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I Believe In An America That Is Officially Neither Catholic, Protestant, Or Jewish - Where Religious Liberty Is So Indivisible That An Act Against One Church Is Treated As An Act Against All.

-John F. Kennedy

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I Believe In An

John F. Kennedy

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I Believe In An America That Is Officially Neither Catholic, Protestant, Or Jewish - Where Religious Liberty Is So Indivisible That An Act Against One Church Is Treated As An Act Against All.

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Those Who Came Before Us Made Certain That This Country Rode The First Waves Of The Industrial Revolution, The First Waves Of Modern Invention And The First Wave Of Nuclear Power. And This Generation Does Not Intend To Founder In The Backwash Of The Coming Age Of Space. We Mean To Be Part Of It-we Mean To Lead It.

The Basis Of Effective Government Is Public Confidence, And That Confidence Is Endangered When Ethical Standards Falter Or Appear To Falter.

Ethical Standards

We Go Into Space Because Whatever Mankind Must Undertake, Free Men Must Fully Share.

We Will Not Prematurely Or Unnecessarily Risk The Costs Of A Worldwide Nuclear War In Which Even The Fruits Of Victory Would Be Ashes In Our Mouth - But Neither Shall We Shrink From That Risk Any Time It Must Be Faced.

A Canadian Newspaperman Said Yesterday That This Is The President's "easter Egghead Roll On The White House Lawn." I Want To Deny That!

For If Freedom And Communism Were To Compete For Mans Allegiance In A World At Peace, I Would Look To The Future With Ever Increasing Confidence.

Our True Choice Is Not Between Tax Reduction On The One Hand And The Avoidance Of Large Federal Deficits On The Other. It Is Increasingly Clear That No Matter What Party Is In Power, So Long As Our National Security Needs Keep Rising, An Economy Hampered By Restrictive Tax Rates Will Never Produce Enough Revenues To Balance Our Budget, Just As It Will Never Produce Enough Jobs Or Enough Profits.

Art Establishes The Basic Human Truths Which Must Serve As The Touchstone Of Our Judgement.

Third, And Finally, The Educated Citizen Has An Obligation To Uphold The Law. This Is The Obligation Of Every Citizen In A Free And Peaceful Society--but The Educated Citizen Has A Special Responsibility By The Virtue Of His Greater Understanding. For Whether He Has Ever Studied History Or Current Events, Ethics Or Civics, The Rules Of A Profession Or The Tools Of A Trade, He Knows That Only A Respect For The Law Makes It Possible For Free Men To Dwell Together In Peace And Progress.

And Lastly, Chairman Khrushchev Has Compared The United States To A Worn-out Runner Living On Its Past Performance, And Stated That The Soviet Union Would Out-produce The United States By 1970. Without Wishing To Trade Hyperbole With The Chairman, I Do Suggest That He Reminds Me Of The Tiger Hunter Who Has Picked A Place On The Wall To Hang The Tiger's Skin Long Before He His Caught The Tiger. This Tiger Has Other Ideas.

Let Both Sides Explore What Problems Unite Us Instead Of Belaboring Those Problems Which Divide Us.

We Are Confronted Primarily With A Moral Issue... Whether All Americans Are To Be Afforded Equal Rights And Equal Opportunities, Whether We Are Going To Treat Our Fellow Americans As We Want To Be Treated.

The Tax On Capital Gains Directly Affects Investment Decisions, The Mobility And Flow Of Risk Capital From Static To More Dynamic Situations, The Ease Or Difficulty Experienced By New Ventures In Obtaining Capital, And Thereby The Strength And Potential For Growth Of The Economy.

Truth Is A Tyrant-the Only Tyrant To Whom We Can Give Our Allegiance. The Service Of Truth Is A Matter Of Heroism.

Perhaps Scientists Have Been The Most International Of All Professions In Their Outlook... Every Time You Scientists Make A Major Invention, We Politicians Have To Invent A New Institution To Cope With It-and Almost Invariably, These Days, It Must Be An International Institution.

We Are Tied To The Ocean. And When We Go Back To The Sea, Whether It Is To Sail Or To Watch - We Are Going Back From Whence We Came.

Every Area Of Trouble Gives Out A Ray Of Hope; And The One Unchangeable Certainty Is That Nothing Is Certain Or Unchangeable.

There Is Nothing, I Think, More Unfortunate Than To Have Soft, Chubby, Fat-looking Children Who Go To Watch Their School Play Basketball Every Saturday And Regard That As Their Weeks Exercise.

Mankind Must Put An End To War Before War Puts An End To Mankind.

I Believe In Human Dignity As The Source Of National Purpose, Human Liberty As The Source Of National Action, The Human Heart As The Source Of National Compassion, And In The Human Mind As The Source Of Our Invention And Our Ideas

The Science Of Weapons And War Has Made Us All One World And One Human Race With One Common Destiny.

