John F. Kennedy - Ask Not

Robert Frost was supposed to read a new poem at John F. Kennedy's inauguration on January 20, 1961. The glare of the sun on the fresh snow was so strong he could not see his page, so he set it aside and recited "The Gift Outright" from memory.

Kennedy's address ran 1,366 words. Near the end came the sentence that outlived the rest: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

The idea may have reached him at school. Decades later an archivist at Choate, the Connecticut school Kennedy finished in 1935, found a passage in headmaster George St. John's sermon notes: the youth who loves his alma mater will ask not what she can do for him, but what he can do for her.

The poster has the flat, bold look of a mid-century campaign print. Kennedy's face is cut into planes of peach, orange and shadow above a navy suit and tie, with red, cream and navy rays fanning out behind his head. The line runs in heavy cream capitals down the right side, over a red band carrying his name and "35th President of the United States."