I’m trying not to make all of today’s blog entries about the inauguration of President Obama, but I just keep finding more materials that could be educationally useful. Today’s document from the National Archives daily document collection is the full text of President Kennedy’s inaugural address. The National Archives has posted a lesson plan based around President Kennedy’s speech.

I’ve heard a number of “talking heads” make comparisons between the significance of President Kennedy’s and President Franklin Roosevelt’s inaugurations to that of President Obama. A simple lesson plan that you can conduct using the texts of Kennedy’s and Obama’s speeches is to have students make comparisons between the two. You can access the text of Obama’s speech here.

If you would like to have students compare Roosevelt’s and Obama’s addresses you can watch Roosevelt’s first inaugural address in the video below.

If you would like to have your students compare Kennedy’s and Obama’s addresses you can watch Kennedy’s inaugural address in the video below.