1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:18,960 Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, members of the Congress and my fellow Americans. 2 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:31,760 For the sixth and the last time, I present to the Congress my assessment of the State 3 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:34,360 of the Union. 4 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:42,620 I shall speak to you tonight about challenge and opportunity and about the commitments 5 00:00:42,620 --> 00:00:55,340 that all of us have made together that will, if we carry them out, give America our best 6 00:00:55,340 --> 00:01:05,760 chance to achieve the kind of a great society that we all want. 7 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:18,100 Every president lives not only with what is, but with what has been and what could be. 8 00:01:18,100 --> 00:01:27,040 Most of the great events in his presidency are part of a larger sequence extending back 9 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:38,300 through several years and extending back through several other administrations. 10 00:01:38,300 --> 00:01:50,360 Urban unrest, poverty, pressures on welfare, education of our people, law enforcement and 11 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:58,140 law and order, the continuing crisis in the Middle East, the conflict in Vietnam, the dangers 12 00:01:58,140 --> 00:02:09,120 of nuclear war, the great difficulties of dealing with the Communist powers, all have 13 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,480 this much in common. 14 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:24,920 They and their causes, the causes that gave rise to them, all of these have existed with 15 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:28,680 us for many years. 16 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:35,340 Several presidents have already sought to try to deal with them. 17 00:02:35,340 --> 00:02:42,360 One or more presidents will try to resolve them or try to contain them in the years that 18 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:44,380 are ahead of us. 19 00:02:44,380 --> 00:02:54,380 But if the nation's problems are continuing, so are this great nation's assets. 20 00:02:54,380 --> 00:03:01,980 Our economy, the democratic system, our sense of exploration, symbolized most recently by 21 00:03:01,980 --> 00:03:06,540 the wonderful flight of the Apollo 8 in which all Americans took great pride. 22 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:25,460 and the good common sense and sound judgment of the American people and their essential 23 00:03:25,460 --> 00:03:31,300 love of justice. 24 00:03:31,300 --> 00:03:40,500 We must not ignore our problems, but neither should we ignore our strengths. 25 00:03:40,500 --> 00:03:47,700 Both strengths are available to sustain a president of either party to support his progressive 26 00:03:47,700 --> 00:03:53,560 efforts both at home and overseas. 27 00:03:53,560 --> 00:04:02,460 Unfortunately the departure of administration does not mean the end of the problems that 28 00:04:02,460 --> 00:04:07,480 this administration has faced. 29 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:15,640 The effort to meet the problems must go on year after year if the momentum that we have 30 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:23,880 all mounted together in these past years is not to be lost. 31 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:31,740 Although the struggle for progressive change is continuous, there are times when a watershed 32 00:04:31,740 --> 00:04:41,180 is reached, when there is, if not really a break with the past, at least the fulfillment 33 00:04:41,180 --> 00:04:51,740 of many of its oldest hopes and a stepping forth into a new environment to seek new goals. 34 00:04:51,740 --> 00:04:57,080 And I think the past five years have been such a time. 35 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:02,340 We have finished a major part of the old agenda. 36 00:05:02,340 --> 00:05:09,020 Some of the laws that we wrote have already, in front of our eyes, taken on the flesh of 37 00:05:09,020 --> 00:05:12,960 achievement. 