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We Live Amid Falling Taboos. In Our Crowded Little Hour Of History We Have Seen How The Prejudice Of Religion No Longer Can Bar The Way To The White House. Some Of You May Live To See The Day When The Prejudice Of Sex No Longer Places The Presidency Beyond The Reach Of A Greatly Gifted American Lady. Long Before Them, I Hope You Will See A Woman Member Of The Supreme Court Of The United States. In Congress And In Our State Legislatures We Need More Women To Bring Their Sensitive Experience To The Shaping Of Our Decisions.

-Lyndon B. Johnson

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We Live Amid Falling

Lyndon B. Johnson

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We Live Amid Falling Taboos. In Our Crowded Little Hour Of History We Have Seen How The Prejudice Of Religion No Longer Can Bar The Way To The White House. Some Of You May Live To See The Day When The Prejudice Of Sex No Longer Places The Presidency Beyond The Reach Of A Greatly Gifted American Lady. Long Before Them, I Hope You Will See A Woman Member Of The Supreme Court Of The United States. In Congress And In Our State Legislatures We Need More Women To Bring Their Sensitive Experience To The Shaping Of Our Decisions.

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The Great Society Is A Place Where Every Child Can Find Knowledge To Enrich His Mind And To Enlarge His Talents. It Is A Place Where The City Of Man Serves Not Only The Needs Of The Body And The Demands Of Commerce But The Desire For Beauty And The Hunger For Community. It Is A Place Where Men Are More Concerned With The Quality Of Their Goals Than The Quantity Of Their Goods.

In Asia We Face An Ambitious And Aggressive China, But We Have The Will And We Have The Strength To Help Our Asian Friends Resist That Ambition. Sometimes Our Folks Get A Little Impatient. Sometimes They Rattle Their Rockets Some, And They Bluff About Their Bombs. But We Are Not About To Send American Boys 9 Or 10,000 Miles Away From Home To Do What Asian Boys Ought To Be Doing For Themselves.

Art Is A Nation's Most Precious Heritage. For It Is In Our Works Of Art That We Reveal To Ourselves And To Others The Inner Vision Which Guides Us As A Nation. And Where There Is No Vision, The People Perish.

If Anybody Has Any Idea Of Hoarding Our Silver Coins, Let Me Say This. Treasury Has A Lot Of Silver On Hand, And It Can Be, And It Will Be Used To Keep The Price Of Silver In Line With Its Value In Our Present Silver Coin. There Will Be No Profit In Holding Them Out Of Circulation For The Value Of Their Silver Content.

If I Could Get One Message To You It Would Be This: The Future Of This Country And The Welfare Of The Free World Depends Upon Our Success In Space. There Is No Room In This Country For Any But A Fully Cooperative, Urgently Motivated All-out Effort Toward Space Leadership. No One Person, No One Company, No One Government Agency, Has A Monopoly On The Competence, The Missions, Or The Requirements For The Space Program.

But If Future Generations Are To Remember Us More With Gratitude Than With Sorrow, We Must Achieve More Than Just The Miracles Of Technology. We Must Also Leave Them A Glimpse Of The World As God Really Made It, Not Just As It Looked When We Got Through With It.

As It Was 189 Years Ago, So Today The Cause Of America Is A Revolutionary Cause. And I Am Proud This Morning To Salute You As Fellow Revolutionaries. Neither You Nor I Are Willing To Accept The Tyranny Of Poverty, Nor The Dictatorship Of Ignorance, Nor The Despotism Of Ill Health, Nor The Oppression Of Bias And Prejudice And Bigotry. We Want Change. We Want Progress. We Want It Both Abroad And At Homeand We Aim To Get It.

Bias And Prejudice

Emancipation Was A Proclamation, But Not A Fact.

Second, This Law Has Become A Special Symbol Of Our Nation's Most Important Purpose: To Fulfill The Individual - His Freedom, His Happiness, His Promise.

We Cannot Have Government For All The People Until We First Make Certain It Is Government Of And By All The People.

Democrats Legislate; Republicans Investigate.

'all Men Are Created Equal', 'government By Consent Of The Governed', 'give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death'. Well, Those Are Not Just Clever Words, Or Those Are Not Just Empty Theories.

The Cia Is Made Up Of Boys Whose Families Sent Them To Princeton But Wouldn't Let Them Into The Family Brokerage Business.

Let No One Ever Think For A Moment That National Debate Means National Division.

A Good President Does With Executive Power What Pablo Picasso Did With Paint. He Takes Bills Into New And Slightly Discomfiting Territory. He Puts Extra Eyes On Policies. He Moves The Mouth Of The Supreme Court From Where It Should Be To Where It Must Be.

The Air Force Comes In Every Morning And Says, 'bomb, Bomb, Bomb' ... And Then The State Department Comes In And Says, 'not Now, Or Not There, Or Too Much, Or Not At All.'

In My State, On The Basis Of The Separate But Equal Doctrine, We Have Made Enormous Strides Over The Years In The Education Of Both Races. Personally, I Think It Would Have Been Sounder Judgment To Allow That Progress To Continue Through The Process Of Natural Evolution. However, There Is No Point Crying About Spilt Milk.

