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Die berühmte Rede
In einer Sondersitzung des Kongresses am 25. Mai 1961 hielt
Kennedy seine berühmt gewordene Rede über "Dringende nationale
Erfordernisse":
 "Mr.
Speaker, Mr. Vice President, my copartners in Government, gentlemen-and
ladies:
The Constitution imposes upon me the obligation to "from time to time give
to the Congress information of the State of the Union." While this has
traditionally been interpreted as an annual affair, this tradition has been
broken in extraordinary times.
These are extraordinary times. And we face an extraordinary challenge. Our
strength as well as our convictions have imposed upon this nation the role
of leader in freedom's cause.
No role in history could be more difficult or more important. We stand for
freedom.
That is our conviction for ourselves--that is our only commitment to others.
No friend, no neutral and no adversary should think otherwise. We are not
against any man--or any nation--or any system--except as it is hostile to
freedom. Nor am I here to present a new military doctrine, bearing any one
name or aimed at any one area. I am here to promote the freedom doctrine.
I.
The great battleground for the defense and expansion of freedom today is the
whole southern half of the globe--Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle
East--the lands of the rising peoples. Their revolution is the greatest in
human history. They seek an end to injustice, tyranny, and exploitation.
More than an end, they seek a beginning.
And theirs is a revolution which we would support regardless of the Cold
War, and regardless of which political or economic route they should choose
to freedom.
For the adversaries of freedom did not create the revolution; nor did they
create the conditions which compel it. But they are seeking to ride the
crest of its wave--to capture it for themselves.
Yet their aggression is more often concealed than open. They have fired no
missiles; and their troops are seldom seen. They send arms, agitators, aid,
technicians and propaganda to every troubled area. But where fighting is
required, it is usually done by others--by guerrillas striking at night, by
assassins striking alone--assassins who have taken the lives of four
thousand civil officers in the last twelve months in Vietnam alone--by
subversives and saboteurs and insurrectionists, who in some cases control
whole areas inside of independent nations.
With these formidable weapons, the adversaries of freedom plan to
consolidate their territory--to exploit, to control, and finally to destroy
the hopes of the world's newest nations; and they have ambition to do it
before the end of this decade. It is a contest of will and purpose as well
as force and violence--a battle for minds and souls as well as lives and
territory. And in that contest, we cannot stand aside.
We stand, as we have always stood from our earliest beginnings, for the
independence and equality of all nations. This nation was born of revolution
and raised in freedom. And we do not intend to leave an open road for
despotism.
There is no single simple policy which meets this challenge. Experience has
taught us that no one nation has the power or the wisdom to solve all the
problems of the world or manage its revolutionary tides--that extending our
commitments does not always increase our security--that any initiative
carries with it the risk of a temporary defeat--that nuclear weapons cannot
prevent subversion--that no free people can be kept free without will and
energy of their own--and that no two nations or situations are exactly alike.
Yet there is much we can do--and must do. The proposals I bring before you
are numerous and varied. They arise from the host of special opportunities
and dangers which have become increasingly clear in recent months. Taken
together, I believe that they can mark another step forward in our effort as
a people. I am here to ask the help of this Congress and the nation in
approving these necessary measures.
II. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS AT HOME
The first and basic task confronting this nation this year was to turn
recession into recovery. An affirmative anti-recession program, initiated
with your cooperation, supported the natural forces in the private sector;
and our economy is now enjoying renewed confidence and energy. The recession
has been halted. Recovery is under way.
But the task of abating unemployment and achieving a full use of our
resources does remain a serious challenge for us all. Large-scale
unemployment during a recession is bad enough, but large-scale unemployment
during a period of prosperity would be intolerable.
I am therefore transmitting to the Congress a new Manpower Development and
Training program, to train or retrain several hundred thousand workers,
particularly in those areas where we have seen chronic unemployment as a
result of technological factors in new occupational skills over a four-year
period, in order to replace those skills made obsolete by automation and
industrial change with the new skills which the new processes demand.