38 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:19,460 Medicare that we were unable to pass for so many years is now a part of American life. 39 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:37,840 Voting rights and the voting booth that we debated so long back in the 50s, and the doors 40 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:53,680 to public service, are open at last to all Americans, regardless of their color. 41 00:05:53,680 --> 00:06:01,760 Schools and school children all over America tonight are receiving federal assistance to 42 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:09,480 go to good schools. 43 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:21,120 And preschool education, Head Start, is already here to stay. 44 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:26,880 And I think so are the federal programs that tonight are keeping more than a million and 45 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:42,240 a half of our cream of our young people in the colleges and universities of this country. 46 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:50,500 Part of the American Earth, not only in description on a map, but in the reality of our shores 47 00:06:50,500 --> 00:06:57,260 and our hills and our parks and our forests and our mountains has been permanently set 48 00:06:57,260 --> 00:07:12,460 aside for the American public and for their benefit. 49 00:07:12,460 --> 00:07:16,520 And there's more going to be set aside before this administration ends. 50 00:07:20,500 --> 00:07:32,260 Five million Americans have been trained for jobs in new federal programs, and I think 51 00:07:32,260 --> 00:07:40,840 it's most important that we all realize tonight that this nation is close to full employment, 52 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:47,840 the less unemployment than we've had at any time in almost 20 years. 53 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,840 And that's not in theory, that's in fact. 54 00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:00,300 Tonight the unemployment rate is down to 3.3 percent. 55 00:08:00,300 --> 00:08:06,740 The number of jobs has grown more than 8.5 million in the last five years. 56 00:08:06,740 --> 00:08:22,120 And that's more than in all the preceding 12 years. 57 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:32,360 These achievements completed the full cycle from idea to enactment and finally to a place 58 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:36,740 in the lives of citizens all across this country. 59 00:08:36,740 --> 00:08:42,040 I wish it were possible to say that everything that this Congress and the administration 60 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:47,400 achieved during this period had already completed that cycle. 61 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:52,500 But a great deal of what we have committed needs additional funding to become a tangible 62 00:08:52,500 --> 00:08:54,680 realization. 63 00:08:54,680 --> 00:09:03,760 And yet the very existence of these commitments, these promises to the American people made 64 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:11,740 by this Congress and by the executive branch of the government, are achievements in themselves, 65 00:09:11,740 --> 00:09:18,200 and failure to carry through on our commitments would be a tragedy for this nation. 66 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:20,340 This much is certain. 67 00:09:20,340 --> 00:09:27,180 No one man or group of men made these commitments alone. 68 00:09:27,180 --> 00:09:35,040 Congress and the executive branch, with their checks and balances, reasoned together and 69 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:38,920 finally wrote them into the law of the land. 70 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:45,360 And they now have all the moral force that the American political system can summons when 71 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,040 it acts as one. 72 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:54,480 They express America's common determination to achieve goals. 73 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:58,040 They imply action. 74 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:07,820 In most cases, you have already begun that action, but it is not fully completed, of course. 