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Ideas More Than Once Have Prevailed Against Naked Power. Guns And Aircraft Alone Do Not Make A State Powerful. Unless Force Is Backed Up By The Will Of The Great Body Of People It Loses Its Meaning.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Ideas More Than Once

Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Ideas More Than Once Have Prevailed Against Naked Power. Guns And Aircraft Alone Do Not Make A State Powerful. Unless Force Is Backed Up By The Will Of The Great Body Of People It Loses Its Meaning.

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More From Dwight D. Eisenhower

God, I Hate The Germans.

There Are No Victories At Discount Prices.

I Think Of Going Back To The Sports Field Again, And Let's Take A Baseball Game. Well, You Have Cracked Out A Grounder And You Put In Your Last Ounce Of Energy And You Just Happen To Make First Base. But You Don't Stop There. First Base Is The Beginning. Now You Call On All Your Alertness, Your Skill, Your Energy - And You Count On Your Teammates, You Count On The People That Are Working With You. And The Purpose Of That Getting On First Base Was To Get You Around To Count A Run.

Before A Battle, Planning Is Everything. Once The Fighting Has Begun, It's Worthless

Knowledge-full, Unfettered Knowledge Of Its Own Heritage, Of Freedom's Enemies, Of The Whole World Of Men And Ideas-this Knowledge Is A Free People's Surest Strength.

To Be True To One's Own Freedom Is, In Essence, To Honor And Respect The Freedom Of All Others.

Honor And Respect

I Believe It Is A Tradition In Baseball That When A Pitcher Has A No-hitter Going, No One Reminds Him Of It.

Politics Is A Profession; A Serious, Complicated And, In Its True Sense, A Noble One.

It Will Begin With Its President Taking A Simple, Firm Resolution. The Resolution Will Be: To Forego The Diversions Of Politics And To Concentrate On The Job Of Ending The Korean War-until That Job Is Honorably Done. That Job Requires A Personal Trip To Korea. I Shall Make That Trip. Only In That Way Could I Learn How Best To Serve The American People In The Cause Of Peace. I Shall Go To Korea.

When Shallow Critics Denounce The Profit Motive Inherent In Our System Of Private Enterprise, They Ignore The Fact That It Is An Economic Support Of Every Human Right We Possess And Without It, All Rights Would Disappear.

Politics Ought To Be The Part-time Profession Of Every Citizen Who Would Protect The Rights And Privileges Of Free People And Who Would Preserve What Is Good And Fruitful In Our National Heritage.

Un-american Activity Cannot Be Prevented Or Routed Out By Employing Un-american Methods; To Preserve Freedom We Must Use The Tools That Freedom Provides.

Men Of Widely Divergent Views In Our Own Country Live In Peace Together Because They Share Certain Common Aspirations Which Are More Important Than Their Differences.... The Common Responsibility Of All Americans Is To Become Effective, Helpful Participants In A Way Of Life That Blends And Harmonizes The Fiercely Competitive Demands Of The Individual And Society.

Only Americans Can Hurt America.

In This Hope, Among The Things We Teach To The Young Are Such Truths As The Transcendent Value Of The Individual And The Dignity Of All People, The Futility And Stupidity Of War, Its Destructiveness Of Life And Its Degradation Of Human Values.

Only By Trusting In God Can A Man Carrying Responsibility Find Repose.

A Constitutional Amendment For Congressional Term Limits Could Never Achieve The Blessing Of Congress; It Could Be Initiated Only By The States.

Soldiers, Sailors And Airmen Of The Allied Expeditionary Force! You Are About To Embark Upon The Great Crusade, Toward Which We Have Striven These Many Months. The Eyes Of The World Are Upon You.

'worry' Is A Word That I Don't Allow Myself To Use.

People In The Long Run Are Going To Do More To Promote Peace Than Governments.

Never Send A Battalion To Take A Hill If A Regiment Is Available.

Dollars And Guns Are No Substitutes For Brains And Will Power.

Despite The Present, Temporary Interests That Israel Has In Common With France And Britain, You Ought Not To Forget That The Strength Of Israel And Her Future Are Bound Up With The United States.

Things Are More Like They Are Now Than They Ever Were Before.

Freedom Bestows On Us The Priceless Gift Of Opportunity - If We Neglect Our Opportunities We Shall Certainly Lose Our Freedom.

If Berlin Fell, The Us Would Lose Europe, And If Europe Fell Into The Hands Of The Soviet Union And Thus Added Its Great Industrial Plant To The Ussr's Already Great Industrial Plant, The United States Would Be Reduced To The Character Of A Garrison State If It Were To Survive At All.

For All That We Cherish And Justly Desire - For Ourselves Or For Our Children - The Securing Of Peace Is The First Requisite.

Why Don't You Lay The Footpaths Where The Students Want To Walk?

