dallas, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Like so many Americans, I remember the moment when I heard the news. I was in second grade and the teacher started crying as she broke the news. It hit me hard, since just a few months earlier, Mom had pulled me out of class and taken me to watch the young President’s motorcade downEl Cajon Boulevard in the College area.
He had just delivered a commencement speech on June 6, 1963 at San Diego State University’s Aztec Bowl, after being the first to receive an honorary doctoral degree through a California state university. Kennedy told SDSU graduates, "As a nation, we have no deeper concern, no older commitment and no higher interest than a strong, sound and free system of education for all...In fulfilling this obligation to ourselves and our children, we provide for the future of our nation—and for the future of freedom." He reflected on the educated founders of our nation, the importance of an educated populace for the future, and the disparities in educational opportunities across the nation.
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