“Yes. Most certainly he did, fact.”
No.
Not entirely.
This quote is the product (AFAIK) of the usual “anonymous sources” that everybody despises so much and freaks out over. And from the New York Slimes no less.
Or is it that we all despise anonymous sources when its something we dislike, and cherish anonymous sources when its something we want to use ourselves? I’ve yet to get a straight answer on that.
Well, I just tried to see if a quick perusal of the web could turn up ideally a video of JFK saying it, or at least what speech it was in (secret society speech, speech to newswriters, etc), with nothing solid I can link to.
I will say the quote is quite ubiquitous, and usually said definitively.