There Is Very Little That Our Government Or Any Government Can Do To Plant The Seeds Of International Understanding In The Hearts And Minds Of People Around The World. If People By The Millions Can Reach Out Their Hands In Friendship And Communicate Directly Warmth, Personal Interest And Respect, It Will Be A Real Beginning In The Struggle For A Peaceful World.

Don't Join The Book Burners... Don't Be Afraid To Go In Your Library And Read Every Book.

Through Unity Of Action We Can Be A Veritable Colossus In Support Of Peace. No One Can Defeat Us Unless We First Defeat Ourselves. Every One Of Us Must Be Guided By This Truth.

The Qualities Of A Great Man Are Vision, Integrity, Courage, Understanding, The Power Of Articulation, And Profundity Of Character.

But I Think A Life Of Raising Prize Cattle, Going Shooting Two Or Three Times A Year, Fishing In The Summer, And Interspersing The Whole Thing With Some Golf And Bridge - And Whenever I Felt Like Talking Or Writing, Doing It With Abandon And With No Sense Of Responsibility Whatsoever - Maybe Such A Life Wouldn't Be So Bad.

If Our Founding Fathers Were Alive Today, They'd Roll Over In Their Graves.

You, Of Canada, Are Building A Magnificent Record Of Achievement. My Country Rejoices In It.

Forces Of Good And Evil Are Massed And Armed And Opposed As Rarely Before In History. Freedom Is Pitted Against Slavery; Lightness Against The Dark... In The Final Choice, A Soldier's Pack Is Not So Heavy A Burden As A Prisoner's Chains.

I Deplore The Need Or The Use Of Troops Anywhere To Get American Citizens To Obey The Orders Of Constituted Courts.

For A Just And Lasting Peace, Here Is My Solemn Pledge To You: By Dedication And Patience We Will Continue, As Long As I Remain Your President, To Work For This Simple - This Single - This Exclusive Goal.

Kinship Among Nations Is Not Determined In Such Measurements As Proximity Of Size And Age. Rather We Should Turn To Those Inner Things - Call Them What You Will - I Mean Those Intangibles That Are The Real Treasures Free Men Possess. To Preserve His Freedom Of Worship, His Equality Before Law, His Liberty To Speak And Act As He Sees Fit, Subject Only To Provisions That He Trespass Not Upon Similar Rights Of Others - A Londoner Will Fight. So Will A Citizen Of Abilene. When We Consider These Things, Then The Valley Of The Thames Draws Closer To The Farms Of Kansas And The Plains Of Texas.

I Do Not Believe That Any Political Campaign Justifies The Declaration Of A Moratorium On Ordinary Common Sense.

The Founding Father Expressed In Words For All To Read The Ideal Of Government Based Upon The Dignity Of The Individual. That Ideal Previously Had Existed Only In The Hearts And Minds Of Men. They Produced The Timeless Documents Upon Which The Nation Is Rounded And Has Grown Great. They, Recognizing God As The Author Of Individual Fights, Declared That The Purpose Of Government Is To Secure Those Rights.

My Constant Prayer, These Days, As I Start My Backswing Is, 'oh, Please Let Me Swing Slowly.' The Trouble Is That Sometimes I Wonder Whether I Swing At All; Whether I Am Not Strictly A Chopper.

Work Should Be For All Of Us A Word As Honorable And Appealing As Patriotism.

You Realise Group Captain That This Might Be The Most Important Weather Forecast In History?

Arms Alone Can Give The World No Permanent Peace, No Confident Security. Arms Are Solely For Defense - To Protect From Violent Assault What We Already Have. They Are Only A Costly Insurance. They Cannot Add To Human Progress.

If You Are Waging Peace, You Can't Be Too Particular Sometimes About The Special Attitudes That Different Countries Take. We Were A Young Country Once, And Our Whole Policy For The First 150 Years Was, We Were Neutral.

Every Battle Is Going To Surprise You. No Plan Ever Survives Contact With The Enemy.

Possibly My Hatred Of War Blinds Me So That I Cannot Comprehend The Arguments They Adduce. But, In My Opinion, There Is No Such Thing As A Preventive War. Although This Suggestion Is Repeatedly Made, None Has Yet Explained How War Prevents War. Worse Than This, No One Has Been Able To Explain Away The Fact That War Creates The Conditions That Beget War.

Politics Should Be The Part-time Profession Of Every Citizen.

Art Is A Universal Language And Through It Each Nation Makes Its Own Unique Contribution To The Culture Of Mankind.

Unless We Progress, We Regress.

No Battle Was Ever Won According To Plan, But No Battle Was Ever Won Without One.

According To Plan

Kinship Among Nations Is Not Determined In Such Measurements As Proximity Of Size And Age. Rather We Should Turn To Those Inner Things - Call Them What You Will - I Mean Those Intangibles That Are The Real Treasures Free Men Possess.

