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Probably No One Here Knows I Coached A Football Team - A Service Team - Playing Against Georgetown. I Think It Was In The Fall Of 1924 Lou Little Was Your Coach, And He Beat Us. But It Was A Very Happy Circumstance, Because It Brought Me The Friendship Of Another Man, Lou Little, Who To This Day Remains My Very Warm Associate And Friend.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Probably No One Here

Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Probably No One Here Knows I Coached A Football Team - A Service Team - Playing Against Georgetown. I Think It Was In The Fall Of 1924 Lou Little Was Your Coach, And He Beat Us. But It Was A Very Happy Circumstance, Because It Brought Me The Friendship Of Another Man, Lou Little, Who To This Day Remains My Very Warm Associate And Friend.

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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)

It Is Still A Fact That Our Common Frontier Grows Stronger Every Year, Defended Only By Friendship.

How Has Retirement Affected My Golf Game? A Lot More People Beat Me Now.

'peace And Friendship, In Freedom.'

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.

Now All Of Us Deplore This Vast Military Spending. Yet, In The Face Of The Soviet Attitude, We Realize Its Necessity. Whatever The Cost, America Will Keep Itself Secure. But In The Process We Must Not, By Our Own Hand, Destroy Or Distort The American System. This We Could Do By Useless Overspending. I Know One Sure Way To Overspend. That Is By Overindulging Sentimental Attachments To Outmoded Military Machines And Concepts.

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

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.

The Purpose Is Clear. It Is Safety With Solvency. The Country Is Entitled To Both.

Should Any Political Party Attempt To Abolish Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, And Eliminate Labor Laws And Farm Programs, You Would Not Hear Of That Party Again In Our Political History.

Plans Are Nothing; Planning Is Everything.

There Must Be Justice, Sensed And Shared By All Peoples, For, Without Justice The World Can Know Only A Tense And Unstable Truce.

There Is No Glory In Battle Worth The Blood It Costs.

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

There Has Been A Vigorous Acceleration Of Health, Resource And Education Programs Designed To Advance The Role Of The American Indian In Our Society. Last Fall, For Example, 91 Percent Of The Indian Children Between The Ages Of 6 And 18 On Reservations Were Enrolled In School. This Is A Rise Of 12 Percent Since 1953.

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.

I'll Tell You What Leadership Is. It's Persuasion And Conciliation, And Education, And Patience.

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.

I Say When You Get Into A War, You Should Win As Quick As You Can, Because Your Losses Become A Function Of The Duration Of The War. I Believe When You Get In A War, Get Everything You Need And Win It.

There Are Three Stages Of Life: Youth, Maturity, And 'my, You're Looking Good!'

I Thought It Completely Absurd To Mention My Name In The Same Breath As The Presidency.

War Is Mankind's Most Tragic And Stupid Folly; To Seek Or Advise Its Deliberate Provocation Is A Black Crime Against All Men. Though You Follow The Trade Of The Warrior, You Do So In The Spirit Of Washington - Not Of Genghis Khan. For Americans, Only Threat To Our Way Of Life Justifies Resort To Conflict.

It Is Well For Us To Pause, To Acknowledge Our Debt To Those Who Paid So Large A Share Of Freedom's Price.

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

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

This World In Arms Is Not Spending Money Alone. It Is Spending The Sweat Of Its Laborers, The Genius Of Its Scientists, The Hopes Of Its Children.

Humility Must Always Be The Portion Of Any Man Who Receives Acclaim Earned In The Blood Of His Followers And The Sacrifices Of His Friends.

Personal Prayer, It Seems To Me, Is One Of The Simplest Necessities Of Life, As Basic To The Individual As Sunshine, Food And Water-and At Times, Of Course, More So. By Prayer I Mean An Effort To Get In Touch With The Infinite. We Know That Our Prayers Are Imperfect. Of Course They Are. We Are Imperfect Human Beings. A Thousand Experiences Have Convinced Me Beyond Room Of Doubt That Prayer Multiplies The Strength Of The Individual And Brings Within The Scope Of His Capabilities Almost Any Conceivable Objective.