Every President Wants To Do Right.

'human History, ' H.g. Wells Once Wrote, 'becomes More And More A Race Between Education And Catastrophe.' You And I Cannot Be Indifferent To The Outcome Of That Race. We Care Deeply About The Winner. Because We Do Care So Deeply About The Winner, That Is Why We Are All In The East Room Of The White House Today.

Democracy Is A Constant Tension Between Truth And Half-truth And, In The Arsenal Of Truth, There Is No Greater Weapon Than Fact.

This Civil Rights Act Is A Challenge To All Of Us To Go To Work In Our Communities And Our States, In Our Homes And In Our Hearts, To Eliminate The Last Vestiges Of Injustice In Our Beloved Country. So Tonight I Urge Every Public Official, Every Religious Leader, Every Business And Professional Man, Every Working Man, Every Housewife - I Urge Every American - To Join In This Effort To Bring Justice And Hope To All Our People, And To Bring Peace To Our Land.

Conservation Is Ethically Sound. It Is Rooted In Our Love Of The Land, Our Respect For The Rights Of Others, Our Devotion To The Rule Of Law.

Europe Has Been At Peace Since 1945. But It Is A Restless Peace Thats Shadowed By The Threat Of Violence. Europe Is Partitioned. An Unnatural Line Runs Through The Heart Of A Very Great And A Very Proud Nation [germany]. History Warns Us That Until This Harsh Division Has Been Resolved, Peace In Europe Will Never Be Secure. We Must Turn To One Of The Great Unfinished Tasks Of Our Generationand That Unfinished Task Is Making Europe Whole Again.

If You're Not Listening, You're Not Learning.

Come Now. Let Us Reason Together.

I Have Learned That Only Two Things Are Necessary To Keep One's Wife Happy. First, Let Her Think She's Having Her Own Way. And Second, Let Her Have It.

For It Was Only After I Could Become President Of This Country That I Could Really See In All Its Hopeful And Troubling Implications Just How Much The Hopes Of Our Citizens And The Security Of Our Nation And The Real Strength Of Our Democracy Depended Upon The Learning And The Understanding Of Our People.

First, This Law - The National Defense Education Act - Ended Years And Years Of Debate About One Controversial Question: 'shall The Federal Government, With All Its Massive Resources, Get Directly Involved In Aiding American Education?' The Answer This Law Gave Was A Loud 'yes!' - And Thus We Paved The Way For A New Era Of Support For Education In America. This Law, In Fact, Helped Make Possible More Than 50 New Education Laws Passed In My Administration.

The American City Should Be A Collection Of Communities Where Every Member Has A Right To Belong. It Should Be A Place Where Every Man Feels Safe On His Streets And In The House Of His Friends.

I'm Willin' For Any Solution - Religious, Political. I'm Not Going To Keep Offerin' To Negotiate So Much Because They Turn Us Down Each Time. It Indicates A Weakness On Our Part.

I Dont Believe In Labels. I Want To Do The Best I Can, All The Time. I Want To Be Progressive Without Getting Both Feet Off The Ground At The Same Time. I Want To Be Prudent Without Having My Mind Closed To Anything That Is New Or Different. I Have Often Said That I Was Proud That I Was A Free Man First And An American Second, And A Public Servant Third And A Democrat Fourth, In That Order, And I Guess As A Democrat, If I Had To Takeplace A Label On Myself, I Would Want To Be A Progressive Who Is Prudent.

The United States Stands By Its Friends. Israel Is One Of Its Friends Peace Can Be Based Only On Agreement Between The Parties And Agreement Can Be Achieved Only Through Negotiations Between Them. The United States Will Not Impose The Terms Of Peace. The United States Is Prepared To Supply Military Equipment Necessary To Support The Efforts Of Friendly Governments, Like Israel's, To Defend The Safety Of Their People.

Our Objective In South Vietnam Has Never Been The Annihilation Of The Enemy. It Has Been To Bring About A Recognition In Hanoi That Its Objective - Taking Over The South By Force - Could Not Be Achieved.

It Is The Genius Of Our Constitution That Under Its Shelter Of Enduring Institutions And Rooted Principles There Is Ample Room For The Rich Fertility Of American Political Invention.

Men Who Have Worked Together To Reach The Stars Are Not Likely To Descend Together Into The Depths Of War And Desolation.

I Am A Compromiser And Maneuverer. I Try To Get Something. That's The Way Our System Works.

For The First Time In Our History It Is Possible To Conquer Poverty.

The Separation Of Church And State Is A Source Of Strength, But The Conscience Of Our Nation Does Not Call For Separation Between Men Of State And Faith In The Supreme Being.

The Best Way To Begin Disarming Is To Begin-and The United States Is Ready To Conclude Firm Agreements In These Areas And To Consider Any Other Reasonable Proposal.