The Only Things Worth Counting On Are People You Can Count On.

. . .a Sense Of Humor Can Be A Great Help-particularly A Sense Of Humor About (oneself). William Howard Taft Joked About His Own Corpulence And People Loved It; Took Nothing From His Inherent Dignity. Lincoln Eased Tense Moments With Bawdy Stories, And Often Poked Fun At Himself-and History Honors Him For This Human Quality. A Sense Of Humor Is Part Of The Art Of Leadership, Of Getting Along With People, Of Getting Things Done.

This Operation Is Not Being Planned With Any Alternatives. This Operation Is Planned As A Victory, And That's The Way It's Going To Be. We're Going Down There, And We're Throwing Everything We Have Into It, And We're Going To Make It A Success.

There Is No Person In This Room Whose Basic Rights Are Not Involved In Any Successful Defiance To The Carrying Out Of Court Orders.

Remember That It Is Not By A Tyrant's Words, But Only By His Deeds That We Can Know Him.

We The People, Elect Leaders Not To Rule But To Serve

First, Separate Ground, Sea And Air Warfare Is Gone Forever. This Lesson We Learned In World War Ii. I Lived That Lesson In Europe. Others Lived It In The Pacific. Millions Of American Veterans Learned It Well.

American Veterans

A World That Begins To Witness The Rebirth Of Trust Among Nations Can Find Its Way To A Peace That Is Neither Partial Nor Punitive. With All Who Will Work In Good Faith Toward Such A Peace, We Are Ready, With Renewed Resolve, To Strive To Redeem The Near-lost Hopes Of Our Day.

People Talk About The Middle Of The Road As Though It Were Unacceptable. Actually, All Human Problems, Excepting Morals, Come Into The Gray Areas. Things Are Not All Black And White. There Have To Be Compromises. The Middle Of The Road Is All Of The Usable Surface. The Extremes, Right And Left, Are In The Gutters.

Black And White

One Minute I'm Exactly What Churchill Described Me The Most Powerful Man In History. Now The Order's Given, Hell; I'm Just Audience Front Row Center To The Shoe. But A Corporal On Juno, A Private On Utah There The Ones Who Will Affect The Outcome Not Me. It's Up To Them Now.

I Would Rather Have A Lucky General Than A Smart General.... They Win Battles, And They Make Me Lucky.

Any Time We Deny Any Citizen The Full Exercise Of His Constitutional Rights, We Are Weakening Our Own Claim To Them.

Without God, There Would Be No American Form Of Government, Nor An American Way Of Life.

The Supreme Quality For Leadership Is Unquestionably Integrity. Without It, No Real Success Is Possible, No Matter Whether It Is On A Section Gang, A Football Field, In An Army, Or In An Office.

If A Man's Associates Find Him Guilty Of Being Phony, If They Find That He Lacks Forthright Integrity, He Will Fail. His Teachings And Actions Must Square With Each Other. The First Great Need, Therefore, Is Integrity And High Purpose.

The Federal Government Has A Responsibility To Manage Wisely Those Public Lands And Forests Under Its Jurisdiction Necessary In The Interest Of The Public As A Whole. ... In The Utilization Of These Lands, The People Are Entitled To Expect That Their Timber, Minerals, Streams And Water Supply, Wildlife And Recreational Values Should Be Safeguarded, Improved And Made Available Not Only For This But For Future Generations.

A Sense Of Humor Is Part Of The Art Of Leadership, Of Getting Along With People, Of Getting Things Done.

But I Noted With Real Satisfaction How Well Ex-footballers Seemed To Have Leadership Qualifications . . . I Believe That Football, Perhaps More Than Any Other Sport, Tends To Instill In Men The Feeling That Victory Comes Through Hard - Almost Slavish - Work, Team Play, Self-confidence, And An Enthusiasm That Amounts To Dedication.

The More Baseball The Better. It Is A Healthful Sport And Develops Team Play And Initiative, Plus An Independent Attitude.

For Any American Who Had The Great And Priceless Privilege Of Being Raised In A Small Town There Always Remains With Him Nostalgic Memories... And The Older He Grows The More He Senses What He Owed To The Simple Honesty And Neighborliness, The Integrity That He Saw All Around Him In Those Days.

No People On Earth Can Be Held, As A People, To Be An Enemy, For All Humanity Shares The Common Hunger For Peace And Fellowship And Justice.

I Call Upon Those Who Love Freedom To Stand With Us Now. Together We Shall Achieve Victory.

Controlled, Universal Disarmament Is The Imperative Of Our Time. The Demand For It By The Hundreds Of Millions Whose Chief Concern Is The Long Future Of Themselves And Their Children Will, I Hope, Become So Universal And So Insistent That No Man, No Government Anywhere, Can Withstand It.