75 00:10:07,820 --> 00:10:12,520 Let me speak for a moment about these commitments, and I'm going to speak in the language which 76 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:16,120 the Congress itself spoke when it passed these measures. 77 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,520 I'm going to quote from your words. 78 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:27,720 In 1966, Congress declared that improving the quality of urban life is the most critical 79 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,360 domestic problem facing the United States. 80 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:40,180 Two years later, it affirmed the historic goal of a decent home for every American family. 81 00:10:40,180 --> 00:10:41,180 That's your language. 82 00:10:41,180 --> 00:10:48,460 Now, to meet these commitments, we must increase our support for the Model Cities Program, 83 00:10:48,460 --> 00:10:55,720 where blueprints of change are already being prepared in more than 150 American cities. 84 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:13,495 To achieve the goal of the Housing Act of 1968 that you just passed we should begin this year more than 500 homes for needy families in the coming fiscal year 85 00:11:13,495 --> 00:11:20,575 and funds are provided the new budget to do just this. 86 00:11:20,575 --> 00:11:33,495 And this is almost ten times the average rate of the past ten years. 87 00:11:33,495 --> 00:11:38,575 Our cities and our towns are being pressed for funds to meet the needs of their growing 88 00:11:38,575 --> 00:11:40,675 population. 89 00:11:40,675 --> 00:11:45,855 So I believe an urban development bank should be created by the Congress. 90 00:11:45,855 --> 00:11:51,915 This bank could obtain resources through the issuance of taxable bonds, and it could then 91 00:11:51,915 --> 00:11:58,815 lend these resources at reduced rates to the communities throughout the land for schools 92 00:11:58,815 --> 00:12:05,735 and hospitals and parks and other public facilities. 93 00:12:05,735 --> 00:12:14,375 Since we enacted the Social Security Act back in 1935, Congress has recognized the necessity 94 00:12:14,375 --> 00:12:24,455 to make more adequate provision for aged persons, maternal and child welfare, and public health. 95 00:12:24,455 --> 00:12:27,675 And that is the words of the Congress. 96 00:12:27,675 --> 00:12:28,675 More adequate. 97 00:12:28,675 --> 00:12:32,295 And the time has come, I think, to make it more adequate. 98 00:12:32,295 --> 00:12:37,135 And I believe we should increase Social Security benefits, and I am so recommending them now. 99 00:12:44,375 --> 00:12:49,655 suggesting that there should be an overall increase in benefits of at least 13 percent, 100 00:12:50,455 --> 00:12:56,015 and those who receive only the minimum $55 should get $80 a month. 101 00:12:58,615 --> 00:13:03,455 Our nation, too, is rightfully proud of our medical advances, 102 00:13:04,135 --> 00:13:10,695 but we should remember that our country ranks 15th among the nations of the world in its infant mortality rate. 103 00:13:10,695 --> 00:13:20,255 I think we should assure decent medical care for every expectant mother and for their children 104 00:13:20,255 --> 00:13:30,875 during the first year of their life in the United States of America. 105 00:13:30,875 --> 00:13:35,995 I think we should protect our children and their families from the cost of catastrophic 106 00:13:35,995 --> 00:13:44,595 illness. 107 00:13:44,595 --> 00:13:49,635 And as we pass on from medicine, I think nothing is clearer to the Congress than the commitment 108 00:13:49,635 --> 00:13:53,675 that the Congress made to end poverty. 109 00:13:53,675 --> 00:14:00,295 Congress expressed it well, I think, in 1964 when they said, it is the policy of the United 110 00:14:00,295 --> 00:14:08,915 States to eliminate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in this nation, this 111 00:14:08,915 --> 00:14:12,235 the richest nation in the world. 112 00:14:12,235 --> 00:14:15,575 The anti-poverty program has had many achievements. 113 00:14:15,575 --> 00:14:19,655 It also has some failures. 114 00:14:19,655 --> 00:14:25,695 But we must not cripple it after only three years of trying to solve the human problems 115 00:14:25,695 --> 00:14:30,915 that have been with us and have been building up among us for generations. 