Harry Truman Once Said, 'there Are 14 Or 15 Million Americans Who Have The Resources To Have Representatives In Washington To Protect Their Interests, And That The Interests Of The Great Mass Of The Other People - The 150 Or 160 Million - Is The Responsibility Of The President Of The United States, And I Propose To Fulfill It.'

We Cannot Reform The World.... Uncle Sugar Is As Dangerous A Role For Us To Play As Uncle Shylock.

The Lower The Family Income, The Higher The Probability That The Mother Must Work. Today, 1 Out Of 5 Of These Working Mothers Has Children Under 3. Two Out Of 5 Have Children Of School Age. Among The Remainder, About 50 Percent Have Husbands Who Earn Less Than $5,000 A Year-many Of Them Much Less. I Believe They Bear The Heaviest Burden Of Any Group In Our Nation. Where The Mother Is The Sole Support Of The Family, She Often Must Face The Hard Choice Of Either Accepting Public Assistance Or Taking A Position At A Pay Rate Which Averages Less Than Two-thirds Of The Pay Rate For Men.

Economic Growth Without Social Progress Lets The Great Majority Of The People Remain In Poverty, While A Privileged Few Reap The Benefits Of Rising Abundance.

There Can Be No Progress If People Have No Faith In Tomorrow.

We Have All Seen These Circus Elephants Complete With Tusks, Ivory In Their Head And Thick Skins, Who Move Around The Circus Ring And Grab The Tail Of The Elephant Ahead Of Them.

In A Time Of Domestic Crisis, Men Of Goodwill And Generosity Should Be Able To Unite Regardless Of Party Or Politics.

I Believe In An America That Is Officially Neither Catholic, Protestant, Or Jewish - Where Religious Liberty Is So Indivisible That An Act Against One Church Is Treated As An Act Against All.

We Stand Today On The Edge Of A New Frontier - The Frontier Of The 1960's - A Frontier Of Unknown Opportunities And Perils - A Frontier Of Unfulfilled Hopes And Threats.

Time And The World Do Not Stand Still. Change Is The Law Of Life.

Future Thinking

And So It Is That I Carry With Me From This State To That High And Lonely Office To Which I Now Succeed More Than Fond Memories And Fast Friendships. The Enduring Qualities Of Massachusetts - The Common Threads Woven By The Pilgrim And The Puritan, The Fisherman And The Farmer, The Yankee And The Immigrant - Will Not Be And Could Not Be Forgotten In The Nations Executive Mansion. They Are An Indelible Part Of My Life, My Convictions, My View Of The Past, My Hopes For The Future.

At The Start Of 2005 The Idea Of Downloading A Song To A Mobile Phone Was An Idea, By The End Of The Year It Was A Reality.

A Tax Cut Means Higher Family Income And Higher Business Profits And A Balanced Federal Budget.

Our Problems Are Man-made, Therefore They May Be Solved By Man. And Man Can Be As Big As He Wants. No Problem Of Human Destiny Is Beyond Human Beings.

In A Very Real Sense, It Will Not Be One Man Going To The Moon It Will Be An Entire Nation. For All Of Us Must Work To Put Him There.

... The United States Was Not Built By Those Who Waited And Rested And Wished To Look Behind Them. This Country Was Conquered By Those Who Moved Forward, And So Will Space.

Diplomacy And Defense Are Not Substitutes For One Another. Either Alone Would Fail.

Be Strong And Of Good Courage; Be Not Afraid, Neither Be Thou Dismayed.

I Hope That No American Will Waste His Franchise And Throw Away His Vote By Voting Either For Me Or Against Me Solely On Account Of My Religious Affiliation. It Is Not Relevant.

We Are Not Here To Curse The Darkness, But To Light The Candle That Can Guide Us Through That Darkness To A Safe And Sane Future.

Israel Will Endure And Flourish. It Is The Child Of Hope And The Home Of The Brave.

Anyone Who Is Honestly Seeking A Job And Can't Find It, Deserves The Attention Of The United States Government, And The People.

The Time To Repair The Roof Is When The Sun Is Shining.

There Is An Old Saying That The Course Of Civilization Is A Race Between Catastrophe And Education. In A Democracy Such As Ours, We Must Make Sure That Education Wins The Race.

I Believe That This Nation Should Commit Itself To Achieving The Goal, Before This Decade Is Out, Of Landing A Man On The Moon And Returning Him Safely To The Earth. No Single Space Project...will Be More Exciting, Or More Impressive To Mankind, Or More Important...and None Will Be So Difficult Or Expensive To Accomplish.

I Do Not Say That All Men Are Equal In Their Ability, Character And Motivation. I Do Say That Every American Should Be Given A Fair Chance To Develop All The Talents They May Have.

Physical Fitness Is The Basis For All Other Forms Of Excellence.

Physical Fitness

A Medical Revolution Has Extended The Life Of Our Elder Citizens Without Providing The Dignity And Security Those Later Years Deserve.

