John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States on January 20, 1961, at 43 years old, the youngest man ever elected to the office. (Theodore Roosevelt was younger when he assumed the presidency at 42, but he succeeded the assassinated McKinley rather than winning election at that age.) Kennedy was also the first Roman Catholic president, overcoming anti-Catholic prejudice that had been a significant force in American politics since the colonial era. The ceremony took place on a bitterly cold day in Washington. Eight inches of snow had fallen the night before, and temperatures hovered around 22 degrees Fahrenheit. The poet Robert Frost, 86 years old, attempted to read a newly written poem but was blinded by the sun's glare on the snow and recited "The Gift Outright" from memory instead. Cardinal Richard Cushing delivered an invocation so long that smoke began rising from the lectern, caused by a short circuit in the electrical wiring. Kennedy delivered his inaugural address without an overcoat, projecting an image of youthful vigor that was carefully cultivated. He suffered from Addison's disease and chronic back pain, conditions managed through daily medications and corticosteroid injections. His health was a closely guarded secret. The speech itself, drafted primarily by Theodore Sorensen with Kennedy's extensive revisions, was 1,366 words long and lasted less than fourteen minutes. It contained the most quoted line of any inaugural address: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." The line was a generational challenge, addressed to Americans born during or after World War II, promising something new after the gray-suited Eisenhower years. The speech was also a Cold War document, declaring that the United States would "pay any price, bear any burden" in defense of liberty, language that critics later cited as the rhetorical foundation for escalation in Vietnam. The tension between inspiration and overcommitment was present from the first hour of his presidency.