116 00:14:30,915 --> 00:14:35,355 I believe the Congress this year will want to improve the administration, the poverty 117 00:14:35,355 --> 00:14:42,395 program, by reorganizing portions of it and transferring them to other agencies. 118 00:14:42,395 --> 00:14:48,575 I believe, though, it will want to continue until we have broken the back of poverty the 119 00:14:48,575 --> 00:14:55,575 the efforts we're now making throughout this land. 120 00:14:55,575 --> 00:15:06,755 I believe, and I hope the next administration, I believe they believe, is that the key to 121 00:15:06,755 --> 00:15:13,635 success in this effort is jobs, is work for people who want to work. 122 00:15:13,635 --> 00:15:21,595 In the budget for fiscal 1970, I shall recommend a total of $3,500,000,000 for our job training 123 00:15:21,595 --> 00:15:28,195 program, and that's five times as much as we spent in 1964 trying to prepare Americans 124 00:15:28,195 --> 00:15:33,395 where they can work to earn their own levy. 125 00:15:33,395 --> 00:15:43,255 The nation's commitment in the field of civil rights began with the Declaration of Independence. 126 00:15:43,255 --> 00:15:48,935 They were extended by the 13th and 14th and 15th Amendments, and they have been powerfully 127 00:15:48,935 --> 00:15:55,615 strengthened by the enactment of three far-reaching civil rights laws within the past five years 128 00:15:55,615 --> 00:15:59,015 that this Congress and its wisdom pass. 129 00:15:59,015 --> 00:16:07,055 On January 1st of this year, the Fair Housing Act of 1968 covered over 20 million American 130 00:16:07,055 --> 00:16:09,475 homes and apartments. 131 00:16:09,475 --> 00:16:19,855 The prohibition against racial discrimination in that act should be remembered, and it should 132 00:16:19,855 --> 00:16:25,095 be vigorously enforced throughout this land. 133 00:16:25,095 --> 00:16:34,235 I believe we should also extend the vital provisions of the Voting Rights Act for another 134 00:16:34,235 --> 00:16:35,235 five years. 135 00:16:35,235 --> 00:16:48,095 In the Safe Streets Act of 1968, Congress determined to assist state and local governments 136 00:16:48,095 --> 00:16:52,615 in reducing the incidence of crime. 137 00:16:52,615 --> 00:16:58,975 This year I am proposing that the Congress provide the full $300 million that the Congress 138 00:16:58,975 --> 00:17:02,235 last year authorized to do just that. 139 00:17:05,235 --> 00:17:19,335 And I hope the Congress will put the money where the authorization is. 140 00:17:19,335 --> 00:17:23,795 I believe this is an essential contribution to justice and to public order in the United 141 00:17:23,795 --> 00:17:24,795 States. 142 00:17:24,795 --> 00:17:30,675 And I hope these grants can be made to the states and they can be used effectively to 143 00:17:30,675 --> 00:17:34,295 reduce the crime rate in this country. 144 00:17:34,295 --> 00:17:41,695 But all of this is only a small part of the total effort that must be made, I think chiefly, 145 00:17:41,695 --> 00:17:48,075 by the local governments throughout the nation, if we expect to reduce the toll of crime that 146 00:17:48,075 --> 00:17:51,355 we all detest. 147 00:17:51,355 --> 00:17:58,315 Frankly, as I leave the office of the presidency, one of my greatest disappointments is our 148 00:17:58,315 --> 00:18:05,315 failure to secure passage of a Licensing and Registration Act for firearms. 149 00:18:05,315 --> 00:18:17,415 I think if we had passed that act it would have reduced the incidence of crime. 150 00:18:17,415 --> 00:18:24,575 And I believe that the Congress should adopt such a law, and I hope that it will at a not 151 00:18:24,575 --> 00:18:27,775 too distant today. 152 00:18:27,775 --> 00:18:37,955 In order to meet our longstanding commitment to make government as efficient as possible, 153 00:18:37,955 --> 00:18:53,535 I believe that we should reorganize our postal system along the lines of the Capitol Report. 154 00:18:53,535 --> 00:19:00,775 I hope we can all agree that public service should never impose an unreasonable financial 155 00:19:00,775 --> 00:19:08,295 sacrifice on able men and women who want to serve their country. 156 00:19:08,295 --> 00:19:13,715 So I believe that the recommendations of the Commission on Executive, Legislative, and 157 00:19:13,715 --> 00:19:16,775 Judicial Salary are generally sound. 