A Tired Nation, Said David Lloyd George, Is A Tory Nation, And The United States Today Cannot Afford To Be Either Tired Or Tory.

I Think When We Talk About Corporal Punishment, And We Have To Think About Our Own Children, And We Are Rather Reluctant, It Seems To Me, To Have Other People Administering Punishment To Our Own Children, Because We Are Reluctant, It Puts A Special Obligation On Us To Maintain Order And To Send Children Out From Our Homes Who Accept The Idea Of Discipline. So I Would Not Be For Corporal Punishment In The School, But I Would Be For Very Strong Discipline At Home So We Don't Place An Unfair Burden On Our Teachers.

The Success Of This Government, And Thus The Success Of Our Nation, Depends In The Last Analysis Upon The Quality.of Our Career Services. The Legislation Enacted By The Congress, As Well As The Decisions Made By Me And By The Department And Agency Heads, Must All Be Implemented By The Career Men And Women In The Federal Service. In Foreign Affairs, National Defense, Science And Technology, And A Host Of Other Fields, They Face Problems Of Unprecedented Importance And Perplexity. We Are All Dependent On Their Sense Of Loyalty And Responsibility As Well As Their Competence And Energy.

As A Great Democratic Society, We Have A Special Responsibility To The Arts. For Art Is The Great Democrat, Calling Forth Creative Genius From Every Sector Of Society, Disregarding Race Or Religion Or Wealth Or Color. What Freedom Alone Can Bring Is The Liberation Of The Human Mind And A Spirit Which Finds Its Greatest Flowering In The Free Society. I See Of Little More Importance To The Future Of Our Country And Our Civilization Than The Full Recognition Of The Place Of The Artist.

Communism Has Never Come To Power In A Country That Was Not Disrupted By War Or Corruption, Or Both.

The Education Of Our People Should Be A Lifelong Process By Which We Continue To Feed New Vigor Into The Lifestream Of The Nation Through Intelligent, Reasoned Decisions. Let Us Not Think Of Education Only In Terms Of Its Costs, But Rather In Terms Of The Infinite Potential Of The Human Mind That Can Be Realized Through Education. Let Us Think Of Education As The Means Of Developing Our Greatest Abilities, Because In Each Of Us There Is A Private Hope And Dream Which, Fulfilled, Can Be Translated Into Benefit For Everyone And Greater Strength For Our Nation.

This Is Not The Land Of My Birth, But It Is The Land For Which I Hold The Greatest Affection, And I Certainly Will Come Back In The Springtime

What's The Use Of Being Irish If The World Doesn't Break Your Heart?

Ireland And The Irish

No President Should Fear Public Scrutiny Of His Program. For From That Scrutiny Comes Understanding; And From That Understanding Comes Support Or Opposition And Both Are Necessary. I Am Not Asking Your Newspapers To Support The Administration, But I Am Asking Your Help In The Tremendous Task Of Informing And Alerting The American People. For I Have Complete Confidence In The Response And Dedication Of Our Citizens Whenever They Are Fully Informed.

Hold Fast To The Best Of The Past And Move Fast To The Best Of The Future.

Do Not Pray For Easy Lives. Pray To Be Stronger Men.

Will Rogers Once Said It Is Not The Original Investment In A Congressman That Counts; It Is The Upkeep.

We Also Need The Provisions In The Tax Bill That Will Permit Working Mothers To Increase The Deduction From Income Tax Liability For Costs Incurred In Providing Care For Their Children While The Mothers Are Working. In October The Commission On The Status Of Women Will Report To Me. This Problem Should Have A High Priority, And I Think That Whatever We Leave Undone This Year We Must Move On This In January.

There's An Old Saying. Never Send A Boy To Do A Man's Job, Send A Lady.

[war] Can No Longer Be Of Concern To Great Powers Alone.

Never Let Your Fears Hold You Back From Pursuing Your Hopes.

A Nation That Is Afraid To Let Its People Judge The Truth And Falsehood In An Open Market Is A Nation That Is Afraid Of Its People.

The Problems With This World Cannot Possibly Be Solved By Sceptics Or Cynics Whose Horizons Are Limited By The Obvious Realities. We Need People Who Can Dream Of Things That Never Were.

Irrational Barriers And Ancient Prejudices Fall Quickly When The Question Of Survival Itself Is At Stake.

Acting On Our Own, By Ourselves, We Cannot Establish Justice Throughout The World, But Joined With Other Free Nations, We Can ... Assist The Developing Nations To Throw Off The Yoke Of Poverty.

The Poet And The Politician Have This In Common: Their Greatness Depends On The Courage With Which They Face The Challenges Of Life.

In A World Of Danger And Trial, Peace Is Our Deepest Aspiration.

Wherever There Is Smoke There Is A Good Smoke Machine.