Make It A Practice To Avoid Hating Anyone. If Someone's Been Guilty Of Despicable Actions, Especially Toward Me, I Try To Forget Him. I Used To Follow A Practice - Somewhat Contrived, I Admit - To Write The Man's Name On A Piece Of Scrap Paper, Drop It Into The Lowest Drawer Of My Desk, And Say To Myself: "that Finishes The Incident, And So Far As I'm Concerned, That Fellow." The Drawer Became Over The Years A Sort Of Private Wastebasket For Crumbled-up Spite And Discarded Personalities.

The Proudest Thing I Can Claim Is That I Am From Abilene.

Not Making The Baseball Team At West Point Was One Of The Greatest Disappointments Of My Life, Maybe My Greatest.

The National Government Was Itself The Creature Of The States...yet Today It Is Often Made To Appear That The Creature, Frankenstein-like, Is Determined To Destroy The Creators.

No Man Is Worth Your Tears, But Once You Find One That Is, He Won't Make You Cry.

I Can Think Of Nothing More Boring For The American People Than To Have To Sit In Their Living Rooms For A Whole Half Hour Looking At My Face On Their Television Screens.

We Face A Hostile Ideology Global In Scope, Atheistic In Character, Ruthless In Purpose And Insidious In Method.

Change Based On Principle Is Progress. Constant Change Without Principle Becomes Chaos.

[children Should Contribute] To A Family's Essential Survival And Happiness. [in] An Urban Society, Children Are ... Robbed Of The Opportunity To Do Genuinely Responsible Work.

Character In Many Ways Is Everything In Leadership. It Is Made Up Of Many Things, But I Would Say Character Is Really Integrity. When You Delegate Something To A Subordinate, For Example, It Is Absolutely Your Responsibility, And He Must Understand This. You As A Leader Must Take Complete Responsibility For What The Subordinate Does. I Once Said, As A Sort Of Wisecrack, That Leadership Consists Of Nothing But Taking Responsibility For Everything That Goes Wrong And Giving Your Subordinates Credit For Everything That Goes Well.

No Amphibious Attack In History Has Approached This One In Size. Along Miles Of Coastline There Were Hundreds Of Vessels And Small Boats Afloat And Ant-like Files Of Advancing Troops Ashore.

Pull The String, And It Will Follow Wherever You Wish. Push It, And It Will Go Nowhere At All.

The Teaching Of Their Ancient Belief Is Filled With Truth For The Present Day. Its Profound Sense Of Justice, Nation To Nation, Man To Man, Is An Essential Part Of Every Religious And Social Order. The Health Of Our Society Depends Upon A Deep And Abiding Respect For The Basic Commandments Of The God Of Israel.

The Opportunist Thinks Of Me And Today. The Statesman Thinks Of Us And Tomorrow.

As It Is An Ancient Truth That Freedom Cannot Be Legislated Into Existence, So It Is No Less Obvious That Freedom Cannot Be Censored Into Existence.

But All History Has Taught Us The Grim Lesson That No Nation Has Ever Been Successful In Avoiding The Terrors Of War By Refusing To Defend Its Rights - By Attempting To Placate Aggression.

We Seek Peace, Knowing That Peace Is The Climate Of Freedom. And Now, As In No Other Age, We Seek It Because We Have Been Warned, By The Power Of Modern Weapons, That Peace May Be The Only Climate Possible For Human Life Itself.

The Things I Saw Beggar Description ... The Visual Evidence And The Verbal Testimony Of Starvation, Cruelty, And Bestiality Were So Overpowering As To Leave Me A Bit Sick. In One Room, Where There Were Piled Up Twenty Or Thirty Naked Men, Killed By Starvation, George Patton Would Not Even Enter. He Said He Would Get Sick If He Did So. I Made The Visit Deliberately, In Order To Be In A Position To Give First-hand Evidence Of These Things If Ever, In The Future, There Develops A Tendency To Charge These Allegations Merely To "propaganda".

I Have Full Confidence In Your Courage And Devotion To Duty And Skill In Battle. We Will Accept Nothing Less Than Full Victory! Good Luck! And Let Us Beseech The Blessing Of Almighty God Upon This Great And Noble Undertaking.

Neither A Wise Man Nor A Brave Man Lies Down On The Tracks Of History To Wait For The Train Of The Future To Run Over Him.

During The Time I Have Had Wacs Under My Command, They Have Met Every Test And Task Assigned To Them...their Contributions In Efficiency, Skill, Spirit, And Determination Are Immeasurable.

I Have No Use For Those- Regardless Of Their Political Party- Who Hold Some Foolish Dream Of Spinning The Clock Back To Days When Unorganized Labor Was A Huddled, Almost Helpless Mass.

Only An Alert And Knowledgeable Citizenry Can Complel The Proper Meshing Of The Huge Industrial And Military Machinery Of Defense With Our Peaceful Methods And Goals, So That Security And Liberty May Prosper Together.

