“Planning for the future without a sense of history,” historian Daniel Boorstin once remarked, “is like planting cut flowers.”

As the nation prepares for the inauguration of our 47th president, I offer this reflection on the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy which many critics rank among the rhetorical best, alongside the addresses of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

JFK’s speech turns 64 years old on Monday. Yet despite its age, and the radically different times in which we live, it reads with youthful vitality.

Iconic speeches often have signature lines that capture their central message. “With malice toward none, with charity for all” is how Lincoln encouraged the nation to heal in his second inaugural at the close of the Civil War. “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” FDR proclaimed to a nation stricken by the Great Depression.

Kennedy’s was the famous “ask not” quote which set the tone for his administration. Unfortunately, it has become so familiar it borders on cliché. The speech is much more than that pithy summation and its themes bear revisiting.

Kennedy’s summons was not only to public service but to idealism — and what we can accomplish when cooperating with others.

He often referred to himself as “an idealist without illusions.” He believed that politics was a noble profession and proposed government-led efforts to put a man on the moon, eliminate poverty, confront environmental challenges, and inspire Americans to join the Peace Corps.

JFK drafted his address at his parents’ home in Palm Beach. He later remarked that when flying back and forth from Washington, D.C., to Florida, he looked down at those living along the eastern seaboard and wondered how he might best reignite the spirit of the American revolution in his fellow citizens.

One approach he took was generational.

“We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution,” Kennedy stated. And then explained: “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans — born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage — and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.”

The reference to human rights “at home” (i.e. civil rights for African Americans) was an anomaly. The speech focused almost entirely on foreign policy. In fact, many consider it a hallmark of Cold War rhetoric. But read closely it is replete with words of conciliation and an outstretched hand “to friend and foe alike.”

Hear these lines directed to our closest allies:

“United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do — for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.”

And these were addressed to our adversaries in the Soviet bloc:

“So let us begin anew … Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. … Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce. Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah — to “undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free.”

One of the young Americans JFK inspired to public service was David McCullough, who moved from New York City to Washington, D.C., to work for the United States Information Agency.

“He spoke to us,” McCullough observed, “with a vitality and sense of purpose such as we had never heard before. … He was ambitious to make a better world and so were we. His words changed lives. His words changed history.”

They are now, thankfully, not some moribund “cut flowers” preserved in wax paper for posterity — but a living root from our past. And while the shoots emitted by this idealistic strain in our history remain, temporarily, in the shadows of today’s politics, I am hopeful that in the light of coming days, and with the proper nourishment, they will flourish once again.

Tom Putnam lives in Cape Porpoise and is the former director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.