...in The Decline Of Life Shame And Grief Are Of Short Duration; Whether It Be That We Bear Easily What We Have Borne Long; Or That, Finding Ourselves In Age Less Regarded, We Less Regard Others; Or, That We Look With Slight Regard Upon Afflictions To Which We Know That The Hand Of Death Is About To Put An End.

I Taught School In The Early Days Of My Manhood And I Think I Know Something About Mothers. There Is A Thread Of Aspiration That Runs Strong In Them. It Is The Fiber That Has Formed The Most Unselfish Creatures Who Inhabit This Earth. They Want Three Things Only; For Their Children To Be Fed, To Be Healthy, And To Make The Most Of Themselves.

Nothing Comes Free. Nothing. Not Even Good, Especially Not Good.

Such Is The Condition Of Life That Something Is Always Wanting To Happiness. In Youth We Have Warm Hopes, Which Are Soon Blasted By Rashness And Negligence, And Great Designs Which Are Defeated By Inexperience. In Age, We Have Knowledge And Prudence, Without Spirit To Exert, Or Motives To Prompt Them; We Are Able To Plan Schemes, And Regulate Measures, But Have Not Time Remaining To Bring Them To Completion.

We Have Heard All Of Our Lives How, After The Civil War Was Over, The South Went Back To Straighten Itself Out And Make A Living Again. It Was For Many Years A Voiceless Part Of The Government. The Balance Of Power Moved Away From It--to The North And The East. The Problems Of The North And The East Became The Big Problem Of The Country And Nobody Paid Much Attention To The Economic Unbalance The South Had Left As Its Only Choice.

If Government Is To Serve Any Purpose It Is To Do For Others What They Are Unable To Do For Themselves.

How Incredible It Is That In This Fragile Existence We Should Hate And Destroy One Another. There Are Possibilities Enough For All Who Will Abandon Mastery Over Others To Pursue Mastery Over Nature. There Is World Enough For All To Seek Their Happiness In Their Own Way.

The Moon And Other Celestial Bodies Should Be Free For Exploration And Use By All Countries. No Country Should Be Permitted To Advance A Claim Of Sovereignty.

In The Last Few Decades Entire New Categories Of Waste Have Come To Plague And Menace The American Scene. Pollution Is Growing At A Rapid Rate. Pollution Destroys Beauty And Menaces Health. It Cuts Down On Efficiency, Reduces Property Values And Raises Taxes. Almost All These Wastes And Pollutions Are The Result Of Activities Carried On For The Benefit Of Man. A Prime National Goal Must Be An Environment That Is Pleasing To The Senses And Healthy To Live In. Our Government Is Already Doing Much In This Field. We Have Made Significant Progress. But More Must Be Done.

Of Course, I May Go Into A Strange Bedroom Every Now And Then That I Don't Want You To Write About, But Otherwise You Can Write Everything.

Better To Have Him Inside The Tent Pissing Out, Than Outside The Tent Pissing In.

There Is Something More Important Than Any Ultimate Weapon. That Is The Ultimate Position-the Position Of Total Control Over Earth That Lies Somewhere Out In Space. That Is . . . The Distant Future, Though Not So Distant As We May Have Thought. Whoever Gains That Ultimate Position Gains Control, Total Control, Over The Earth, For The Purposes Of Tyranny Or For The Service Of Freedom

One Hundred Years Ago, The Slave Was Freed. One Hundred Years Later, The Negro Remains In Bondage To The Color Of His Skin.

War Is Always The Same. It Is Young Men Dying In The Fullness Of Their Promise. It Is Trying To Kill A Man That You Do Not Even Know Well Enough To Hate. Therefore, To Know War Is To Know That There Is Still Madness In The World.

For The Individual, Education Is The Path To Achievement And Fulfillment; For The Nation, It Is A Path To A Society That Is Not Only Free But Civilized; And For The World, It Is The Path To Peace - For It Is Education That Places Reason Over Force.

Our Most Tragic Error May Have Been Our Inability To Establish A Rapport And A Confidence With The Press And Television With The Communication Media. I Don't Think The Press Has Understood Me.

Every Night Before I Turn Out The Lights To Sleep, I Ask Myself This Question: Have I Done Everything That I Can.... Have I Done Enough?

The Debris Of Civilization Litters The Landscapes And Spoils The Beaches. Conservation's Concerns Now Is Not Only For Man's Enjoyment-but For Man's Survival.

But We Have Not Used Our Waters Well. Our Major Rivers Are Defiled By Noxious Debris. Pollutants From Cities And Industries Kill The Fish In Our Streams. Many Waterways Are Covered With Oil Slicks And Contain Growths Of Algae That Destroy Productive Life And Make The Water Unfit For Recreation. "polluted Water-no Swimming" Has Become A Familiar Sign On Too Many Beaches And Rivers. A Lake That Has Served Many Generations Of Men Now Can Be Destroyed By Man In Less Than One Generation.

I Don't Believe I'll Ever Get Credit For Anything I Do In Foreign Affairs, No Matter How Successful It Is, Because I Didn't Go To Harvard.

If You Have A Mother-in-law With Only One Eye And She Has It In The Center Of Her Forehead, Don't Keep Her In The Living Room.

