Mar. 23, 1962 - President Kennedy's speech at Berkeley

Mar. 23, 1962 - President Kennedy said today that the democratic world could look forward to the future with “a new confidence.” The tide of history, he asserted, favors freedom over totalitarianism. Mr. Kennedy sounded his note of optimism before a crowd of 86,000 persons gathered in the University of California’s football stadium in Berkeley. “The wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed,” he declared, “but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men.” The speech appeared to be well received by the crowd packed into the stadium. The President spoke at Charter Day exercises at the university after Dr. Edward William Strong had been invested as chancellor of the Berkeley division of the University. The ceremony was conducted by Dr. Clark Kerr, president of the university.