158 00:19:23,535 --> 00:19:28,155 Later this week, I shall submit a special message which I reviewed with the leadership 159 00:19:28,155 --> 00:19:35,755 this evening containing a proposal that has been reduced and has modified the Commission's 160 00:19:35,755 --> 00:19:41,935 recommendation to some extent on the Congressional salaries. 161 00:19:43,055 --> 00:19:48,695 For members of Congress, I will recommend a basic compensation, not of the $50,000, 162 00:19:48,695 --> 00:19:56,355 unanimously recommended by the Capital Commission and the other distinguished members, 163 00:19:56,355 --> 00:20:00,775 but I shall reduce that $50,000 to $42,500. 164 00:20:08,275 --> 00:20:14,635 And I will suggest that Congress appropriate a very small additional allowance for official expenses 165 00:20:14,635 --> 00:20:22,815 so that members will not be required to use their salary increase for essential official business. 166 00:20:29,095 --> 00:20:32,315 I would have submitted the Commission's recommendations, 167 00:20:32,655 --> 00:20:36,515 except the advice that I received from the leadership, 168 00:20:36,515 --> 00:20:43,515 and that you usually are consulted about matters that affect the Congress, 169 00:20:43,515 --> 00:20:47,595 was that the Congress would not accept the 50,000 recommendation, 170 00:20:47,975 --> 00:20:50,815 and if I expected my recommendation to be seriously considered, 171 00:20:51,275 --> 00:20:52,995 I should make substantial reductions. 172 00:20:52,995 --> 00:20:56,135 That's the only reason I didn't go along with the Capitol report. 173 00:20:58,475 --> 00:21:05,575 In 1967, I recommended to Congress a fair and impartial random selectance system for the draft. 174 00:21:06,755 --> 00:21:10,375 I submit it again tonight for your most respectful consideration. 175 00:21:13,515 --> 00:21:24,235 I know that all of us recognize that most of the things we do to meet all of these commitments 176 00:21:24,235 --> 00:21:26,855 I talk about will cost money. 177 00:21:26,855 --> 00:21:31,755 And if we maintain the strong rate of growth that we've had in this country for the past 178 00:21:31,755 --> 00:21:40,375 eight years, I think we shall generate the resources that we need to meet these commitments. 179 00:21:40,375 --> 00:21:45,875 We've already been able to increase our support for major social programs, although we've 180 00:21:45,875 --> 00:21:52,115 heard a lot about not being able to do anything on the home front because of Vietnam. 181 00:21:52,115 --> 00:21:57,975 But we have been able in the last five years to increase our commitments for such things 182 00:21:57,975 --> 00:22:24,469 is health and education from billion in 1964 to billion in the coming fiscal year That more than double and that more than it ever been increased in the 188 years of this republic notwithstanding Vietnam 183 00:22:24,469 --> 00:22:37,149 We must continue to budget our resources and budget them responsibly in a way that will 184 00:22:37,149 --> 00:22:42,469 preserve our prosperity and will strengthen our dollar. 185 00:22:42,469 --> 00:22:51,830 Greater revenues and the reduced federal spending required by Congress last year have changed 186 00:22:51,830 --> 00:22:57,709 the budgetary picture dramatically since last January when we made our estimates. 187 00:22:57,709 --> 00:23:02,430 At that time you'll remember that we estimated we'd have a deficit of $8 billion. 188 00:23:02,430 --> 00:23:07,550 Well I'm glad to report to you tonight that the fiscal year ending June 30th 189 00:23:07,550 --> 00:23:18,050 1969 this June we are going to have not a deficit but we're going to have a 2 190 00:23:18,050 --> 00:23:23,989 billion 400 million dollar surplus. 191 00:23:32,430 --> 00:23:44,050 You will receive the budget tomorrow, but the budget for the next fiscal year that begins 192 00:23:44,050 --> 00:23:51,770 next July the 1st, that you will want to examine very carefully in the days ahead, it will 193 00:23:51,770 --> 00:23:57,930 provide a $3,400,000,000 surplus. 194 00:24:02,430 --> 00:24:14,350 The President's budget anticipates the extension of the surtax that Congress enacted last year. 195 00:24:14,350 --> 00:24:23,590 I have communicated with the President-elect Nixon in connection with this policy and continuing 196 00:24:23,590 --> 00:24:27,270 the surtax for the time being. 