This Congress Did More To Uplift Education, More To Attack Disease In This Country And Around The World, And More To Conquer Poverty Than Any Other Session In All American History, And What More Worthy Achievements Could Any Person Want To Have? For It Was The Congress That Was More True Than Any Other Congress To Thomas Jefferson's Belief That: 'the Care Of Human Life And Happiness Is The First And Only Legitimate Objective Of Good Government.'

Doing What's Right Isn't The Problem. It Is Knowing What's Right.

Today, 8 Million Adult Americans, More Than The Entire Population Of Michigan, Have Not Finished 5 Years Of School. Nearly 20 Million Have Not Finished 8 Years Of School. Nearly 54 Million - More Than One-quarter Of All America - Have Not Even Finished High School.

Nothing Is More Unjust, However Common, Than To Charge With Hypocrisy Him That Expresses Zeal For Those Virtues Which He Neglects To Practice; Since He May Be Sincerely Convinced Of The Advantages Of Conquering His Passions Without Having Yet Obtained The Victory As A Man May Be Confident Of The Advantages Of A Voyage Or A Journey, Without Having Courage Or Industry To Undertake It, And May Honestly Recommend To Others Those Attempts Which He Neglects Himself.

We Preach The Virtues Of Democracy Abroad. We Must Practice Its Duties Here At Home. Voting Is The First Duty Of Democracy.

What Convinces Is Conviction.

No Man Should Think That Peace Comes Easily. Peace Does Not Come By Merely Wanting It, Or Shouting For It, Or Marching Down Main Street For It. Peace Is Built Brick By Brick, Mortared By The Stubborn Effort And The Total Energy And Imagination Of Able And Dedicated Men. And It Is Built In The Living Faith That, In The End, Man Can And Will Master His Own Destiny.

An Unfolding Technology Has Increased Our Economic Strength And Added To The Convenience Of Our Lives. But That Same Technology-we Know Now-carries Danger With It. From The Great Smoke Stacks Of Industry And From The Exhausts Of Motors And Machines, 130 Million Tons Of Soot, Carbon And Grime Settle Over The People And Shroud The Nation's Cities Each Year. From Towns, Factories, And Stockyards, Wastes Pollute Our Rivers And Streams, Endangering The Waters We Drink And Use.

When I Was Young, Poverty Was So Common That We Didn't Know It Had A Name.

Being President Is Like Being A Jackass In A Hailstorm. There's Nothing To Do But To Stand There And Take It.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel? We Don't Even Have A Tunnel; We Don't Even Know Where The Tunnel Is.

Education Is 'the Guardian Genius Of Our Democracy.' Nothing Really Means More To Our Future, Not Our Military Defenses, Not Our Missiles Or Our Bombers, Not Our Production Economy, Not Even Our Democratic System Of Government. For All Of These Are Worthless If We Lack The Brain Power To Support And Sustain Them.

We Have Always Believed That Our People Can Stand On No Higher Ground Than The School Ground, Or Can Enter Any More Hopeful Room Than The Classroom. We Blend Time And Faith And Knowledge In Our Schools - Not Only To Create Educated Citizens, But Also To Shape The Destiny Of This Great Republic.

Let Us Close The Springs Of Racial Poison. Let Us Pray For Wise And Understanding Hearts. Let Us Lay Aside Irrelevant Differences And Make Our Nation Whole.

Evil Acts Of The Past Are Never Rectified By Evil Acts Of The Present.

If We Must Disagree, Let's Disagree Without Being Disagreeable.

I Shall Never Forget The Faces Of The Boys And The Girls In That Little Welhausen Mexican School, And I Remember Even Yet The Pain Of Realizing And Knowing Then That College Was Closed To Practically Every One Of Those Children Because They Were Too Poor. And I Think It Was Then That I Made Up My Mind That This Nation Could Never Rest While The Door To Knowledge Remained Closed To Any American.

We Do This In Order To Slow Down Aggression. We Do This To Increase The Confidence Of The Brave People Of South Vietnam Who Have Bravely Born This Brutal Battle For So Many Years With So Many Casualties. And We Do This To Convince The Leaders Of North Vietnam-and All Who Seek To Share Their Conquest-of A Simple Fact: We Will Not Be Defeated. We Will Not Grow Tired. We Will Not Withdraw Either Openly Or Under The Cloak Of A Meaningless Agreement.

I Don't Have Any Handicap. I Am All Handicap.

Every Funeral May Justly Be Considered As A Summons To Prepare For That State Into Which It Shows Us That We Must Some Time Enter; And The Summons Is More Loud And Piercing As The Event Of Which It Warns Us Is At Less Distance. To Neglect At Any Time Preparation For Death Is To Sleep On Our Post At A Siege; But To Omit It In Old Age Is To Sleep At An Attack.

But More Classrooms And More Teachers Are Not Enough. We Must Seek An Educational System Which Grows In Excellence As It Grows In Size. This Means Better Training For Our Teachers. It Means Preparing Youth To Enjoy Their Hours Of Leisure As Well As Their Hours Of Labor. It Means Exploring New Techniques Of Teaching, To Find New Ways To Stimulate The Love Of Learning And The Capacity For Creation.

