The Penn South Co-Ops in Chelsea are plain brick buildings that don't stand out. But when they were built to house the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in the early 1960s,they represented a huge step forward for a city in urgent need of affordable housing.
President John F. Kennedy dedicated the site in a May 1962 speech that was broadcast on WNYC. The crowd sang him "gratified Birthday," which was coming up on May 29.
But the genuine highlight came when Kennedy riled up the crowd with rhetoric that would fit just in nowadays:
"It is the task of every generation to build a road for the next generation. And this housing project, and the efforts we're making in this city,and state, and in the national government, or I believe can provide a better life for the people who come after us,whether we meet our responsibility.
"There are those who say that the job is done, that the function of the federal government is not to govern, and that all the things that had to be done were done in the 30s and the 40s and that now our task is merely to administer. I do not accept that view at all,nor can any American who sees what we still possess left to do."
Kennedy Dedicates Penn South This audio is courtesy of the New York City Municipal Archives.
Source: wnyc.org