197 00:24:27,270 --> 00:24:32,090 I want to tell you that both of us want to see it removed just as soon as circumstances 198 00:24:32,090 --> 00:24:44,030 will permit, but the president-elect has told me that he has concluded that until his administration 199 00:24:44,030 --> 00:24:49,090 and this Congress can examine the appropriation bills and each item in the budget and can 200 00:24:49,090 --> 00:24:58,030 ascertain that the facts justify permitting the surtax to expire or to reduce, he, Mr. 201 00:24:58,030 --> 00:25:12,330 Nixon will support my recommendation that the surtax be continued. 202 00:25:12,330 --> 00:25:17,070 Americans I believe are united in the hope that the Paris talks will bring an early peace 203 00:25:17,070 --> 00:25:19,430 to Vietnam. 204 00:25:19,430 --> 00:25:24,790 And if our hopes for an early settlement of the war are realized, then our military expenditures 205 00:25:24,790 --> 00:25:32,889 can be reduced, and very substantial savings can be made to be used for other desirable 206 00:25:32,889 --> 00:25:37,709 purposes as the Congress may determine. 207 00:25:37,709 --> 00:25:48,550 In any event, I think it's imperative that we do all we responsibly can to resist inflation 208 00:25:48,550 --> 00:25:52,350 while maintaining our prosperity. 209 00:25:52,350 --> 00:25:58,170 I think all Americans know that our prosperity is broad and it's deep, that it's brought 210 00:25:58,170 --> 00:26:04,530 record profits, the highest in our history, record wages. 211 00:26:04,530 --> 00:26:08,649 Our gross national product has grown more in the last five years than any other period 212 00:26:08,649 --> 00:26:10,310 in our nation's history. 213 00:26:10,310 --> 00:26:17,170 Our wages have been the highest, our profits have been the best, and this prosperity has 214 00:26:17,170 --> 00:26:24,469 enable millions to escape the poverty that they would have otherwise had the last few 215 00:26:24,469 --> 00:26:26,249 years. 216 00:26:26,249 --> 00:26:31,870 And I think also you'll be very glad to hear that the Secretary of Treasury informs me 217 00:26:31,870 --> 00:26:41,930 tonight that in 1968, in our balance of payments, we have achieved a surplus. 218 00:26:41,930 --> 00:26:48,989 It appears that we have, in fact, done better this year than we've done in any year in this 219 00:26:48,989 --> 00:27:05,310 regard since the year 1957. 220 00:27:05,310 --> 00:27:10,449 The quest for a durable peace has, I think, absorbed every administration since the end 221 00:27:10,449 --> 00:27:13,130 of World War II. 222 00:27:13,130 --> 00:27:18,530 It has required us to seek a limitation of armed races, not only among the superpowers 223 00:27:18,530 --> 00:27:21,930 but among the smaller nations as well. 224 00:27:21,930 --> 00:27:30,469 We have joined in the Test Ban Treaty of 1963, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the Treaty 225 00:27:30,469 --> 00:27:36,690 Against the Spread of Nuclear Weapons of 1968, and this latter agreement, the Nonproliferation 226 00:27:36,690 --> 00:27:43,130 Treaty is now pending in the Senate, and it's been pending there since last July. 227 00:27:43,130 --> 00:27:49,290 In my opinion, delay in ratifying it is not going to be helpful to the cause of peace. 228 00:27:49,290 --> 00:27:55,190 America took the lead in negotiating this treaty, and America should now take steps to 229 00:27:55,190 --> 00:28:02,190 have it approved at the earliest possible date. 230 00:28:02,190 --> 00:28:16,130 And until a way can be found to scale down the level of arms among the superpowers, mankind 231 00:28:16,130 --> 00:28:22,969 cannot view the future without fear and great apprehension. 232 00:28:22,969 --> 00:28:29,469 So I believe that we should resume the talks with the Soviet Union about limiting offensive 233 00:28:29,469 --> 00:28:34,749 and defensive missile systems, and I think they would have already been resumed except 234 00:28:34,749 --> 00:28:39,090 for Czechoslovakia and our election this year. 235 00:28:39,090 --> 00:28:47,170 It was more than 20 years ago that we embarked on a program of trying to aid the developing 236 00:28:47,170 --> 00:28:50,050 nations. 237 00:28:50,050 --> 00:28:56,070 We knew then that we could not live in good conscience as a rich enclave on an earth that 238 00:28:56,070 --> 00:28:59,570 was seething in misery. 