To Hunger For Use And To Go Unused Is The Worst Hunger Of All.

We Must Change To Master Change.

Poverty Must Not Be A Bar To Learning And Learning Must Offer An Escape From Poverty.

As We Maintain The Vigil Of Peace, We Must Remember That Justice Is A Vigil, Too - A Vigil We Must Keep In Our Own Streets And Schools And Among The Lives Of All Our People - So That Those Who Died Here On Their Native Soil Shall Not Have Died In Vain.

Way Back Last Summer I Asked Some Of The Most Outstanding Educational Minds In This Nation To Tackle This Problem. I Gave Them A Single Instruction: Find Out How We Can Best Invest Each Education Dollar So That It Will Do The Most Good. Your Support And The Support Of Every Leading Education Group Proves That They Did Their Job Better Than I Had Hoped, Because For The First Time We Have Succeeded In Finding Goals Which Unite Us Rather Than Divide Us.

We Don't Propose To Sit Here In Our Rocking Chair With Our Hands Folded And Let The Communists Set Up Any Government In The Western Hemisphere.

The Future Holds Little Hope For Any Government Where The Present Holds No Hope For The People.

I'd Rather Give My Life Than Be Afraid To Give It.

Greater Love Hath No Man Than To Attend The Episcopal Church With His Wife.

There Are Some, I Know, Who See Beautification As A Frill, As An Extra, Or As Something That Is Luxurious Enough To Postpone. Well, They Make Me Impatient Because I Am Convinced That Beauty And Order In Our Environment Are Not Frills. I Am Convinced That They Are Urgent Necessities Because They Will Determine Whether Our Grandchildren Can Live In A Decent Land Or Whether They Will Be Surrounded By Glittering Junkheaps.

Just Like The Alamo, Somebody Damn Well Needed To Go To Their Aid. Well, By God, I'm Going To Viet Nam's Aid!

Americans Have Always Built For The Future. That Is Why We Established Land Grant Colleges And Passed The Homestead Act To Open Our Western Lands More Than 100 Years Ago.

If The American People Don't Love Me, Their Descendants Will.

In Modern Warfare There Are No Victors; There Are Only Survivors.

Boys, It Is Just Like The Alamo. Somebody Should Have By God Helped Those Texans. I'm Going To Vietnam.

If We Become Tow People-the Suburban Affluent And The Urban Poor, Each Filled With Mistrust And Fear Of The Other-then We Shall Effectively Cripple Each Generation To Come.

A Nation That Fails To Plan Intelligently For The Development And Protection Of Its Precious Waters Will Be Condemned To Wither Because Of Its Shortsightedness. The Hard Lessons Of History Are Clear, Written On The Deserted Sands And Ruins Of Once Proud Civilizations.

We Americans Know - Although Others Appear To Forget - The Risk Of Spreading Conflict. We Still Seek No Wider War.

The Job, Of Course, Will Never Be Finished. For A Nation, As For An Individual, Education Is A Perpetually Unfinished Journey, A Continuing Process Of Discovery.

Every Citizen Will Be Able, In His Productive Years When He Is Earning, To Insure Himself Against The Ravages Of Illness In His Old Age.

I Believe That The Essence Of Government Lies With Unceasing Concern For The Welfare And Dignity And Decency And Innate Integrity Of Life For Every Individual. I Dont Like To Say This And Wish I Didnt Have To Add These Words To Make It Clear But I Willregardless Of Color, Creed, Ancestry, Sex Or Age.

The Organization Of American States Couldn't Pour Piss Out Of A Boot If The Instructions Were Written On The Heel.

The Time Has Come When We Cannot Be So Careless. Unless We Do Better, We May Suffer Through A Stark Emergency Of The Environment. We May Create A Hostile World: A World To Bruise Ourselves Against; A World Of Sprawling Cities, Unplanned Or Badly Planned; A World Whose Water Is Full Of Sludge, Whose Winds Are Full Of Soot; A World Whose Landscape Has Been Totally Neglected, Stripped, Marred, And Wasted. All Of This Need Not Happen If We Choose Well, And Particularly If We Plan Well And If We Act Well.

Voting Is The First Duty Of Democracy.

We Must Open The Doors Of Opportunity.

This Nation, This Generation, In This Hour Has Man's First Chance To Build A Great Society, A Place Where The Meaning Of Man's Life Matches The Marvels Of Man's Labor.

The Fifth Freedom Is Freedom From Ignorance.

It May Be, It Just May Be, That Life As We Know It With Its Humanity Is More Unique Than Many Have Thought.

Our Society Is Illuminated By The Spiritual Insights Of The Hebrew Prophets. America And Israel Have A Common Love Of Human Freedom, And They Have A Common Faith In A Democratic Way Of Life. ... Most, If Not All Of You, Have Very Deep Ties With The Land And With The People Of Israel, As I Do; For My Christian Faith Sprang From Yours. The Bible Stories Are Woven Into My Childhood Memories As The Gallant Struggle Of Modem Jews To Be Free Of Persecution Is Also Woven Into Our Souls.

