Freedom
President Kennedy emphasized the significance of personal and national freedom as the core tenets of democracy. He likened the era's fights for civil rights to free oppressed countries abroad and to rid the world of the threat of nuclear war to the original American revolution. The importance of freedom as a key theme is evident throughout his speech, such as his reference to the election and inauguration as a "celebration of freedom" and in his commitment to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.