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.

The Stop-watch Of History Is Running. The Race Is On . . .

Though Force Can Protect In Emergency, Only Justice, Fairness, Consideration And Cooperation Can Finally Lead Men To The Dawn Of Eternal Peace.

If You Want Total Security, Go To Prison. There You're Fed, Clothed, Given Medical Care And So On. The Only Thing Lacking... Is Freedom.

"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."

And The Next Thing Is That Every War Is Going To Astonish You In The Way It Occurred, And In The Way It Is Carried Out.

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.

We Are Tired Of Aristocratic Explanations In Harvard Words.

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

It Is My Personal Conviction That Almost Any One Of The Newborn States Of The World Would Far Rather Embrace Communism Or Any Other Form Of Dictatorship Than Acknowledge The Political Domination Of Another Government, Even Though That Brought To Each Citizen A Far Higher Standard Of Living.

More Than Ever Before, In Our Country, This Is The Age Of The Individual. Endowed With The Accumulated Knowledge Of Centuries, Armed With All The Instruments Of Modern Science, He Is Still Assured Personal Freedom And Wide Avenues Of Expression So That He May Win For Himself, His Family And His Country Greater Material Comfort, Ease And Happiness; Greater Spiritual Satisfaction And Contentment.

Organizations Cannot Make A Genius Out Of An Incompetent. On The Other Hand, Disorganization Can Scarcely Fail To Result In Efficiency.

I Hate War As Only A Soldier Who Has Lived It Can, Only As One Who Has Seen Its Brutality, Its Futility, Its Stupidity.

Nothing Is Easy In War. Mistakes Are Always Paid For In Casualties And Troops Are Quick To Sense Any Blunder Made By Their Commanders.

The True Purpose Of Education Is To Prepare Young Men And Women For Effective Citizenship In A Free Form Of Government.

What The Church Should Be Telling The Worker Is That The First Demand Religion Makes On Him Is That He Should Be A Good Workman. If He Is A Carpenter He Should Be A Competent Carpenter. Church By All Means On Sundays-but What Is The Use Of Church If At The Very Center Of Life A Man Defrauds His Neighbor And Insults God By Poor Craftsmanship.

First, Separate Ground, Sea And Air Warfare Is Gone Forever. If Ever Again We Should Be Involved In War, We Will Fight It In All Elements, With All Services, As One Single Concentrated Effort.

Firmness In Support Of Fundamentals, With Flexibility In Tactics And Methods, Is The Key To Any Hope Of Progress In Negotiation.

I Come From The Very Heart Of America.

The Other Day Aks And I Went Up To Your Ranch For A Day's Fishing. I Cannot Remember Any Day When We Have Had More Fun On A Stream. We Had Along With Us Three Newspaper Men And A Few Secret Service People, Many Of Whom Had Never Seen A Trout Stream, So We Did The Thing Up Right By Borrowing Frying Pans, Bacon And Corn Meal From The Wife Of Your Rancher - And We Cooked An Outdoor Meal For The Crowd. It Was Really Quite A Day.

In Most Communities It Is Illegal To Cry 'fire' In A Crowded Assembly. Should It Not Be Considered Serious International Misconduct To Manufacture A General War Scare In An Effort To Achieve Local Political Aims?

When You Are In Any Contest, You Should Work As If There Were - To The Very Last Minute - A Chance To Lose It. This Is Battle, This Is Politics, This Is Anything.

Every Gathering Of Americans-whether A Few On The Porch Of A Crossroads Store Or Massed Thousands In A Great Stadium-is The Possessor Of A Potentially Immeasurable Influence On The Future.

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.

When We Get To The Point, As We One Day Will, That Both Sides Know That In Any Outbreak Of General Hostilities, Regardless Of The Element Of Surprise, Destruction Will Be Both Reciprocal And Complete, Possibly We Will Have Sense Enough To Meet At The Conference Table With The Understanding That The Era Of Armaments Has Ended And The Human Race Must Conform Its Actions To This Truth Or Die.

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.