Air Pollution Is A Threat To Health, Especially Of Older Persons. It Contributes Significantly To The Rising Rates Of Chronic Respiratory Ailments. It Stains Our Cities And Towns With Ugliness, Soiling And Corroding Whatever It Touches. Its Damage Extends To Our Forests And Farmlands As Well. The Economic Toll For Our Neglect Amounts To Billions Of Dollars Each Year.

The Exercise Of Power In This Century Has Meant For All Of Us In The United States Not Arrogance, But Agony.

Organized Crime Constitutes Nothing Less Than A Guerilla War Against Society.

If One Little Old General In Shirt Sleeves Can Take Saigon, Think About 200 Million Chinese Comin' Down Those Trails. No Sir, I Don't Want To Fight Them.

The Land Flourished Because It Was Fed From So Many Sources--because It Was Nourished By So Many Cultures And Traditions And Peoples.

I Am Concerned About The Whole Man. I Am Concerned About What The People, Using Their Government As An Instrument And A Tool, Can Do Toward Building The Whole Man, Which Will Mean A Better Society And A Better World.

For The College Years We Will Provide Scholarships To High School Students Of The Greatest Promise And Greatest Need And Guarantee Low-interest Loans To Students Continuing Their College Studies.

I Know - From Personal Experience - That Abiding Values And Abundant Visions Are Learned In The Homes Of Our People.

John Ain't Been Worth A Damn Since He Started Wearing $300 Suits.

American Politics

Yesterday Is Not Ours To Recover, But Tomorrow Is Ours To Win Or Lose.

The Secretary Of Labor Is In Charge Of Finding You A Job, The Secretary Of The Treasury Is In Charge Of Taking Half The Money You Make Away From You, And The Attorney General Is In Charge Of Suing You For The Other Half.

Jerry Ford Is So Dumb He Can't Fart And Chew Gum At The Same Time.

'if You Let A Bully Come In And Chase You Out Of Your Front Yard, He'll Be On Your Porch And The Next Day He'll Rape Your Wife In Your Own Bed.

There Are Plenty Of Recommendations On How To Get Out Of Trouble Cheaply And Fast. Most Of Them Come Down To This: Deny Your Responsibility.

Whoever Won't Fight When The President Calls Him, Deserves To Be Kicked Back In His Hole And Kept There.

What We Won When All Of Our People United Just Must Not Now Be Lost In Suspicion, Distrust, Selfishness, And Politics Among Any Of Our People. Accordingly, I Shall Not Seek, And I Will Not Accept, The Nomination Of My Party For Another Term As Your President.

Law Is The Great Civilizing Machinery. It Liberates The Desire To Build And Subdues The Desire To Destroy.

If We Fail Now, Then We Will Have Forgotten In Abundance What We Learned In Hardship: That Democracy Rests On Faith; Freedom Asks More Than It Gives; And The Judgment Of God Is Harshest On Those Who Are Most Favored.

Control Of Space Means Control Of The World.

In This Age When There Can Be No Losers In Peace And No Victors In War; We Must Recognize The Obligation To Match National Strength With National Restraint.

True Poverty Does Not Come From God.

Education Is Not A Problem. Education Is An Opportunity.

I Cannot Say And No Man Could Say That No More Will Be Asked Of Us.

We Have Entered An Age In Which Education Is Not Just A Luxury Permitting Some Men An Advantage Over Others. It Has Become A Necessity Without Which A Person Is Defenseless In This Complex, Industrialized Society. We Have Truly Entered The Century Of The Educated Man.

Reporters Are Like Puppets. They Simply Respond To The Pull Of The Most Powerful Strings.

Life Is Never Easy. There Is Work To Be Done And Obligations To Be Met - Obligations To Truth, To Justice, And To Liberty.

Inspirational Life

Justice Requires Us To Remember That When Any Citizen Denies His Fellow, Saying, 'his Color Is Not Mine,' Or 'his Beliefs Are Strange And Different,' In That Moment He Betrays America, Though His Forebears Created This Nation.

It's Too Bad, But The Way American People Are, Now That They Have All This Capability, Instead Of Taking Advantage Of It, They'll Probably Just Piss It All Away.

I Want Real Loyalty. I Want Someone Who Will Kiss My Ass In Macy's Window, And Say It Smells Like Roses.

Sometimes Among Our More Sophisticated, Self-styled Intellectuals--and I Say Self-styled Advisedly; The Real Intellectual I Am Notsure Would Ever Feel This Way--some Of Them Are More Concerned With Appearance Than They Are With Achievement. They Are More Concerned With Style Then They Are With Mortar, Brick And Concrete. They Are More Concerned With Trivia And The Superficial Than They Are With The Things That Have Really Built America.

The Presidency Has Made Every Man Who Occupied It, No Matter How Small, Bigger Than He Was; And No Matter How Big, Not Big Enough For Its Demands.