It should be a satisfaction to us all that we have made great strides in
restoring world confidence in the dollar, halting the outflow of gold and
improving our balance of payments. During the last two months, our gold
stocks actually increased by seventeen million dollars, compared to a loss
of 635 million dollars during the last two months of 1960. We must maintain
this progress--and this will require the cooperation and restraint of
everyone. As recovery progresses, there will be temptations to seek
unjustified price and wage increases. These we cannot afford. They will only
handicap our efforts to compete abroad and to achieve full recovery here at
home. Labor and management must--and I am confident that they will--pursue
responsible wage and price policies in these critical times. I look to the
President's Advisory Committee on Labor Management Policy to give a strong
lead in this direction.
Moreover, if the budget deficit now increased by the needs of our security
is to be held within manageable proportions, it will be necessary to hold
tightly to prudent fiscal standards; and I request the cooperation of the
Congress in this regard--to refrain from adding funds or programs, desirable
as they may be, to the Budget--to end the postal deficit, as my predecessor
also recommended, through increased rates--a deficit incidentally, this year,
which exceeds the fiscal 1962 cost of all the space and defense measures
that I am submitting today--to provide full pay-as-you-go highway
financing--and to close those tax loopholes earlier specified. Our security
and progress cannot be cheaply purchased; and their price must be found in
what we all forego as well as what we all must pay.
III. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS ABROAD
I stress the strength of our economy because it is essential to the strength
of our nation. And what is true in our case is true in the case of other
countries. Their strength in the struggle for freedom depends on the
strength of their economic and their social progress.
We would be badly mistaken to consider their problems in military terms
alone. For no amount of arms and armies can help stabilize those governments
which are unable or unwilling to achieve social and economic reform and
development. Military pacts cannot help nations whose social injustice and
economic chaos invite insurgency and penetration and subversion. The most
skillful counter-guerrilla efforts cannot succeed where the local population
is too caught up in its own misery to be concerned about the advance of
communism.
But for those who share this view, we stand ready now, as we have in the
past, to provide generously of our skills, and our capital, and our food to
assist the peoples of the less-developed nations to reach their goals in
freedom--to help them before they are engulfed in crisis.
This is also our great opportunity in 1961. If we grasp it, then subversion
to prevent its success is exposed as an unjustifiable attempt to keep these
nations from either being free or equal. But if we do not pursue it, and if
they do not pursue it, the bankruptcy of unstable governments, one by one,
and of unfilled hopes will surely lead to a series of totalitarian
receiverships.
Earlier in the year, I outlined to the Congress a new program for aiding
emerging nations; and it is my intention to transmit shortly draft
legislation to implement this program, to establish a new Act for
International Development, and to add to the figures previously requested,
in view of the swift pace of critical events, an additional 250 million
dollars for a Presidential Contingency Fund, to be used only upon a
Presidential determination in each case, with regular and complete reports
to the Congress in each case, when there is a sudden and extraordinary drain
upon our regular funds which we cannot foresee--as illustrated by recent
events in Southeast Asia--and it makes necessary the use of this emergency
reserve. The total amount requested--now raised to 2,65 billion dollars--is
both minimal and crucial. I do not see how anyone who is concerned--as we
all are--about the growing threats to freedom around the globe--and who is
asking what more we can do as a people--can weaken or oppose the single most
important program available for building the frontiers of freedom.
IV.
All that I have said makes it clear that we are engaged in a world-wide
struggle in which we bear a heavy burden to preserve and promote the ideals
that we share with all mankind, or have alien ideals forced upon them. That
struggle has highlighted the role of our Information Agency. It is essential
that the funds previously requested for this effort be not only approved in
full, but increased by 2 million, 400 thousand dollars, to a total of 121
million dollars.
This new request is for additional radio and television to Latin America and
Southeast Asia. These tools are particularly effective and essential in the
cities and villages of those great continents as a means of reaching
millions of uncertain peoples to tell them of our interest in their fight
for freedom. In Latin America, we are proposing to increase our Spanish and
Portuguese broadcasts to a total of 154 hours a week, compared to 42 hours
today, none of which is in Portuguese, the language of about one-third of
the people of South America. The Soviets, Red Chinese and satellites already
broadcast into Latin America more than 134 hours a week in Spanish and
Portuguese. Communist China alone does more public information broadcasting
in our own hemisphere than we do. Moreover, powerful propaganda broadcasts
from Havana now are heard throughout Latin America, encouraging new
revolutions in several countries.