Leadership Is The Ability To Decide What Is To Be Done And Then Get Others To Do It.

Few Women, I Fear, Have Had Such Reason As I Have To Think The Long Sad Years Of Youth Were Worth Living For The Sake Of Middle Age.

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.

May We Grow In Strength — Without Pride In Self. May We, In Our Dealings With All Peoples Of The Earth, Ever Speak Truth And Serve Justice. And So Shall America — In The Sight Of All Men Of Good Will — Prove True To The Honorable Purposes That Bind And Rule Us As A People In All This Time Of Trial Through Which We Pass.

Some Politician Some Years Ago Said That Bad Officials Are Elected By Good Voters Who Do Not Vote.

Always Try To Associate Yourself Closely With And Learn As Much As You Can From Those Who Know More Than You, Who Do Better Than You, Who See More Clearly Than You. Apart From The Rewards Of Friendship, The Association Might Pay Off At Some Unforeseen Time - That Is Only An Accidental Byproduct. The Important Thing Is That The Learning Will Make You A Better Person.

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.

History Does Not Long Entrust The Care Of Freedom To The Weak Or The Timid.

And I Should Like To Assure You, My Islamic Friends, That Under The American Constitution, Under American Tradition, And In American Hearts, This Center, This Place Of Worship, Is Just As Welcome As Could Be A Similar Edifice Of Any Other Religion. Indeed, America Would Fight With Her Whole Strength For Your Right To Have Here Your Own Church And Worship According To Your Own Conscience. This Concept Is Indeed A Part Of America, And Without That Concept We Would Be Something Else Than What We Are.

[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.

I Despise People Who Go To The Gutter On Either The Right Or The Left And Hurl Rocks At Those In The Center.

One Small Ball In The Air. I Wouldn't Believe That At This Moment You Have To Fear The Intelligence Aspects Of This.

The Next Time You See One Of Those Squirrels Go Near My Putting Green, Take A Gun And Shoot It

Accomplishment Will Prove To Be A Journey, Not A Destination.

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.

We Have Got To Fight It [communism] With Something Better, Not Try To Conceal The Thinking Of Our Own People. They Are Part Of America. And Even If They Think Ideas That Are Contrary To Ours, Their Right To Say Them, Their Right To Record Them, And Their Right To Have Them At Places Where They Are Accessible To Others Is Unquestioned, Or It Isn't America.

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

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.

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.

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

Probably No One Here Knows I Coached A Football Team - A Service Team - Playing Against Georgetown. I Think It Was In The Fall Of 1924 Lou Little Was Your Coach, And He Beat Us. But It Was A Very Happy Circumstance, Because It Brought Me The Friendship Of Another Man, Lou Little, Who To This Day Remains My Very Warm Associate And Friend.

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

Plans Are Useless, But Planning Is Essential.

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.

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

An Atheist Is A Man Who Watches A Notre Dame - Southern Methodist University Game And Doesn't Care Who Wins.

No Treaty Or International Agreement Can Contravene The Constitution.

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 People Get Together, So Eventually Will Nations.

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

Beware The Military-industrial Complex.

Military Industrial Complex

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 Free World Must Not Prove Itself Worthy Of Its Own Past.

Today In America, Unions Have A Secure Place In Our Industrial Life. Only A Handful Of Reactionaries Harbor The Ugly Thought Of Breaking Unions And Depriving Working Men And Women Of The Right To Join The Union Of Their Choice. I Have No Use For Those - Regardless Of Their Political Party - Who Hold Some Vain And Foolish Dream Of Spinning The Clock Back To Days When Organized Labor Was Huddled, Almost As A Hapless Mass. Only A Fool Would Try To Deprive Working Men And Women Of The Right To Join The Union Of Their Choice.

All Generalizations Are Inaccurate, Including This One.

Give Us, We Pray, The Power To Discern Clearly Right From Wrong, And Allow All Our Words And Actions To Be Governed Thereby, And By The Laws Of This Land. Especially We Pray That Our Concern Shall Be For All The People Regardless Of Station, Race, Or Calling.