Freedom From Fear And Injustice And Oppression Will Be Ours Only In The Measure That Men Who Value Such Freedom Are Ready To Sustain Its Possession - To Defend It Against Every Thrust From Within Or Without.

Injustice And Oppression

Every Gun That Is Made, Every Warship Launched, Every Rocket Fired, Signifies In The Final Sense A Theft From Those Who Hunger And Are Not Fed, Those Who Are Cold And Are Not Clothed.

Our Government Makes No Sense Unless It Is Founded On A Deeply Held Religious Belief - And I Don't Care What It Is.

No One Should Be Appointed To Political Office If He Is A Seeker After It.

The Potential For The Disastrous Rise Of Misplaced Power Exists And Will Persist.

Science Seems Ready To Confer Upon Us, As Its Final Gift, The Power To Erase Human Life From This Planet.

Leadership Consists Of Nothing But Taking Responsibility For Everything That Goes Wrong And Giving Your Subordinates Credit For Everything That Goes Well.

We Are Particularly Thankful To You For Your Part In The Movement To Have The Words Under God Added To Our Pledge Of Allegiance. These Words Will Remind Americans That Despite Our Great Physical Strength We Must Remain Humble. They Will Help Us Keep Constantly In Our Minds And Hearts The Spiritual And Moral Principles Which Alone Give Dignity To Man.

The Righteousness Of Men Should Be Treated With The Same Respect That One Would Accord To A Rattlesnake. Things Are More Like They Are Now Than They Ever Were Before.

You Don't Lead By Hitting People Over The Head - That's Assault, Not Leadership.

Any Nations Right To A Form Of Government And Economic System Of Its Own Choosing Is Inalienable. Any Nations Attempt To Dictate To Other Nations Their Form Of Government Is Indefensible.

Our Best Protection Against Bigger Government In Washington Is Better Government In The States.

The United States Strongly Seeks A Lasting Agreement For The Discontinuance Of Nuclear Weapons Tests. We Believe That This Would Be An Important Step Toward Reduction Of International Tensions And Would Open The Way To Further Agreement On Substantial Measures Of Disarmament.

America Is Best Described By One Word, Freedom.

How Can We Appraise A Proposal If The Terms Hurled At Our Ears Can Mean Anything Or Nothing, And Change Their Significance With The Inflection Of The Voice? Welfare State, National Socialism, Radical, Liberal, Conservative, Reactionary And A Regiment Of Others ... These Terms In Today's Usage, Are Generally Compounds Of Confusion And Prejudice. If Our Attitudes Are Muddled, Our Language Is Often To Blame. A Good Tonic For Clearer Thinking Is A Dose Of Precise, Legal Definition.

For Every Obstacle There Is A Solution. Persistence Is The Key. The Greatest Mistake Is Giving Up!

We View Our Nation's Strength And Security As A Trust, Upon Which Rests The Hope Of Free Men Everywhere.

One Of The Things That I Noticed In War Was How Difficult It Was For Our Soldiers, At First, To Realize That There Are No Rules To War. Our Men Were Raised In Sports, Where A Referee Runs A Football Game, Or An Umpire A Baseball Game, And So Forth.

Civilization Owes To The Islamic World Some Of Its Most Important Tools And Achievements...the Muslim Genius Has Added Much To The Culture Of All Peoples.

The Necessary And Wise Subordination Of The Military To Civil Power Must Be Sustained.

Our Forms Of Government - Though Both Cast In The Democratic Pattern - Are Greatly Different. Indeed, Sometimes It Appears That Many Of Our Misunderstandings Spring From An Imperfect Knowledge On The Part Of Both Of Us Of The Dissimilarities In Our Forms Of Government.

I Get Weary Of The European Habit Of Taking Our Money, Resenting Any Slight Hint As To What They Should Do, And Then Assuming, In Addition, Full Right To Criticize Us As Bitterly As They May Desire.

Some Day There Is Going To Be A Man Sitting In My Present Chair Who Has Not Been Raised In The Military Services And Who Will Have Little Understanding Of Where Slashes In Their Estimates Can Be Made With Little Or No Damage. If That Should Happen While We Still Have The State Of Tension That Now Exists In The World, I Shudder To Think Of What Could Happen In This Country

It Is Only Common Sense To Recognize That The Great Bulk Of Americans, Whether Republican Or Democrat, Face Many Common Problems And Agree On A Number Of Basic Objectives.

I Am Inclined By Nature To Be Optimistic About The Capacity Of A Person To Rise Higher Than He Or She Has Thought Possible Once Interest And Ambition Are Aroused.

I Have Found Out In Later Years That We Were Very Poor, But The Glory Of America Is That We Didn't Know It Then.