Throughout My Entire Public Career I Have Followed The Personal Philosophy That I Am A Free Man, An American, A Public Servant, And A Member Of My Party, In That Order Always And Only.

I Want Every Family In America To Have A Carpet On The Floor And A Picture On The Wall. After Bread, You've Got To Have A Picture On The Wall.

The Final Conquest Of Poverty Is Within Our Grasp.

You Never Want To Give A Man A Present When He's Feeling Good. You Want To Do It When He's Down.

There Are No Problems We Cannot Solve Together, And Very Few That We Can Solve By Ourselves.

Republicans Simply Don't Know How To Manage The Economy.

Once We Considered Education A Public Expense; We Know Now That It Is A Public Investment.

...where Legitimate Opportunities Are Closed, Illegitimate Opportunities Are Seized. Whatever Opens Opportunity And Hope Will Help To Prevent Crime And Foster Responsibility.

It (the Heart) Is Supposed In Popular Language, To Be The Seat Sometimes, Of Courage, Sometimes Of Affection, Sometimes Of Honesty, Or Baseness.

Free Speech, Free Press, Free Religion, The Right Of Free Assembly, Yes, The Right Of Petition... Well, They Are Still Radical Ideas.

A Few Years Make Such Havoc In Human Generations That We Soon See Ourselves Deprived Of Those With Whom We Entered The World, And Whom The Participation Of Pleasures Or Fatigues Had Endeared To Our Remembrance.

Books And Ideas Are The Most Effective Weapons Against Intolerance And Ignorance.

Curtis Le May Wants To Bomb Hanoi And Haiphong. You Know How He Likes To Go Around Bombing.

All I Have I Would Have Given Gladly Not To Be Standing Here Today.

All The Historians Are Harvard People. It Just Isn't Fair. Poor Old Hoover From West Branch, Iowa, Had No Chance With That Crowd;nor Did Andrew Jackson From Tennessee. Nor Does Lyndon Johnson From Stonewall, Texas. It Just Isn't Fair.

There Is No Issue Of States' Rights Or National Rights. There Is Only The Struggle For Human Rights.

...international Education Cannot Be The Work Of One Country. It Is The Responsibility And Promise Of All Nations. It Calls For Free Exchange And Full Collaboration...the Knowledge Of Our Citizens Is One Treasure Which Grows Only When It Is Shared.

When A Person Finds Themselves Predisposed To Complaining About How Little They Are Regarded By Others, Let Them Reflect How Little They Have Contributed To The Happiness Of Others.

Doing The Right Thing Is Not The Problem. Knowing What The Right Thing Is, That's The Challenge.

The Hungry World Cannot Be Fed Until And Unless The Growth Of Its Resources And The Growth Of Its Population Come Into Balance. Each Man And Woman-and Each Nation-must Make Decisions Of Conscience And Policy In The Face Of This Great Problem.

Population Problem

I'm The Only President You've Got.

Our Partnership Has Been Built On Four Pillars The First Pillar Is Peace. The Second Pillar Is Freedom. The Third Pillar Is Respect. The Fourth Pillar Is Cooperation.

Now We May Have More Preachers Out There Than We Have Drinkers. But A Fellow Told Me A Story One Time About A Man Down In Kentuckywhere They Make Bourbon. And He Said You Can Take A Jigger Or Two Jiggers And Get By All Right. But If You Try To Take The Whole Bottle Why You Have Lost What You Started With. So Don't Try To Take It Too Quick. And Don't Try To Do All Of It At Once. I Don't Do Much Promising. I Tell What My Goals Are And Then I Try To Wrap It Up And Put A Blue Ribbon On It And Get It Delivered. We Say Put The Coonskin On The Wall.

It Is Happily And Kindly Provided That In Every Life There Are Certain Pauses, And Interruptions, Which Force Consideration Upon The Careless, And Seriousness Upon The Light, Points Of Time Where One Course Of Action Ends And Another Begins.

Most Of All We Need An Education Which Will Create An Educated Mind. This Is A Mind Not Simply A Repository Of Information And Skills, But A Mind That Is A Source Of Creative Skepticism, Characterized By A Willingness To Challenge Old Assumptions And To Be Challenged, A Spaciousness Of Outlook, And Convictions That Are Deeply Held, But Which New Facts And New Experiences Can Always Modify.

New Experiences

So Here Is The Great Society. It's The Time - And It's Going To Be Soon - When Nobody In This Country Is Poor.

In Addition To Our Existing Programs, I Will Recommend A New Program For Schools And Students With A First-year Authorization Of $1,500 Million.

We Are Now Embarked On Another Venture To Put The American Dream To Work In Meeting The New Demands Of A New Day. Once Again We Must Start Where Men Would Improve Their Society Have Always Known They Must Begin - With An Educational System Restudied, Reinforced, And Revitalized.

[the United States And Israel] Share Many Common Objectives ... Chief Of Which Is The Building Of A Better World In Which Every Nation Can Develop Its Resources And Develop Them In Freedom And Peace.

If You're I Politics And You Can't Tell When You Walk Into A Room Who's For You And Who's Against You, Then You're In The Wrong Line Of Work.