War Is A Grim, Cruel Business, A Business Justified Only As A Means Of Sustaining The Forces Of Good Against Those Of Evil.

There Can Be No True Disarmament Without Peace, And There Can Be No Real Peace Without Very Material Disarmament.

From Behind The Iron Curtain, There Are Signs That Tyranny Is In Trouble And Reminders That Its Structure Is As Brittle As Its Surface Is Hard.

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

This Is A Long Tough Road We Have To Travel. The Men That Can Do Things Are Going To Be Sought Out Just As Surely As The Sun Rises In The Morning. Fake Reputations, Habits Of Glib And Clever Speech, And Glittering Surface Performance Are Going To Be Discovered.

Always Try To Associate Yourself With And Learn As Much As You Can From Those Who Know More Than You Do, Who Do Better Than You, Who See More Clearly Than You.

Better Than You

Peace And Justice Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin.

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.

We Have Never Stopped Sin By Passing Laws; And In The Same Way, We Are Not Going To Take A Great Moral Ideal And Achieve It Merely By Law.

I Don't Think The United States Needs Superpatriots. We Need Patriotism, Honestly Practiced By All Of Us, And We Don't Need These People That Are More Patriotic Than You Or Anyone Else.

In All Those Things Which Deal With People, Be Liberal, Be Human. In All Those Things Which Deal With The People's Money Or Their Economy Or Their Form Of Government, Be Conservative.

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.

With A Full Century Of Contrary Proof In Our Possession And Despite Our Demonstrated Capacity For Cooperative Teamwork, Some Among Us Seem To Accept The Shibboleth Of An Unbridgeable Gap Between Those Who Hire And Those Who Are Employed. We Miserably Fail To Challenge The Lie That What Is Good For Management Is Necessarily Bad For Labor; That For One Side To Profit, The Other Must Be Depressed. Such Distorted Doctrine Is False And Foreign To The American Scene Where Common Ideals And Purpose Permit Us A Common Approach Toward The Common Good.

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.

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.

The Same Day I Saw My First Horror Camp, I Visited Every Nook And Cranny. I Felt It My Duty To Be In A Position From Then On To Testify About These Things In Case There Ever Grew Up At Home The Belief Or Assumption That The Stories Of Nazi Brutality Were Just Propaganda.

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

If Any Blame Or Fault Attaches To The Attempt, It Is Mine Alone.

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

I Had Been Conscious A Feeling Of Depression And So I Voiced To [secretary Of War Stimson] My Grave Misgivings, First On The Basis Of My Belief That Japan Was Already Defeated And That Dropping The Bomb Was Completely Unnecessary, And Secondly Because I Thought That Our Country Should Avoid Shocking World Opinion By The Use Of A Weapon Whose Employment Was, I Thought, No Longer Mandatory As A Measure To Save American Lives. It Was My Belief That Japan Was, At This Very Moment, Seeking A Way To Surrender With A Minimum Loss Of 'face.'

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

... 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.

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

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

The Winning Of War - The Effectiveness In Such Things - Is In The Heart, In The Determination, In The Faith. It Is In Our Beliefs In Our Country, In Our God, Everything That Goes To Make Up America.

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.

This Desk Of Mine Is One At Which A Man May Die, But From Which He Cannot Resign.

The Sergeant Is The Army.

Without God There Could Be No American Form Of Government, Nor An American Way Of Life. Recognition Of The Supreme Being Is The First, The Most Basic, Expression Of Americanism. Thus, The Founding Fathers Of America Saw It, And Thus With God's Help, It Will Continue To Be.

Our Pleasures Were Simple - They Included Survival.

Under The Clouds Of War, It Is Humanity Hanging On A Cross Of Iron.

It Is Far More Important To Be Able To Hit The Target Than It Is To Haggle Over Who Makes A Weapon Or Who Pulls A Trigger.

Never Let Yourself Be Persuaded That Any One Great Man, Any One Leader, Is Necessary To The Salvation Of America. When America Consists Of One Leader And 158 Million Followers, It Will No Longer Be America.

