U.S. Senator Bob Kerry Announcement Speech for the Candidacy of President of the United States of America on September 30, 1991 in Lincoln, 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.
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.
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."