In The Years Since Man Unlocked The Power Stored Up Within The Atom, The World Has Made Progress, Halting, But Effective, Toward Bringing That Power Under Human Control. The Challenge May Be Our Salvation. As We Begin To Master The Destructive Potentialities Of Modern Science, We Move Toward A New Era In Which Science Can Fulfill Its Creative Promise And Help Bring Into Existence The Happiest Society The World Has Ever Known.

I Believe In An America Where The Separation Of Church And State Is Absolute - Where No Catholic Prelate Would Tell The President (should He Be Catholic) How To Act. I Do Not Speak For My Church On Public Matters - And The Church Does Not Speak For Me.

If A Beach-head Of Cooperation May Push Back The Jungle Of Suspicion, Let Both Sides Join In Creating A New Endeavor, Not A New Balance Of Power, But A New World Of Law, Where The Strong Are Just And The Weak Secure And The Peace Preserved. All This Will Not Be Finished In The First One Hundred Days. Nor Will It Be Finished In The First One Thousand Days, Nor In The Life Of This Administration, Nor Even Perhaps In Our Lifetime On This Planet. But Let Us Begin.

I Ask Particularly That Those Of You Who Are Now In School Will Prepare Yourselves To Bear The Burden Of Leadership Over The Next 40 Years Here In The United States, And Make Sure That The United States - Which I Believe Almost Alone Has Maintained Watch And Ward For Freedom - That The United States Meet Its Responsibility. That Is A Wonderful Challenge For Us As A People.

Leadership And Learning Are Indispensable To Each Other.

One-third Of The World, It Has Been Said, May Be Free- -but One-third Is The Victim Of Cruel Repression--and The Other One- Third Is Rocked By The Pangs Of Poverty, Hunger And Envy. More Energy Is Released By The Awakening Of These New Nations Than By The Fission Of The Atom Itself.

This Government, As Promised, Has Maintained The Closest Surveillance Of The Soviet Military Buildup On The Island Of Cuba. Within The Past Week, Unmistakable Evidence Has Established The Fact That A Series Of Offensive Missile Sites Is Now In Preparation On That Imprisoned Island. The Purpose Of These Bases Can Be None Other Than To Provide A Nuclear Strike Capability Against The Western Hemisphere.

There Is A Connection, Hard To Explain Logically But Easy To Feel, Between Achievement In Public Life And Progress In The Arts.

Justice Delayed Is Democracy Denied.

If Scientific Discovery Has Not Been An Unalloyed Blessing, If It Has Conferred On Mankind The Power Not Only To Create But Also To Annihilate, It Has At The Same Time Provided Humanity With A Supreme Challenge And A Supreme Testing

The Future Promise Of Any Nation Can Be Directly Measured By The Present Prospects Of Its Youth.

Freedom Has Many Difficulties And Democracy Is Not Perfect, But We Have Never Had To Put Up A Wall To Keep Our People In.

Our Deep Spiritual Confidence That This Nation Will Survive The Perils Of Today - Which May Well Be With Us For Decades To Come - Compels Us To Invest In Our Nation's Future, To Consider And Meet Our Obligations To Our Children And The Numberless Generations That Will Follow.

I Would Rather Be Accused Of Breaking Precedents Than Breaking Promises.

Broken Promises

Keeping Your Word

Breaking Promises

... The Athenian Lawmaker Solon Decreed It A Crime For Any Citizen To Shrink From Controversy.

One Hundred And Fifty Years Ago The Vacant Lands Of The West Were Opened To Private Use. One Hundred Years Ago The Congress Passed The Homestead Act, Probably The Single Greatest Stimulus To National Development Ever Enacted. Under The Impetus Of That Act And Other Laws, More Than 1.1 Billion Acres Of The Original Public Main Have Been Transferred To Private And Non-federal Public Ownership. The 768 Million Acres Remaining In Federal Ownership Are A Valuable National Asset.

I Am Not So Much Concerned With The Right Of Everyone To Say Anything He Pleases As I Am About Our Need As A Self-governing People To Hear Everything Relevant.

Peaceful Circulation Has Been Interupted By Barbed Wire And Concrete Blocks. For A City Or A People To Be Truly Free, They Must Have The Secure Right, Without Economic, Political Or Police Pressure, To Make Their Own Choices And Live Their Own Lives.

I Believe In An America That Is Officially Neither Catholic, Protestant Nor Jewish; Where No Public Official Either Requests Or Accepts Instructions On Public Policy From The Pope, The National Council Of Churches Or Any Other Ecclesiastical Source; Where No Religious Body Seeks To Impose Its Will Directly Or Indirectly Upon The General Populace Or The Public Acts Of Its Officials; And Where Religious Liberty Is So Indivisible That An Act Against One Church Is Treated As An Act Against All.

The Margin Is Narrow, But The Responsibility Is Clear.

I'm An Idealist Without Illusions.

Only In Winter Can You Tell Which Trees Are Truly Green. Only When The Winds Of Adversity Blow Can You Tell Whether An Individual Or A Country Has Steadfastness.