Character In Many Ways Is Everything In Leadership. It Is Made Up Of Many Things, But I Would Say Character Is Really Integrity.

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.

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.

The Future Of This Republic Is In The Hands Of The American Voter.

American Voters

We Will Accept Nothing Less Than Full Victory!

You Can't Have This Kind Of War. There Just Aren't Enough Bulldozers To Scrape The Bodies Off The Streets.

Disorganization Can Scarcely Fail To Result In Efficiency.

Disorganization

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.

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.

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.

There Is -- In World Affairs -- A Steady Course To Be Followed Between An Assertion Of Strength That Is Truculent And A Confession Of Helplessness That Is Cowardly.

There Is One Thing About Being President -- Nobody Can Tell You When To Sit Down.

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.

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

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.

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.

Legislation To Apply The Principle Of Equal Pay For Equal Work Without Discrimination Because Of Sex Is A Matter Of Simple Justice

I Despise All Adjectives That Try To Describe People As Liberal Or Conservative, Rightist Or Leftist, As Long As They Stay In The Useful Part Of The Road.

Teachers Need Our Active Support And Encouragement. They Are Doing One Of The Most Necessary And Exacting Jobs In The Land. They Are Developing Our Most Precious National Resource: Our Children, Our Future Citizens.

If I Didn't Have Air Supremacy, I Wouldn't Be Here.

Innovations And Discoveries Have Created New Industries Giving More And More Americans Better Jobs And Adding Greatly To The Prosperity And Well Being Of All.

Should Any Political Party Attempt To Abolish Social Security Unemployment Insurance And Eliminate Labor Laws And Farm Programs You Would Not Hear Of That Party Again In Our Political History. There Is A Tiny Splinter Group Of Course That Believes You Can Do These Things. Among Them Are A Few Other Texas Oil Millionaires And An Occasional Politician Or Business Man From Other Areas. Their Number Is Negligible And They Are Stupid.

I'm Saving That Rocker For The Day When I Feel As Old As I Really Am.

Speeches Are For The Younger Men Who Are Going Places. And I'm Not Going Anyplace Except Six Feet Under The Floor Of That Little Chapel Adjoining The Museum And Library At Abilene.

The Older I Get The More Wisdom I Find In The Ancient Rule Of Taking First Things First. A Process Which Often Reduces The Most Complex Human Problem To A Manageable Proportion.

Inspirational Life

Well, A Funny Thing, There Are Three That I Like All For The Same Reason, Golf, Fishing, And Shooting, And I Do Because First, They Take You Into The Fields. There Is Mild Exercise, The Kind That An Older Individual Probably Should Have. And On Top Of It, It Induces You To Take At Any One Time 2 Or 3 Hours, If You Can, Where You Are Thinking Of The Bird Or That Ball Or The Wily Trout. Now, To My Mind It Is A Very Healthful, Beneficial Kind Of Thing, And I Do It Whenever I Get A Chance, As You Well Know.

War Is Mankind's Most Tragic And Stupid Folly; To Seek Or Advise Its Deliberate Provocation Is A Black Crime Against All Men.

Before All Else, We Seek, Upon Our Common Labor As A Nation, The Blessings Of Almighty God.

With 450,000 U. S. Troops Now In Vietnam, It Is Time That Congress Decided Whether Or Not To Declare A State Of War Exists With North Vietnam. Previous Congressional Resolutions Of Support Provide Only Limited Authority. Although Congress May Decide That The Previously Approved Resolution On Vietnam Given President Johnson Is Sufficient, The Issue Of A Declaration Of War Should At Least Be Put Before The Congress For Decision.

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.

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

The Proper Role Of Government, However, Is That Of Partner With The Farmer -- Never His Master. By Every Possible Means We Must Develop And Promote That Partnership -- To The End That Agriculture May Continue To Be A Sound, Enduring Foundation For Our Economy And That Farm Living May Be A Profitable And Satisfying Experience.

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.

The Day Will Come When The People Will Make So Insistent Their Demand That There Be Peace In The World That The Governments Will Get Out Of The Way And Let Them Have Peace.

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.