Similarly, in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, we must communicate our
determination and support to those upon whom our hopes for resisting the
communist tide in that continent ultimately depend. Our interest is in the
truth.
V. OUR PARTNERSHIP FOR SELF-DEFENSE
But while we talk of sharing and building and the competition of ideas,
others talk of arms and threaten war. So we have learned to keep our
defenses strong--and to cooperate with others in a partnership of
self-defense. The events of recent weeks have caused us to look anew at
these efforts.
The center of freedom's defense is our network of world alliances, extending
from NATO, recommended by a Democratic President and approved by a
Republican Congress, to SEATO, recommended by a Republican President and
approved by a Democratic Congress. These alliances were constructed in the
1940's and 1950's--it is our task and responsibility in the 1960's to
strengthen them.
To meet the changing conditions of power--and power relationships have
changed--we have endorsed an increased emphasis on NATO's conventional
strength. At the same time we are affirming our conviction that the NATO
nuclear deterrent must also be kept strong. I have made clear our intention
to commit to the NATO command, for this purpose, the 5 Polaris submarines
originally suggested by President Eisenhower, with the possibility, if
needed, of more to come.
Second, a major part of our partnership for self-defense is the Military
Assistance Program. The main burden of local defense against local attack,
subversion, insurrection or guerrilla warfare must of necessity rest with
local forces. Where these forces have the necessary will and capacity to
cope with such threats, our intervention is rarely necessary or helpful.
Where the will is present and only capacity is lacking, our Military
Assistance Program can be of help.
But this program, like economic assistance, needs a new emphasis. It cannot
be extended without regard to the social, political and military reforms
essential to internal respect and stability. The equipment and training
provided must be tailored to legitimate local needs and to our own foreign
and military policies, not to our supply of military stocks or a local
leader's desire for military display. And military assistance can, in
addition to its military purposes, make a contribution to economic progress,
as do our own Army Engineers.
In an earlier message, I requested 1.6 billion dollars for Military
Assistance, stating that this would maintain existing force levels, but that
I could not foresee how much more might be required. It is now clear that
this is not enough. The present crisis in Southeast Asia, on which the Vice
President has made a valuable report--the rising threat of communism in
Latin America--the increased arms traffic in Africa--and all the new
pressures on every nation found on the map by tracing your fingers along the
borders of the Communist bloc in Asia and the Middle East--all make clear
the dimension of our needs.
I therefore request the Congress to provide a total of 1.885 billion dollars
for Military Assistance in the coming fiscal year--an amount less than that
requested a year ago--but a minimum which must be assured if we are to help
those nations make secure their independence. This must be prudently and
wisely spent--and that will be our common endeavor. Military and economic
assistance has been a heavy burden on our citizens for a long time, and I
recognize the strong pressures against it; but this battle is far from over,
it is reaching a crucial stage, and I believe we should participate in it.
We cannot merely state our opposition to totalitarian advance without paying
the price of helping those now under the greatest pressure.
VI. OUR OWN MILITARY AND INTELLIGENCE SHIELD
In line with these developments, I have directed a further reinforcement of
our own capacity to deter or resist non-nuclear aggression. In the
conventional field, with one exception, I find no present need for large new
levies of men. What is needed is rather a change of position to give us
still further increases in flexibility.
Therefore, I am directing the Secretary of Defense to undertake a
reorganization and modernization of the Army's divisional structure, to
increase its non-nuclear firepower, to improve its tactical mobility in any
environment, to insure its flexibility to meet any direct or indirect
threat, to facilitate its coordination with our major allies, and to provide
more modern mechanized divisions in Europe and bring their equipment up to
date, and new airborne brigades in both the Pacific and Europe.
And secondly, I am asking the Congress for an additional 100 million dollars
to begin the procurement task necessary to re-equip this new Army structure
with the most modern material. New helicopters, new armored personnel
carriers, and new howitzers, for example, must be obtained now.
Third, I am directing the Secretary of Defense to expand rapidly and
substantially, in cooperation with our Allies, the orientation of existing
forces for the conduct of non-nuclear war, paramilitary operations and
sub-limited or unconventional wars.
In addition our special forces and unconventional warfare units will be
increased and reoriented. Throughout the services new emphasis must be
placed on the special skills and languages which are required to work with
local populations.