I Am The One Person Who Can Truthfully Say, I Got My Job Through The New York Times.

We Do Not Want An Official State Church. If Ninety-nine Percent Of The Population Were Catholics, I Would Still Be Opposed To It. I Do Not Want Civil Power Combined With Religious Power. I Want To Make It Clear That I Am Committed As A Matter Of Deep Personal Conviction To Separation.

Word To The Nation: Guard Zealously Your Right To Serve In The Armed Forces, For Without Them, There Will Be No Other Rights To Guard.

I Have Seen In Many Places Housing Which Has Been Developed Under Government Influences, But I Have Never Seen Any Projects In Which Governments Have Played Their Part Which Have Fountains And Statues And Grass And Trees, Which Are As Important To The Concept Of The Home As The Roof Itself.

I Do Not Speak For My Church On Public Matters; And The Church Does Not Speak For Me.

Change Is The Law Of Life. And Those Who Look Only To The Past Or The Present Are Certain To Miss The Future.

I Am Fully Aware Of The Fact That The Democratic Party, By Nominating Someone Of My Faith, Has Taken On What Many Regard As A New And Hazardous Risk.

We Dare Not Forget That We Are The Heirs Of That First Revolution.

I Know My Republican Friends Were Glad To See My Wife Feeding An Elephant In India. She Gave Him Sugar And Nuts. But Of Course The Elephant Wasn't Satisfied.

Automation Does Not Need To Be Our Enemy. I Think Machines Can Make Life Easier For Men, If Men Do Not Let The Machines Dominate Them.

I Know There Is A God - I See The Storm Coming And I See His Hand In It - If He Has A Place Then I Am Ready - We See The Hand.

The Great French Marshall Lyautey Once Asked His Gardener To Plant A Tree. The Gardner Objected That The Tree Was Slow Growing And Wouldn't Reach Maturity For 100 Years. The Marshall Replied, "in That Case, There Is No Time To Lose; Plant It This Afternoon!

A Child Miseducated Is A Child Lost.

A Police State Finds That It Cannot Command The Grain To Grow.

Lobbyists Are In Many Cases Expert Technicians And Capable Of Explaining Complex And Difficult Subjects In A Clear, Understandable Fashion. They Engage In Personal Discussions With Members Of Congress In Which They Can Explain In Detail The Reasons For Positions They Advocate. Because Our Congressional Representation Is Based On Geographical Boundaries, The Lobbyists Who Speak For The Various Economic, Commercial, And Other Functional Interests Of This Country Serve A Very Useful Purpose And Have Assumed An Important Role In The Legislative Process.

I See No Magic In Tax Dollars Which Are Sent To Washington And Then Returned. I Abhor The Waste And Incompetence Of Large-scale Federal Bureaucracies In This Administration As Well As In Others. I Do Not Favor State Compulsion When Voluntary Individual Effort Can Do The Job And Do It Well.

Individual Effort

Great Crises Produce Great Men, And Great Deeds Of Courage.

If I Had To Live My Life Over Again, I Would Have A Different Father, A Different Wife And A Different Religion.

Our Task Is Not To Fix Blame For The Past, But To Fix The Course For The Future.

It Might Be Said Now That I Have The Best Of Both Worlds. A Harvard Education And A Yale Degree.

In The Long History Of The World, Only A Few Generations Have Been Granted The Role Of Defending Freedom In Its Hour Of Maximum Danger. I Do Not Shrink From This Responsibility - I Welcome It.

As They Say On My Own Cape Cod, A Rising Tide Lifts All The Boats. And A Partnership, By Definition, Serves Both Partners, Without Domination Or Unfair Advantage. Together We Have Been Partners In Adversitylet Us Also Be Partners In Prosperity.

No Sane Society Chooses To Commit National Suicide.

Where Else, In A Non-totalitarian Country, But In The Political Profession Is The Individual Expected To Sacrifice All-including His Own Career-for The National Good?

Let Us Not Be Blind To Our Differences-but Let Us Also Direct Attention To Our Common Interests And To The Means By Which Those Differences Can Be Resolved. And If We Cannot End Our Differences, At Least We Can Help Make The World Safe For Diversity. For, In The Final Analysis, Our Most Common Link Is That We All Inhabit This Small Planet. We All Breathe The Same Air. We All Cherish Our Children's Future. And We Are All Mortal.

Race Has No Place In American Life Or Law.

I Will Splinter The Cia Into A Thousand Pieces And Scatter It Into The Winds.

Every President Has Taken Comfort And Courage When Told...that The Lord "will Be With Thee. He Will Not Fail Thee Nor Forsake Thee. Fear Not-neither Be Thou Dismayed."

Most Cities Are Nouns. New York's A Verb.

A Full Scale Nuclear Exchange, Lasting Less Than 60 Minutes...could Wipe Out More Than 300 Million Americans, Europeans, And Russians, As Well As Untold Numbers Elsewhere. And The Survivors-as Chairman Khrushchev Warned The Communist Chinese, `the Survivors Would Envy The Dead.' For They Would Inherit A World So Devastated By Explosions And Poison And Fire That Today We Cannot Conceive Of Its Horrors.