If The Purpose Of Lamentation Be To Excite Pity, It Is Surely Superfluous For Age And Weakness To Tell Their Plaintive Stories; For Pity Presupposes Sympathy, And A Little Attention Will Show Them, That Those Who Do Not Feel Pain Seldom Think That It Is Felt.

What Convinces Is Conviction. Believe In The Argument You're Advancing. If You Don't You're As Good As Dead. The Other Person Will Sense That Something Isn't There, And No Chain Of Reasoning, No Matter How Logical Or Elegant Or Brilliant, Will Win Your Case For You.

Every American Citizen Must Have An Equal Right To Vote. There Is No Reason Which Can Excuse The Denial Of That Right. There Is No Duty Which Weighs More Heavily On Us Than The Duty We Have To Ensure That Right.

. . . The Time Has Also Come To Identify And Preserve Free-flowing Stretches Of Our Great Rivers Before Growth And Development Make The Beauty Of The Unspoiled Waterway A Memory.

It's The Price Of Leadership To Do The Thing You Believe Has To Be Done At The Time It Must Be Done.

This Is Not Johnson's War. This Is America's War. If I Drop Dead Tomorrow, This War Will Still Be With You.

Heck By The Time A Man Scratches His Behind, Clears His Throat, And Tells Me How Smart He Is, We've Already Wasted Fifteen Minutes.

I'll Tell You What's At The Bottom Of It. If You Can Convince The Lowest White Man He's Better Than The Best Colored Man, He Won't Notice You're Picking His Pocket. Hell, Give Him Somebody To Look Down On, And He'll Empty His Pockets For You.

It Is The Excitement Of Becoming - Always Becoming, Trying, Probing, Falling, Resting, And Trying Again- But Always Trying And Always Gaining

A Third Place To Build The Great Society Is In The Classrooms Of America. There Your Children's Lives Will Be Shaped. Our Society Will Not Be Great Until Every Young Mind Is Set Free To Scan The Farthest Reaches Of Thought And Imagination. We Are Still Far From That Goal.

You Do Not Examine Legislation In The Light Of The Benefits It Will Convey If Properly Administered, But In The Light Of The Wrongs It Would Do And The Harms It Would Cause If Improperly Administered.

John F. Kennedy Was The Victim Of The Hate That Was A Part Of Our Country. It Is A Disease That Occupies The Minds Of The Few But Brings Danger To The Many.

The Russians Feared Ike. They Didn't Fear Me.

I Want To Make A Policy Statement. I Am Unabashedly In Favor Of Women.

You Do Not Take A Person Who, For Years, Has Been Hobbled By Chains And Liberate Him, Bring Him Up To The Starting Line Of A Race And Then Say, "you Are Free To Compete With All The Others," And Still Justly Believe That You Have Been Completely Fair. We Seek Not Just Legal Equity But Human Ability, Not Just Equality As A Right And A Theory But Equality As A Fact And Equality As A Result.

I Am Making A Collection Of The Things My Opponents Have Found Me To Be And, When This Election Is Over, I Am Going To Open A Museum And Put Them On Display.

I Report To You That Our Country Is Challenged At Home And Abroad: That It Is Our Will That Is Being Tried And Not Our Strength; Our Sense Of Purpose And Not Our Ability To Achieve A Better America.

Presidents Quickly Realize That While A Single Act Might Destroy The World They Live In, No One Single Decision Can Make Life Suddenly Better Or Can Turn History Around For The Good.

At The Desk Where I Sit, I Have Learned One Great Truth. The Answer For All Our National Problems - The Answer For All The Problems Of The World - Come To A Single Word. That Word Is "education."

We Live In A World That Has Narrowed Into A Neighborhood Before It Has Broadened Into A Brotherhood.

The Great Society Is A Place Where Every Child Can Find Knowledge To Enrich His Mind And Enlarge His Talents.

I Seldom Think Of Politics More Than Eighteen Hours A Day.

In 1790, The Nation Which Had Fought A Revolution Against Taxation Without Representation Discovered That Some Of Its Citizens Weren't Much Happier About Taxation With Representation.

Taxation Without Representation

Extremism Is The Pursuit Of The Presidency Is An Unpardonable Vice. Moderation In The Affairs Of The Nation Is The Highest Virtue.

They Call Upon Us To Supply American Boys To Do The Job That Asian Boys Should Do.

You Ain't Learnin' Nothin' When You're Talkin'.

Inspirational Presidential

Whether We Are New Dealer, Old Dealer, Liberty Leaguer Or Red, Whether We Agree Or Not, We Still Have The Right To Think And Speak How We Feel.

Watch Their Hands, Watch Their Eyes. Read Eyes. No Matter What A Man Is Saying To You, It's Not As Important As What You Can Read In His Eyes. The Most Important Thing A Man Has To Tell You Is What He's Not Telling You; The Most Important Thing He Has To Say Is What He's Trying Not To Say.

In A Nation Of Millions And A World Of Billions, The Individual Is Still The First And Basic Agent Of Change.

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