John F. Kennedy was the youngest president ever to take office and the first president to be born in the twentieth century. As the seventy-year-old Eisenhower relinquished the presidency to his successor, a new generation came of age — in Kennedy's words, a generation “born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage.” Kennedy's powerful inaugural address set the tone for his new presidency. A Gallup poll taken shortly after the inauguration showed an approval rating of 72 percent for the man who had squeaked into the Oval Office by the barest of margins in the November elections. But behind all the promise of the new administration loomed the threat of the Cold War.