239 00:28:59,570 --> 00:29:06,009 And during these years there have been great advances made under our program, particularly 240 00:29:06,009 --> 00:29:09,770 against want and hunger. 241 00:29:09,770 --> 00:29:16,149 And although we were disappointed at the preparations last year, we thought they were woefully inadequate. 242 00:29:16,149 --> 00:29:22,550 This year I'm asking for adequate funds for economic assistance in the hope that we can 243 00:29:22,550 --> 00:29:26,009 further peace throughout the world. 244 00:29:26,009 --> 00:29:31,530 I think we must continue to support efforts in regional cooperation. 245 00:29:31,530 --> 00:29:37,670 Among those efforts, that of Western Europe has a very special place in America's concern. 246 00:29:37,670 --> 00:29:45,209 The only course that's going to permit Europe to play the great role—the world role—that 247 00:29:45,209 --> 00:29:50,969 its resources permit, is to go forward to unity. 248 00:29:50,969 --> 00:29:57,209 I think America remains ready to work with a united Europe, work as a partner on the basis 249 00:29:57,209 --> 00:30:00,370 of equality. 250 00:30:00,370 --> 00:30:06,570 For our future, the quest for peace, I believe, requires that we maintain the liberal trade 251 00:30:06,570 --> 00:30:13,449 policies that have helped us become the leading nation in world trade, that we strengthen the 252 00:30:13,449 --> 00:30:18,649 international monetary system as an instrument of world prosperity, and that we seek areas 253 00:30:18,649 --> 00:30:23,170 of agreement with the Soviet Union where the interests of both nations and the interests 254 00:30:23,170 --> 00:30:27,590 of world peace are properly served. 255 00:30:27,590 --> 00:30:33,690 The strained relationship between us and the world's leading communist power has not ended, 256 00:30:33,690 --> 00:30:37,909 especially in the light of the brutal invasion of Czechoslovakia. 257 00:30:37,909 --> 00:30:44,149 Totalitarianism is no less odious to us because we're able to reach some accommodation that 258 00:30:44,149 --> 00:30:48,229 reduces the danger of world catastrophe. 259 00:30:48,229 --> 00:30:56,850 What we do, we do in the interest of peace in the world, and we earnestly hope that time 260 00:30:56,850 --> 00:31:05,189 will bring a Russia that is less afraid of adversity and individual freedom. 261 00:31:05,189 --> 00:31:12,909 The quest for peace tonight continues in Vietnam and in the Paris talks. 262 00:31:12,909 --> 00:31:19,810 I regret more than any of you know that it has not been possible to restore peace to South 263 00:31:19,810 --> 00:31:22,009 Vietnam. 264 00:31:22,009 --> 00:31:28,290 The prospects, I think, for peace are better today than at any time since North Vietnam 265 00:31:28,290 --> 00:31:33,630 began its invasion into its regular forces more than four years ago. 266 00:31:40,630 --> 00:31:47,030 And the free nations of Asia know what they were not sure of at that time, 267 00:31:47,610 --> 00:31:50,909 that America cares about their freedom, 268 00:31:51,909 --> 00:31:57,550 and it also cares about America's own vital interest in Asia and throughout the Pacific. 269 00:31:58,290 --> 00:32:09,530 The North Vietnamese know that they cannot achieve their aggressive purposes by force. 270 00:32:09,530 --> 00:32:15,630 There may be hard fighting before a settlement is reached, but I can assure you it will yield 271 00:32:15,630 --> 00:32:20,929 no victory to the Communist cause. 272 00:32:20,929 --> 00:32:28,229 I cannot speak to you tonight about Vietnam without paying a very personal tribute to 273 00:32:28,229 --> 00:32:33,229 to the men who have carried the battle out there for all of us. 274 00:32:58,229 --> 00:33:13,649 And I have been honored to be their Commander-in-Chief. 275 00:33:13,649 --> 00:33:24,324 The nation owes them its unstinting support while the battle continues and its enduring gratitude when their service is done 276 00:33:35,044 --> 00:33:40,384 Finally, the quest for stable peace in the Middle East goes on in many capitals tonight. 277 00:33:40,384 --> 00:33:49,044 America fully supports the unanimous resolution of the UN Security Council, which points the 278 00:33:49,044 --> 00:33:50,884 way. 279 00:33:50,884 --> 00:33:57,944 There must be a settlement to the armed hostility that exists in that region of the world today. 