Fourth, the Army is developing plans to make possible a much more rapid
deployment of a major portion of its highly trained reserve forces. When
these plans are completed and the reserve is strengthened, two
combat-equipped divisions, plus their supporting forces, a total of 89,000
men, could be ready in an emergency for operations with but 3 weeks'
notice--2 more divisions with but 5 weeks' notice--and six additional
divisions and their supporting forces, making a total of 10 divisions, could
be deployable with less than 8 weeks' notice. In short, these new plans will
allow us to almost double the combat power of the Army in less than two
months, compared to the nearly nine months heretofore required.
Fifth, to enhance the already formidable ability of the Marine Corps to
respond to limited war emergencies, I am asking the Congress for 60 million
dollars to increase the Marine Corps strength to 190,000 men. This will
increase the initial impact and staying power of our three Marine divisions
and three air wings, and provide a trained nucleus for further expansion, if
necessary for self-defense.
Finally, to cite one other area of activities that are both legitimate and
necessary as a means of self-defense in an age of hidden perils, our whole
intelligence effort must be reviewed, and its coordination with other
elements of policy assured. The Congress and the American people are
entitled to know that we will institute whatever new organization, policies,
and control are necessary.
VII. CIVIL DEFENSE
One major element of the national security program which this nation has
never squarely faced up to is civil defense. This problem arises not from
present trends but from national inaction in which most of us have
participated. In the past decade we have intermittently considered a variety
of programs, but we have never adopted a consistent policy. Public
considerations have been largely characterized by apathy, indifference and
skepticism; while, at the same time, many of the civil defense plans have
been so far-reaching and unrealistic that they have not gained essential
support.
This Administration has been looking hard at exactly what civil defense can
and cannot do. It cannot be obtained cheaply. It cannot give an assurance of
blast protection that will be proof against surprise attack or guaranteed
against obsolescence or destruction. And it cannot deter a nuclear attack.
We will deter an enemy from making a nuclear attack only if our retaliatory
power is so strong and so invulnerable that he knows he would be destroyed
by our response. If we have that strength, civil defense is not needed to
deter an attack. If we should ever lack it, civil defense would not be an
adequate substitute.
But this deterrent concept assumes rational calculations by rational men.
And the history of this planet, and particularly the history of the 20th
century, is sufficient to remind us of the possibilities of an irrational
attack, a miscalculation, an accidental war, [or a war of escalation in
which the stakes by each side gradually increase to the point of maximum
danger] which cannot be either foreseen or deterred. It is on this basis
that civil defense can be readily justifiable--as insurance for the civilian
population in case of an enemy miscalculation. It is insurance we trust will
never be needed--but insurance which we could never forgive ourselves for
foregoing in the event of catastrophe.
Once the validity of this concept is recognized, there is no point in
delaying the initiation of a nation-wide long-range program of identifying
present fallout shelter capacity and providing shelter in new and existing
structures. Such a program would protect millions of people against the
hazards of radioactive fallout in the event of large-scale nuclear attack.
Effective performance of the entire program not only requires new
legislative authority and more funds, but also sound organizational
arrangements.
Therefore, under the authority vested in me by Reorganization Plan No. 1 of
1958, I am assigning responsibility for this program to the top civilian
authority already responsible for continental defense, the Secretary of
Defense. It is important that this function remain civilian, in nature and
leadership; and this feature will not be changed.
The Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization will be reconstituted as a
small staff agency to assist in the coordination of these functions. To more
accurately describe its role, its title should be changed to the Office of
Emergency Planning.
As soon as those newly charged with these responsibilities have prepared new
authorization and appropriation requests, such requests will be transmitted
to the Congress for a much strengthened Federal-State civil defense program.
Such a program will provide Federal funds for identifying fallout shelter
capacity in existing, structures, and it will include, where appropriate,
incorporation of shelter in Federal buildings, new requirements for shelter
in buildings constructed with Federal assistance, and matching grants and
other incentives for constructing shelter in State and local and private
buildings.
Federal appropriations for civil defense in fiscal 1962 under this program
will in all likelihood be more than triple the pending budget requests; and
they will increase sharply in subsequent years. Financial participation will
also be required from State and local governments and from private citizens.
