John F. Kennedy: The New Frontier, tale ved Demokraternes konvent i Los Angeles, 15. juli 1960
Den 15. juli 1960 holdt den amerikanske præsidentkandidat John F. Kennedy en tale ved demokraternes konvent i Los Angeles. I talen trak Kennedy på frontier-myten og den identitet, myten tildeler den enkelte amerikaner og USA som nation. For at forstå Kennedys tale skal man huske på, at den blev holdt under den kolde krig, som varede fra 1945 til ca. 1990. Krigen var, som tidligere nævnt, en konflikt mellem øst og vest, primært om kontrollen over Europa, men også om kontrollen i dele af Asien, Afrika og Mellemøsten. Konfliktens hovedparter var de to supermagter USA og Sovjetunionen, og det specielle ved den kolde krig var, at det trods et svingende spændingsniveau aldrig kom til egentlige krigshandlinger mellem supermagterne.
For at få opbakning til sin politik inddrog Kennedy myten om the frontier. Kennedys idé med at inddrage frontier-myten var dels at skabe en ramme for fælles forståelse af situationen og at fastholde amerikanernes selvbillede, dels at vedligeholde et fjendebillede af modparten.
»[…] I stand here tonight facing west on what was once the last frontier. From the lands that stretch three thousand miles behind us, the pioneers gave up their safety, their comfort and sometimes their lives to build our new West. […]
Some would say that those struggles are all over, that all the horizons have been explored, that all the battles have been won, that there is no longer an American frontier. But I trust that no one in this assemblage would agree with that sentiment; for the problems are not all solved and the battles are not all won; and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier […]
Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink from that new frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric […].
Have we the nerve and the will? Can we carry through in an age where we will witness not only new breakthroughs in weapons of destruction, but also a race for mastery of the sky and the rain, the ocean and the tides, the far side of space, and the inside of men’s minds?
That is the question of The New Frontier.
That is the choice our nation must make–a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort, between national greatness and national decline, between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of ‘normalcy’, between dedication of mediocrity.
All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we shall do. And we cannot fail that trust. And we cannot fail to try. […]«.
Talen kan læses i sin helhed på hjemmesiden http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfk1960dnc.htm.