Men And Women, Inspired By Faith In Man's Dignity, Goaded By Conviction In Man's Responsibility, Labored That This Land Might Be A Better Home For Those Who Followed Them. Because Every American Generation Attacked Its Problems With Fresh Vigor, We Have Peopled A Continent, Subdued Its Prairies And Wilderness, Tamed Its Rivers And Devoted Its Resources To The Betterment Of Those Who Dwell In It.

The Unity Of All Who Dwell In Freedom Is Their Only Sure Defense.

The Essence Of War Is Fire, Famine, And Pestilence. They Contribute To Its Outbreak; They Are Among Its Weapons; They Become Its Consequences.

I Firmly Believe That The Army Of Persons Who Urge Greater And Greater Centralization Of Authority And Greater And Greater Dependence Upon The Federal Treasury Are Really More Dangerous To Our Form Of Government Than Any External Threat That Can Possibly Be Arrayed Against Us.

Fortunately For Us And Our World, Youth Is Not Easily Discouraged. Youth With Its Clear Vista And Boundless Faith And Optimism Is Uninhibited By The Thousands Of Considerations That Always Bedevil Man In His Progress. The Hopes Of The World Rest On The Flexibility, Vigor, Capacity For New Thought, And The Fresh Outlook Of The Young.

'peace And Friendship, In Freedom.'

A Voter Without A Ballot Is Like A Soldier Without A Bullet.

If The United Nations Once Admits That International Disputes Can Be Settled By Using Force, Then We Will Have Destroyed The Foundation Of The Organization And Our Best Hope Of Establishing A World Order.

If Progress Is To Be Steady We Must Have Long Term Guides Extending Far Ahead.

The True Slogan Of A True Democracy Is Not `let The Government Do It' But Rather, 'let's Do It Ourselves'.... This Is The Spirit Of A People Dedicated To Helping Themselves And One Another.

I Have One Yardstick By Which I Test Every Major Problem - And That Yardstick Is: Is It Good For America?

I Think That People Want Peace So Much That One Of These Days Government Had Better Get Out Of Their Way And Let Them Have It.

The Best Morale Exist When You Never Hear The Word Mentioned. When You Hear A Lot Of Talk About It, It's Usually Lousy.

I Could Have Spoken From Rhode Island Where I Have Been Staying ... But I Felt That, In Speaking From The House Of Lincoln, Of Jackson, And Of Wilson, My Words Would Better Convey Both The Sadness I Feel In The Action I Was Compelled Today To Make And The Firmness With Which I Intend To Pursue This Course Until The Orders Of The Federal Court At Little Rock Can Be Executed Without Unlawful Interference." (on Sending Troops To Enforce Integration In Little Rock Ar High School)

We Need An Adequate Defense, But Every Arms Dollar We Spend Above Adequacy Has A Long-term Weakening Effect Upon The Nation And Its Security.

We Must Be Strong At Home If We Are Going To Be Strong Abroad. We Understand That. So We Want To Be Strong At Home In Our Morale Or In Our Spirit, We Want To Be Strong Intellectually, In Our Education, In Our Economy And, Where Necessary, Militarily.

I Have Spent My Life In The Study Of Military Strength As A Deterrent To War, And In The Character Of Military Armaments Necessary To Win A War. The Study Of The First Of These Questions Is Still Profitable, But We Are Rapidly Getting To The Point That No War Can Be Won.

I'm For Each And Against None.

It Is Not A Struggle Merely Of Economic Theories, Or Forms Of Government Or Of Military Power. At Issue Is The True Nature Of Man. Either Man Is The Creature Whom The Psalmist Described As A Little Lower Than The Angels ... Or Man Is A Soulless, Animated Machine To Be Enslaved, Used And Consumed By The State For Its Own Glorification. It Is, Therefore, A Struggle Which Goes To The Roots Of The Human Spirit, And Its Shadow Falls Across The Long Sweep Of Man's Destiny.

We Cannot Risk Living All Our Lives Under Emergency Measures.

Well, It's Hard For A Mere Man To Believe That Woman Doesn't Have Equal Rights.

Your Country, My Country - Each Is A Better And Stronger And More Influential Nation Because Each Can Rely Upon Every Resource Of The Other In Days Of Crisis. Beyond This, Each Can Work And Grow And Prosper With The Other Through Years Of Quiet Peace.

We ... Must Avoid The Impulse To Live Only For Today, Plundering For Our Own Ease And Convenience The Precious Resources Of Tomorrow.

They [the Founders] Proclaimed To All The World The Revolutionary Doctrine Of The Divine Rights Of The Common Man. That Doctrine Has Ever Since Been The Heart Of The American Faith.

We Are Tired Of Aristocratic Explanations In Harvard Words.