If The Economy Of Today Were Operating Close To Capacity Levels With Little Unemployment, Or If A Sudden Change In Our Military Requirements Should Cause A Scramble For Men And Resources, Then I Would Oppose Tax Reductions As Irresponsible And Inflationary; And I Would Not Hesitate To Recommend A Tax Increase If That Were Necessary.

We Choose To Go To The Moon In This Decade And Do The Other Things. Not Because They Are Easy, But Because They Are Hard.

Israel Was Not Created In Order To Disappear. Israel Will Endure And Flourish.

If We Fail To Encourage Physical Development And Prowess, We Will Undermine Our Capcity For Thought, For Work, And For Use Of Those Skills Vital To An Expanding And Complex America.

Never Have The Nations Of The World Had So Much To Lose, Or So Much To Gain. Together We Shall Save Our Planet, Or Together We Shall Perish In Its Flames.

Let Us Never Negotiate Out Of Fear. But Let Us Never Fear To Negotiate.

The Very Word Secrecy Is Repugnant In A Free And Open Society.

Everywhere Immigrants Have Enriched And Strengthened The Fabric Of American Life.

A Young Man Who Does Not Have What It Takes To Perform Military Service Is Not Likely To Have What It Takes To Make A Living. Today's Military Rejects Include Tomorrow's Hard-core Unemployed.

No American Is Ever Made Better Off By Pulling A Fellow American Down, And All Of Us Are Made Better Off Whenever Any One Of Us Is Made Better Off.

In Addition, The United States Delegation Will Suggest A Series Of Steps To Improve The United Nations Machinery For The Peaceful Settlement Of Disputes... - For Extending The Rule Of International Law. For Peace Is Not Solely A Matter Of Military Or Technical Problems - It Is Primarily A Problem Of Politics And People.

I Do Ask Every Publisher, Every Editor, And Every Newsman In The Nation To Reexamine His Own Standards, And To Recognize The Nature Of Our Country's Peril. In Time Of War, The Government And The Press Have Customarily Joined In An Effort Based Largely On Self-discipline, To Prevent Unauthorized Disclosures To The Enemy. In Time Of "clear And Present Danger," The Courts Have Held That Even The Privileged Rights Of The First Amendment Must Yield To The Public's Need For National Security.

This Is A Great Country And Requires A Good Deal Of All Of Us, So I Can Imagine Nothing More Important Than For All Of You To Continue To Work In Public Affairs And Be Interested In Them, Not Only To Bring Up A Family, But Also Give Part Of Your Time To Your Community, Your State, And Your Country.

Sailing Has Given Me Some Of The Most Pleasant And Exciting Moments Of My Life. It Also Has Taught Me Something Of The Courage, Resourcefulness, And Strength Of Men Who Sail The Seas In Ships.

To State The Facts Frankly Is Not To Despair The Future Nor Indict The Past. The Prudent Heir Takes Careful Inventory Of His Legacies And Gives A Faithful Accounting To Those Whom He Owes An Obligation Of Trust.

The Civil Rights Movement Should Thank God For Bull Connor. He's Helped It As Much As Abraham Lincoln.

The State Is The Servant Of The Citizen, And Not His Master.

Our Constitution Wisely Assigns Both Joint And Separate Roles To Each Branch Of The Government; And A President And A Congress Who Hold Each Other In Mutual Respect Will Neither Permit Nor Attempt Any Trespass.

I Am Flatly Opposed To Appointment Of An Ambassador To The Vatican. Whatever Advantages It Might Have In Rome - And I'm Not Convinced Of These - They Would Be More Than Offset By The Divisive Effect At Home.

The Voters Selected Us, In Short, Because They Had Confidence In Our Judgement And Our Ability To Exercise That Judgement From A Position Where We Could Determine What Were Their Own Best Interest, As A Part Of The Nation's Interest.

I Think This Is The Most Extraordinary Collection Of Talent, Of Human Knowledge, That Has Ever Been Gathered At The White House - With The Possible Exception Of When Thomas Jefferson Dined Alone.

Not Every Child Has An Equal Talent Or An Equal Ability Or Equal Motivation, But They Should Have The Equal Right To Develop Their Talent And Their Ability And Their Motivation, To Make Something Of Themselves.

And A Revolution Of Automation Finds Machines Replacing Men In The Mines And Mills Of America, Without Replacing Their Incomes Or Their Training Or Their Needs To Pay The Family Doctor, Grocer And Landlord.

Philanthropy, Charity, Giving Voluntarily And Freely... Call It What You Like, But It Is Truly A Jewel Of An American Tradition.

