U.S. Senator Bob Kerry Announcement Speech for the Candidacy of President of the United States of America on September 30, 1991 in Linclon, Nebraska.
"At the center of this great country and on the edge of a new century, I am today announcing my candidacy to be the next President of the United States of America.
This announcement is to all America. But the first message is to Nebraska. You are the people who supported me each time I've asked for help. In my family, business and in politics.
I have never done anything alone; I have always needed you and you have never disappointed me.
At the beginning of this campaign I remember this community most for what you did for me during my life's most difficult time: when I came home wounded and disillusioned from the Vietnam War. Through your collective kindness, you helped a weakened, lonely and altogether unpleasant young man to renew his sense of purpose and to rediscover his spirit.
You did not ask what was in it for you. You didn't calculate the return you might receive on your investment. You simply and powerfully extended love and friendship ... and I will never be able to thank you enough.
Nothing better symbolizes the sense of new purpose we need to demand of our leaders than the building that stands behind me -- Nebraska's State Capitol. It was built by Nebraskans at the start of the Great Depression. If ever a people had the right to give up it was the people who built this building.
But just look at what they did. They built this building with cash. They built it to last and to be enjoyed beyond their lifetimes. They were not motivated by a depreciation schedule or the desire to brag about their accomplishment on their campaign brochures. They built this building for generations yet unborn. And they did something else we should notice and emulate -- they built it to inspire.
This building turns our eyes and spirits upward. It should occur to us that if God gave the Nebraskans of our past the strength and courage to overcome pessimism and build for greatness, then we ought not doubt our capacity to do the same.
It requires us to believe. It requires us to risk. Most of all it requires us to look towards and work for the future.
The words of a martyr to the cause of freedom should guide our work today:
"It may be that the day of judgment will dawn tomorrow; in that case, we shall gladly stop working for a better future. But not before."
Let us go now ... and begin the good work of building greatness in America again."