Not Only Do I Have A Great Love For The Game Of Golf - No Matter How Badly I Play It - But I Have Also The Belief That Through Every Kind Of Meeting, Through Every Kind Of Activity To Which We Can Bring Together More Often And More Intimately Peoples Of Our Several Countries, By That Measure We Will Do Something To Solve The Difficulties And The Tensions That This Poor Old World Seems Nowadays To So Much Endure.

We Merely Want To Live In Peace With All The World, To Trade With Them, To Commune With Them, To Learn From Their Culture As They May Learn From Ours, So That The Products Of Our Toil May Be Used For Our Schools And Our Roads And Our Churches And Not For Guns And Planes And Tanks And Ships Of War.

There Is Nothing Wrong With America That Faith, Love Of Freedom, Intelligence, And Energy Of Her Citizens Cannot Cure.

Don't Join The Book Burners!

Censorship, In My Opinion, Is A Stupid And Shallow Way Of Approaching The Solution To Any Problem.

Ideas More Than Once Have Prevailed Against Naked Power. Guns And Aircraft Alone Do Not Make A State Powerful. Unless Force Is Backed Up By The Will Of The Great Body Of People It Loses Its Meaning.

I Firmly Believe That The Future Of Civilization Is Absolutely Dependent Upon Finding Some Way Of Resolving International Differences Without Resorting To War.

When People Speak To You About A Preventive War, You Tell Them To Go And Fight It. After My Experience, I Have Come To Hate War.

I Believe That For The Past Twenty Years There Has Been A Creeping Socialism Spreading In The United States.

Any Man Who Wants To Be President Is Either An Egomaniac Or Crazy.

The World Must Know What Happened, And Never Forget.

If Men Can Develop Weapons That Are So Terrifying As To Make The Thought Of Global War Include Almost A Sentence For Suicide, You Would Think That Man's Intelligence And His Comprehension... Would Include Also His Ability To Find A Peaceful Solution.

War Is A Contest, And You Finally Get To A Point Where You Are Talking Merely About Race Suicide, And Nothing Else.

Disarmament, With Mutual Honor And Confidence, Is A Continuing Imperative.

Through Knowledge And Understanding We Will Drive From The Temple Of Freedom All Who Seek To Establish Over Us Thought Control - Whether They Be Agents Of A Foreign Power Or Demagogues Thirsty For Personal Power And Public Notice.

I Was Against It On Two Counts. First, The Japanese Were Ready To Surrender, And It Wasn't Necessary To Hit Them With That Awful Thing. Second, I Hated To See Our Country Be The First To Use Such A Weapon.

Hiroshima And Nagasaki

By Mutual Respect, Understanding And With Good Will We Can Find Acceptable Solutions To Any Problems Which Exist Or May Arise Between Us.

I Feel Impelled To Speak Today In A Language That In A Sense Is New-one Which I, Who Have Spent So Much Of My Life In The Military Profession, Would Have Preferred Never To Use. That New Language Is The Language Of Atomic Warfare.

If All That Americans Want Is Security, They Can Go To Prison. They'll Have Enough To Eat, A Bed And A Roof Over Their Heads. But If An American Wants To Preserve His Dignity And His Equality As A Human Being, He Must Not Bow His Neck To Any Dictatorial Government.

Ankles Are Nearly Always Neat And Good-looking, But Knees Are Nearly Always Not.

Mob Rule Can Not Be Allowed To Override The Decisions Of Our Courts.

You Will Not Find It Difficult To Prove That Battles, Campaigns, And Even Wars Have Been Won Or Lost Primarily Because Of Logistics.

...the Right Of The Individual To Elect Freely The Manner Of His Care In Illness Must Be Preserved.

Now This Brings Me To My Main Topic - Our Military Strength - More Specifically, How To Stay Strong Against Threat From Outside, Without Undermining The Economic Health That Supports Our Security.

In The Final Choice A Soldier's Pack Is Not So Heavy As A Prisoner's Chains.

Having Established As Our Goals A Lasting World Peace With Justice And The Security Of Freedom On This Earth, We Must Be Prepared To Make Whatever Sacrifices Are Demanded As We Pursue This Path To Its End.

Our Real Problem, Then, Is Not Our Strength Today; It Is Rather The Vital Necessity Of Action Today To Ensure Our Strength Tomorrow.

The Friendship Of A Dog Is Precious. It Becomes Even More So When One Is So Far Removed From Home.... I Have A Scottie. In Him I Find Consolation And Diversion... He Is The "one Person" To Whom I Can Talk Without The Conversation Coming Back To War.

"in The Goodness Of Time, All Peoples Will Come To Live Together In A Peace Guaranteed By The Binding Force Of Mutual Respect And Love."

I Would Rather Try To Persuade A Man To Go Along, Because Once I Have Persuaded Him, He Will Stick. If I Scare Him, He Will Stay Just As Long As He Is Scared, And Then He Is Gone.

