Editor’s note: This is the 67th in a series of essays on the history and meaning of the American political tradition. “The New Frontier” was the keynote of John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, which he sounded at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco on July 15, 1960, in a speech accepting the party’s nomination to become President of the United States. He presented himself standing at the physical boundary of the continental United States looking west. In his mind’s eye, inspired by the s … (read more)