Because, Therefore, We Are Defending A Way Of Life, We Must Be Respectful Of That Way Of Life As We Proceed To The Solution Of Our Problem. We Must Not Violate Its Principles And Its Precepts, And We Must Not Destroy From Within What We Are Trying To Defend From Without.

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.

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.

Freedom Has Its Life In The Hearts, The Actions, The Spirit Of Men And So It Must Be Daily Earned And Refreshed - Else Like A Flower Cut From Its Life-giving Roots, It Will Wither And Die.

Whatever America Hopes To Bring To Pass In The World Must First Come To Pass In The Heart Of America.

The Spirit Of Man Is More Important Than Mere Physical Strength, And The Spiritual Fiber Of A Nation Than Its Wealth. The Bible Is Endorsed By The Ages. Our Civilization Is Built Upon Its Words. In No Other Book Is There Such A Collection Of Inspired Wisdom, Reality, And Hope.

The Supreme Quality Of Leadership Is Integrity.

To Have A Free, Peaceful And Prosperous World We Must Be Ever Stronger Particularly In The Spiritual Things....it Is American Belief In Decency And Justice And Progress And The Value Of Individual Liberty Because Of The Rights Conferred On Each Of Us By Our Creator That Willcarry Us Through.... There Must Be Something In The Heart As Well As The Head.

It Is Better To Have One Person Working With You Than Three People Working For You.

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.

In The Service, When A Man Gives You His Word, His Word Is Binding. In Politics, You Never Know.

Morale Is The Greatest Single Factor In Successful Wars.

Sweet Praise Is Like Perfume. It Is Fine If You Don't Swallow It.

The Libraries Of America Are And Must Ever Remain The Home Of Free And Inquiring Minds. To Them, Our Citizens-of All Ages And Races, Of All Creeds And Persuasions-must Be Able To Turn With Clear Confidence That There They Can Freely Seek The Whole Truth, Unvarnished By Fashion And Uncompromised By Expediency.

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.

The One Weapon Every Man, Soldier, Sailor, Or Airman Should Be Able To Use Effectively Is The Rifle.

America Is Best Described By One Word, Freedom.

Some Years Ago I Became President Of Columbia University And Learned Within 24 Hours To Be Ready To Speak At The Drop Of A Hat, And I Learned Something More, The Trustees Were Expected To Be Ready To Speak At The Passing Of The Hat.

I Shall Make That Trip. I Shall Go To Korea.

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

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

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

I Like To Believe That People In The Long Run Are Going To Do More To Promote Peace Than Our Governments. Indeed, I Think That People Want Peace So Much That One Of These Days Governments Had Better Get Out Of The Way And Let Them Have It.

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

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.

Fortunately For Us And Our World, Young People Are Not Easily Discouraged. The Hopes Of The World Rest On The Fresh Outlook Of Young People

When Pressure Mounts And Strain Increases Everyone Begins To Show The Weaknesses In His Makeup. It Is Up To The Commander To Conceal His: Above All To Conceal Doubt, Fear, And Distrust.

The Problem In Defense Is How Far You Can Go Without Destroying From Within What You Are Trying To Defend From Without.

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.

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.

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

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

The World No Longer Has A Choice Between Force And Law; If Civilization Is To Survive, It Must Choose The Rule Of Law.

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.

The World Moves, And Ideas That Were Once Good Are Not Always Good.

American Working Men Are Principals In The Three-member Team Of Capital, Management, Labor. Never Have They Regarded Themselves As A Servile Class That Could Attain Freedom Only Through Destruction Of The Industrial Economy.

A People That Values Its Privileges Above Its Principles Soon Loses Both.

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.

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.

As For Myself And For The Secretary Of State And Others Involved, Including Those In The Legislature, We Stand Ready To Do Anything, To Meet With Anyone, Anywhere, As Long As We May Do So In Self-respect, Demanding The Respect Due This Nation, And There Is Any Slightest Idea Or Chance Of Furthering This Great Cause Of Peace.

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.

I Believe That Without Free Enterprise There Can Be No Democracy.

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