So Long As We Govern Our Nation By The Letter And Spirit Of The Bill Of Rights, We Can Be Sure That Our Nation Will Grow In Strength And Wisdom And Freedom.

No Treaty Or International Agreement Can Contravene The Constitution.

Never Waste A Minute Thinking About People You Don't Like.

As We Peer Into Society's Future, We -- You And I, And Our Government -- Must Avoid The Impulse To Live Only For Today, Plundering For Our Own Ease And Convenience The Precious Resources Of Tomorrow. We Cannot Mortgage The Material Assets Of Our Grandchildren Without Risking The Loss Also Of Their Political And Spiritual Heritage. We Want Democracy To Survive For All Generations To Come, Not To Become The Insolvent Phantom Of Tomorrow.

If We Make Ourselves Worthy Of America's Ideals, If We Do Not Forget That Our Nation Was Founded On The Premise That All Men Are Creatures Of God's Making, The World Will Come To Know That It Is Free Men Who Carry Forward The True Promise Of Human Progress And Dignity.

... The Future Is Very Markedly In Your Hands, Its Value And Its Moral Standing In The World And Among Ourselves. If You Will Take The Power You Have And Use It, I Have No Fear Of The Outcome Of The Future.

In The Councils Of Government, We Must Guard Against The Acquisition Of Unwarranted Influence, Whether Sought Or Unsought, By The Military-industrial Complex. The Potential For The Disastrous Rise Of Misplaced Power Exists And Will Persist.

There Is No Victory At Bargain Basement Prices.

Unless Each Day Can Be Looked Back Upon By An Individual As One In Which He Has Had Some Fun, Some Joy, Some Real Satisfaction, That Day Is A Loss.

[not Achieving A Nuclear Test Ban] Would Have To Be Classed As The Greatest Disappointment Of Any Administration Of Any Decade, Of Any Time And Of Any Party.

You Did Not Tell Me What You Are Doing Athletically Just Now But I Do Hope That If Your Arm Comes Along Next Spring You Can Get It In Good Shape To Try Out For The Pitching Spot On The Varsity. However, If You Don't Make It Then I Suggest You Take Up Golf Which After All Is The Best Game Of All Of Them.

But We Know That Freedom Cannot Be Served By The Devices Of The Tyrant. As It Is An Ancient Truth That Freedom Cannot Be Legislated Into Existence, So It Is No Less Obvious That Freedom Cannot Be Censored Into Existence. And Any Who Act As If Freedoms Defenses Are To Be Found In Suppression And Suspicion And Fear Confess A Doctrine That Is Alien To America.

From This Day Forward, The Millions Of Our School Children Will Daily Proclaim In Every City And Town, Every Village And Rural Schoolhouse, The Dedication Of Our Nation And Our People To The Almighty.

It Is Not Enough To Take This Weapon Out Of The Hands Of Soldiers. It Must Be Put Into The Hands Of Those Who Will Know How To Strip Its Military Casing And Adapt It To The Arts Of Peace.

These Are Not Bad People. All They Are Concerned About Is To See That Their Sweet Little Girls Are Not Required To Sit In School Alongside Some Big Overgrown Negroes.

In This Way We Are Reaffirming The Transcendence Of Religious Faith In America's Heritage And Future. From This Day Forward, The Millions Of Our Schoolchildren Will Daily Proclaim In Every City And Town, Every Village And Every Rural Schoolhouse, The Dedication Of Our Nation And Our People To The Almighty. In This Way We Shall Constantly Strengthen Those Spiritual Weapons Which Forever Will Be Our Country's Most Powerful Resource In Peace And War.

In Vast Stretches Of The Earth, Men Awoke Today In Hunger. They Will Spend The Day In Unceasing Toil. And As The Sun Goes Down They Will Still Know Hunger. They Will See Suffering In The Eyes Of Their Children. Many Despair That Their Labor Will Ever Decently Shelter Their Families Or Protect Them Against Disease. So Long As This Is So, Peace And Freedom Will Be In Danger Throughout Our World. For Wherever Free Men Lose Hope Of Progress, Liberty Will Be Weakened And The Seeds Of Conflict Will Be Sown.

I Feel Like The Fellow In Jail Who Is Watching His Scaffold Being Built." (on Construction Of Reviewing Stands For Inauguration Of His Successor John F Kennedy)

Inflation Is Not A Robin Hood, Taking From The Rich To Give To The Poor. Rather, It Deals Most Cruelly With Those Who Can Least Protect Themselves. It Strikes Hardest Those Millions Of Our Citizens Whose Incomes Do Not Quickly Rise With The Cost Of Living. When Prices Soar, The Pensioner And The Widow See Their Security Undermined, The Man Of Thrift Sees His Savings Melt Away; The White Collar Worker, The Minister, And The Teacher See Their Standards Of Living Dragged Down.

Things Have Never Been More Like The Way They Are Today In History.

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