But no insurance is cost-free; and every American citizen and his community
must decide for themselves whether this form of survival insurance justifies
the expenditure of effort, time and money. For myself, I am convinced that
it does.
VIII. DISARMAMENT
I cannot end this discussion of defense and armaments without emphasizing
our strongest hope: the creation of an orderly world where disarmament will
be possible. Our aims do not prepare for war--they are efforts to discourage
and resist the adventures of others that could end in war.
That is why it is consistent with these efforts that we continue to press
for properly safeguarded disarmament measures. At Geneva, in cooperation
with the United Kingdom, we have put forward concrete proposals to make
clear our wish to meet the Soviets half way in an effective nuclear test ban
treaty--the first significant but essential step on the road towards
disarmament. Up to now, their response has not been what we hoped, but Mr.
Dean returned last night to Geneva, and we intend to go the last mile in
patience to secure this gain if we can.
Meanwhile, we are determined to keep disarmament high on our agenda--to make
an intensified effort to develop acceptable political and technical
alternatives to the present arms race. To this end I shall send to the
Congress a measure to establish a strengthened and enlarged Disarmament
Agency.
IX. SPACE
Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world
between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which
occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the
Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men
everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they
should take. Since early in my term, our efforts in space have been under
review. With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the
National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we
are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take
longer strides--time for a great new American enterprise--time for this
nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many
ways may hold the key to our future on earth.
I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary. But the facts
of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or
marshalled the national resources required for such leadership. We have
never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule, or managed our
resources and our time so as to insure their fulfillment.
Recognizing the head start obtained by the Soviets with their large rocket
engines, which gives them many months of leadtime, and recognizing the
likelihood that they will exploit this lead for some time to come in still
more impressive successes, we nevertheless are required to make new efforts
on our own. For while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first, we
can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last. We
take an additional risk by making it in full view of the world, but as shown
by the feat of astronaut Shepard, this very risk enhances our stature when
we are successful. But this is not merely a race. Space is open to us now;
and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of
others. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men
must fully share.
I therefore ask the Congress, above and beyond the increases I have earlier
requested for space activities, to provide the funds which are needed to
meet the following national goals:
First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the
goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning
him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more
impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of
space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose
to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We
propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger
than any now being developed, until certain which is superior. We propose
additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned
explorations--explorations which are particularly important for one purpose
which this nation will never overlook: the survival of the man who first
makes this daring flight. But in a very real sense, it will not be one man
going to the moon--if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an
entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.
Secondly, an additional 23 million dollars, together with 7 million dollars
already available, will accelerate development of the Rover nuclear rocket.
This gives promise of some day providing a means for even more exciting and
ambitious exploration of space, perhaps beyond the moon, perhaps to the very
end of the solar system itself.
Third, an additional 50 million dollars will make the most of our present
leadership, by accelerating the use of space satellites for world-wide
communications.
Fourth, an additional 75 million dollars--of which 53 million dollars is for
the Weather Bureau--will help give us at the earliest possible time a
satellite system for world-wide weather observation.
Let it be clear--and this is a judgment which the Members of the Congress
must finally make--let it be clear that I am asking the Congress and the
country to accept a firm commitment to a new course of action, a course
which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs: 531 million
dollars in fiscal '62--an estimated seven to nine billion dollars additional
over the next five years. If we are to go only half way, or reduce our
sights in the face of difficulty, in my judgment it would be better not to
go at all.
Now this is a choice which this country must make, and I am confident that
under the leadership of the Space Committees of the Congress, and the
Appropriating Committees, that you will consider the matter carefully.
It is a most important decision that we make as a nation. But all of you
have lived through the last four years and have seen the significance of
space and the adventures in space, and no one can predict with certainty
what the ultimate meaning will be of mastery of space.
I believe we should go to the moon. But I think every citizen of this
country as well as the Members of the Congress should consider the matter
carefully in making their judgment, to which we have given attention over
many weeks and months, because it is a heavy burden, and there is no sense
in agreeing or desiring that the United States take an affirmative position
in outer space, unless we are prepared to do the work and bear the burdens
to make it successful. If we are not, we should decide today and this year.