I Think We're Going To Have To Do Better. Mr. Nixon Talks About Our Being The Strongest Country In The World. I Think We Are Today, But We Were Far Stronger Relative To The Communists 5 Years Ago. And What Is Of Great Concern Is That The Balance Of Power Is In Danger Of Moving With Them. They Made A Breakthrough In Missiles And By 1961, '2, And '3, They Will Be Outnumbering Us In Missiles.

Foreign Aid Is A Method By Which The United States Maintains A Position Of Influence And Control Around The World

As Science, Of Necessity, Becomes More Involved With Itself, So Also, Of Necessity, It Becomes More International. I Am Impressed To Know That Of The 670 Members Of This Academy

With All Of The History Of War, And The Human Race's History Unfortunately Has Been A Good Deal More War Than Peace, With Nuclear Weapons Distributed All Through The World, And Available, And The Strong Reluctance Of Any People To Accept Defeat, I See The Possibility In The 1970's Of The President Of The United States Having To Face A World In Which 15 Or 20 Or 25 Nations May Have These Weapons.

But I Think The American People Expect More From Us Than Cries Of Indignation And Attack. The Times Are Too Grave, The Challenge Too Urgent, And The Stakes Too High To Permit The Customary Passions Of Political Debate. We Are Not Here To Curse The Darkness, But To Light The Candle That Can Guide Us Through That Darkness To A Safe And Sane Future. As Winston Churchill Said On Taking Office Some Twenty Years Ago: If We Open A Quarrel Between The Present And The Past, We Shall Be In Danger Of Losing The Future.

The Federal Government's Most Useful Role Is Not To Rush Into A Program Of Excessive Increases In Public Expenditures, But To Expand The Incentives And Opportunities For Private Expenditures.

In Seeking The Help Of The Congress And Our Countrymen, I Pledged No Easy Answers. I Pledged, And Asked, Only Toil And Dedication. These The Congress And The People Have Given In Good Measure.

For In A Government Of Laws And Not Of Men, No Man, However Prominent Or Powerful, And No Mob However Unruly Or Boisterous, Is Entitled To Defy A Court Of Law. If This Country Should Ever Reach The Point Where Any Man Or Group Of Men By Force Or Threat Of Force Could Long Defy The Commands Of Our Court And Our Constitution, Then No Law Would Stand Free From Doubt, No Judge Would Be Sure Of His Writ, And No Citizen Would Be Safe From His Neighbors.

While They Came From A Variety Of Religious Backgrounds And Held A Wide Variety Of Religious Beliefs, Each Of Our Presidents In His Own Way Has Placed A Special Trust In God.

We Must Find Time To Stop And Thank The People Who Make A Difference In Our Lives.

I Believe In An America Where Religious Intolerance Will Someday End... Where Every Man Has The Same Right To Attend Or Not Attend The Church Of His Choice.

There Are Those Who Regard This History Of Past Strife And Exile As Better Forgotten. But, To Use The Phrase Of Yeats, Let Us Not Casually Reduce "that Great Past To A Trouble Of Fools." For We Need Not Feel The Bitterness Of The Past To Discover Its Meaning For The Present And The Future.

There Is No City In The United States In Which I Can Get A Warmer Welcome And Fewer Votes Than Columbia, Ohio.

Bullfight Critics Row On Row Fill The Enormous Plaza De Toros But Only One Is There Who Knows And He Is The One Who Fights The Bull.

No Responsibility Of Government Is More Fundamental Than The Responsibility Of Maintaining The Highest Standard Of Ethical Behavior For Those Who Conduct The Public Business.

I Am Sorry To Say That There Is Too Much Point To The Wisecrack That Life Is Extinct On Other Planets Because Their Scientists Were More Advanced Than Ours.

Ask Not What Your Community Can Do For You; Ask What Your Community Can Not Do For Anyone Else.

We Choose To Go To The Moon In This Decade And Do The Other Things, Not Because They Are Easy, But Because They Are Hard, Because That Goal Will Serve To Organize And Measure The Best Of Our Energies And Skills, Because That Challenge Is One That We Are Willing To Accept, One We Are Unwilling To Postpone, And One Which We Intend To Win.

It's Only When They Join Together In A Forward Movement That This Country Moves Ahead.

Our Goal Is Not Victory Of Might But The Vindication Of Right - Not Peace At The Expense Of Freedom, But Both Peace And Freedom, Here In This Hemisphere And, We Hope, Around The World. God Willing, That Goal Will Be Achieved.

Modern Cynics And Skeptics... See No Harm In Paying Those To Whom They Entrust The Minds Of Their Children A Smaller Wage Than Is Paid To Those To Whom They Entrust The Care Of Their Plumbing.

If This Capsule History Of Our Progress Teaches Us Anything, It Is That Man, In His Quest For Knowledge And Progress, Is Determined And Cannot Be Deterred.

