Did John F. Kennedy say Americans Could Be Entrusted with ‘Unpleasant Facts’

Over the years, social media users have shared a statement about entrusting Americans with “unpleasant facts” purportedly spoken by former President John F. Kennedy.

The posts alleged that former President John F. Kennedy had said:

“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”

In fact, we discovered various social media posts containing the quote over the years, like a 2019 Reddit post, a 2022 Twitter post, a 2023 Facebook post, and a 2023 TikTok post.

Did John F. Kennedy Say Americans Could Be Entrusted with ‘Unpleasant Facts’

The quote is correctly attributed to JFK. The quote has been posted on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum website. And the quote has also been post on The American Presidency Project website, which analyzes the American presidency and holds many presidential documents.

The statement was uttered during a Feb. 26, 1962, speech Kennedy gave about the 20th anniversary of Voice of America (VOA), the state-owned U.S. news network. The presidential library’s website described the speech as being about “the necessity of freedom of information and complete truthfulness of the media.”

The full paragraph the quote came from discussed the values of the VOA network. It said:

In 1946 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution reading in part, “freedom of information is a fundamental human right, and the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated.” This is our touchstone as well. This is the code of the Voice of America. We welcome the views of others. We seek a free flow of information across national boundaries and oceans, across iron curtains and stone walls. We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

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