This decision demands a major national commitment of scientific and
technical manpower, materiel and facilities, and the possibility of their
diversion from other important activities where they are already thinly
spread. It means a degree of dedication, organization and discipline which
have not always characterized our research and development efforts. It means
we cannot afford undue work stoppages, inflated costs of material or talent,
wasteful interagency rivalries, or a high turnover of key personnel.
New objectives and new money cannot solve these problems. They could in
fact, aggravate them further--unless every scientist, every engineer, every
serviceman, every technician, contractor, and civil servant gives his
personal pledge that this nation will move forward, with the full speed of
freedom, in the exciting adventure of space.
X. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, let me emphasize one point. It is not a pleasure for any
President of the United States, as I am sure it was not a pleasure for my
predecessors, to come before the Congress and ask for new appropriations
which place burdens on our people. I came to this conclusion with some
reluctance. But in my judgment, this is a most serious time in the life of
our country and in the life of freedom around the globe, and it is the
obligation, I believe, of the President of the United States to at least
make his recommendations to the Members of the Congress, so that they can
reach their own conclusions with that judgment before them. You must decide
yourselves, as I have decided, and I am confident that whether you finally
decide in the way that I have decided or not, that your judgment--as my
judgment--is reached on what is in the best interests of our country.
In conclusion, let me emphasize one point: that we are determined, as a
nation in 1961 that freedom shall survive and succeed--and whatever the
peril and set-backs, we have some very large advantages.
The first is the simple fact that we are on the side of liberty--and since
the beginning of history, and particularly since the end of the Second World
War, liberty has been winning out all over the globe.
A second real asset is that we are not alone. We have friends and allies all
over the world who share our devotion to freedom. May I cite as a symbol of
traditional and effective friendship the great ally I am about to
visit--France. I look forward to my visit to France, and to my discussion
with a great Captain of the Western World, President de Gaulle, as a meeting
of particular significance, permitting the kind of close and ranging
consultation that will strengthen both our countries and serve the common
purposes of world-wide peace and liberty. Such serious conversations do not
require a pale unanimity--they are rather the instruments of trust and
understanding over a long road.
A third asset is our desire for peace. It is sincere, and I believe the
world knows it. We are proving it in our patience at the test ban table, and
we are proving it in the UN where our efforts have been directed to
maintaining that organization's usefulness as a protector of the
independence of small nations. In these and other instances, the response of
our opponents has not been encouraging.
Yet it is important to know that our patience at the bargaining table is
nearly inexhaustible, though our credulity is limited that our hopes for
peace are unfailing, while our determination to protect our security is
resolute. For these reasons I have long thought it wise to meet with the
Soviet Premier for a personal exchange of views. A meeting in Vienna turned
out to be convenient for us both; and the Austrian government has kindly
made us welcome. No formal agenda is planned and no negotiations will be
undertaken; but we will make clear America's enduring concern is for both
peace and freedom--that we are anxious to live in harmony with the Russian
people--that we seek no conquests, no satellites, no riches--that we seek
only the day when "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more."
Finally, our greatest asset in this struggle is the American people--their
willingness to pay the price for these programs--to understand and accept a
long struggle--to share their resources with other less fortunate people--to
meet the tax levels and close the tax loopholes I have requested--to
exercise self-restraint instead of pushing up wages or prices, or
over-producing certain crops, or spreading military secrets, or urging
unessential expenditures or improper monopolies or harmful work
stoppages--to serve in the Peace Corps or the Armed Services or the Federal
Civil Service or the Congress--to strive for excellence in their schools, in
their cities and in their physical fitness and that of their children--to
take part in Civil Defense--to pay higher postal rates, and higher payroll
taxes and higher teachers' salaries, in order to strengthen our society--to
show friendship to students and visitors from other lands who visit us and
go back in many cases to be the future leaders, with an image of
America--and I want that image, and I know you do, to be affirmative and
positive--and, finally, to practice democracy at home, in all States, with
all races, to respect each other and to protect the Constitutional rights of
all citizens.
I have not asked for a single program which did not cause one or all
Americans some inconvenience, or some hardship, or some sacrifice. But they
have responded and you in the Congress have responded to your duty--and I
feel confident in asking today for a similar response to these new and
larger demands. It is heartening to know, as I journey abroad, that our
country is united in its commitment to freedom and is ready to do its duty."
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