Collective Bargaining Has Always Been The Bedrock Of The American Labor Movement. I Hope That You Will Continue To Anchor Your Movement To This Foundation. Free Collective Bargaining Is Good For The Entire Nation. In My View, It Is The Only Alternative To State Regulation Of Wages And Prices - A Path Which Leads Far Down The Grim Road Of Totalitarianism. Those Who Would Destroy Or Further Limit The Rights Of Organized Labor - Those Who Would Cripple Collective Bargaining Or Prevent Organization Of The Unorganized - Do A Disservice To The Cause Of Democracy.

You're In There With Me. Personally.

It Is Time For A New Generation Of Leadership, To Cope With New Problems And New Opportunities. For There Is A New World To Be Won.

A Boy Spends His Time Finding A Girl To Sleep With. A Real Man Spends His Time Looking For The One Worth Waking Up To.

Only An Educated And Informed People Will Be A Free People.

Whether They Be Young In Spirit, Or Young In Age, The Members Of The Democratic Party Must Never Lose That Youthful Zest For New Ideas And For A Better World, Which Has Made Us Great.

What We Seek To Advance, What We Seek To Develop In All Of Our Colleges And Universities, Are Educated Men And Women Who Can Bear The Burdens Of Responsible Citizenship, Who Can Make Judgments About Life As It Is, And As It Must Be, And Encourage The People To Make Those Decisions Which Can Bring Not Only Prosperity And Security, But Happiness To The People Of The United Sates And Those Who Depend Upon It.

The Only Significance Of Analyzing The Past Is That It Does Give Us Some Key To The Future.

The Basis Of Effective Government Is Public Confidence.

Ethical Standards

Democracy May Not Be Perfect, But At Least I Don't Have To Build A Wall To Keep My People In.

May Not Be Perfect

Let Us Not Despair But Act. Let Us Not Seek The Republican Answer Or The Democratic Answer But The Right Answer. Let Us Not Seek To Fix The Blame For The Past - Let Us Accept Our Own Responsibility For The Future.

Let Both Sides Seek To Invoke The Wonders Of Science Instead Of Its Terrors. Together Let Us Explore The Stars, Conquer The Deserts, Eradicate Disease, Tap The Ocean Depths, And Encourage The Arts And Commerce.

Freedom Is Not Merely A Word Or An Abstract Theory, But The Most Effective Instrument For Advancing The Welfare Of Man.

The Federal Government Is The People And The Budget Is A Reflection Of Their Need.

The Complacent, The Self-indulgent, The Soft Societies Are About To Be Swept Away With The Debris Of History. Only The Strong, Only The Industrious, Only The Determined, Only The Courageous, Only The Visionary Who Determine The Real Nature Of Our Struggle Can Possibly Survive.

Harvard Gave Me An Education, But Junior Chamber Gave Me An Education For Life.

Things Do Not Happen. Things Are Made To Happen.

I Must Say That Though Other Days May Not Be So Bright, As We Look Toward The Future, That The Brightest Days Will Continue To Be Those We Spent With You Here In Ireland.

Now We Have A Problem In Making Our Power Credible, And Vietnam Is The Place.

I Was Born An American, I Live Like An American, I Will Die An American.

We Should Not Let Our Fears Hold Us Back From Pursuing Our Hopes.

The Day Before My Inauguration President Eisenhower Told Me, You'll Find That No Easy Problems Ever Come To The President Of The United States. If They Are Easy To Solve, Somebody Else Has Solved Them. I Found That Hard To Believe, But Now I Know It Is True.

The Great Enemy Of Truth Is Very Often Not The Lie--deliberate, Contrived And Dishonest--but The Myth--persistent, Persuasive And Unrealistic. Too Often We Hold Fast To The Cliches Of Our Forebears. We Subject All Facts To A Prefabricated Set Of Interpretations. We Enjoy The Comfort Of Opinion Without The Discomfort Of Thought.

Abroad, The Balance Of Power Is Shifting. There Are New And More Terrible Weapons - New And Uncertain Nations - New Pressures Of Population And Deprivation.

There Is Too Little Public Recognition Of How Much We All Depend Upon Farmers As Stewards Of Our Soil, Water And Wildlife Resources.

No Government Or Social System Is So Evil That Its People Must Be Considered As Lacking In Virtue.

No One Has Been Barred On Account Of His Race From Fighting Or Dying For America, There Are No White Or Colored Signs On The Foxholes Or Graveyards Of Battle.

We Must Start Now To Provide Additional Stimulus To The Modernization Of American Industrial Plants I Shall Propose To The Congress A New Tax Incentive For Businesses To Expand Their Normal Investment In Plant And Equipment.

The United States, As The World Knows, Will Never Start A War.

Now The Trumpet Summons Us Again - Not As A Call To Bear Arms, Though Arms We Need; Not As A Call To Battle, Though Embattled We Are; But A Call To Bear The Burden Of A Long Twilight Struggle, Year In And Year Out, 'rejoicing In Hope, Patient In Tribulation', A Struggle Against The Common Enemies Of Man: Tyranny, Poverty, Disease And War Itself.

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George Farquhar

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