280 00:33:57,944 --> 00:34:05,184 It is a threat not only to Israel and to all the Arab states, but it's a threat to every 281 00:34:05,184 --> 00:34:10,444 one of us and to the entire world as well. 282 00:34:10,444 --> 00:34:15,964 And now, my friends in Congress, I want to conclude with a few very personal words to 283 00:34:15,964 --> 00:34:21,104 you. 284 00:34:21,104 --> 00:34:31,384 I rejected and then finally accepted the Congressional leadership's invitation to come here to speak 285 00:34:31,384 --> 00:34:34,844 this farewell to you in person tonight. 286 00:34:34,844 --> 00:34:38,064 I did that for two reasons. 287 00:34:38,064 --> 00:34:39,224 One was philosophical. 288 00:34:39,224 --> 00:34:45,544 I wanted to give you my judgment as I saw it on some of the issues before our nation 289 00:34:45,544 --> 00:34:49,604 as I viewed them before I leave. 290 00:34:49,604 --> 00:34:54,384 The other was just pure sentimental. 291 00:34:54,384 --> 00:34:55,144 of my life. 292 00:35:24,384 --> 00:35:52,184 Most all of my life as a public official has been spent here in this building. 293 00:35:52,184 --> 00:36:07,224 For 38 years since I worked on that gallery as a doorkeeper in the House of Representatives, 294 00:36:07,224 --> 00:36:14,224 I have known these halls and I have known most of the men pretty well who walked them. 295 00:36:14,224 --> 00:36:16,584 I know the questions that you face. 296 00:36:16,584 --> 00:36:19,644 I know the conflicts that you endure. 297 00:36:19,644 --> 00:36:24,064 I know the ideals that you seek to serve. 298 00:36:24,064 --> 00:36:31,464 I left here first to become vice president and then to become, in a moment of tragedy, 299 00:36:31,464 --> 00:36:34,744 the president of the United States. 300 00:36:34,744 --> 00:36:44,804 My term of office has been marked by a series of challenges, both at home and throughout 301 00:36:44,804 --> 00:36:47,304 the world. 302 00:36:47,304 --> 00:36:56,904 In meeting some of these challenges, the nation has found a new confidence in meeting others 303 00:36:56,904 --> 00:37:06,584 in new turbulence and doubt and fear and hate. 304 00:37:06,584 --> 00:37:17,004 And throughout this time I have been sustained by my faith in representative democracy, a 305 00:37:17,004 --> 00:37:25,084 faith that I had learned here in this Capitol building as an employee and as a Congressman 306 00:37:25,084 --> 00:37:28,084 and as a Senator. 307 00:37:28,084 --> 00:37:38,124 I believe deeply in the ultimate purposes of this nation described by the Constitution, 308 00:37:38,124 --> 00:37:49,884 tempered by history, embodied in progressive laws, and given life by men and women that 309 00:37:49,884 --> 00:37:56,924 have been elected to serve their fellow citizens. 310 00:37:56,924 --> 00:38:03,604 Now for five most demanding years in the White House, I have been strengthened by the counsel 311 00:38:03,604 --> 00:38:22,844 in the cooperation of two great former presidents, Harry S. Truman and Dwight David Eisenhower. 312 00:38:22,844 --> 00:38:32,844 I have been guided by the memory of my pleasant and close association with the beloved John 313 00:38:32,844 --> 00:38:56,404 John F. Kennedy, and with our greatest modern legislator, Speaker Sam Raver. 314 00:38:56,404 --> 00:39:03,404 I have been assisted by my friend every step of the way, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. 315 00:39:26,404 --> 00:39:52,164 I'm so grateful that I've been supported daily by the loyalty of Speaker McCormick and Majority 316 00:39:52,164 --> 00:40:13,944 leader Alvin. 317 00:40:13,944 --> 00:40:38,104 I have benefited from the wisdom of Senator Mike Mansfield. 318 00:40:38,104 --> 00:40:47,164 And I am sure that I have avoided many dangerous pitfalls by the good, common-sense counsel 319 00:40:47,164 --> 00:41:07,584 of the President Pro Tem of the Senate, Senator Richard Brevard Ruff. 320 00:41:07,584 --> 00:41:16,084 I have received the most generous cooperation from the leaders of the Republican Party in 321 00:41:16,084 --> 00:41:28,584 the Congress of the United States, Senator Dirksen and Congressmen. 322 00:41:28,584 --> 00:41:44,584 and Congressman Gerald Ford, the Majority of the Army. 323 00:41:58,584 --> 00:42:07,644 No president should ask for more, although I did upon occasion. 324 00:42:07,644 --> 00:42:13,844 But few presidents have ever been blessed with so much. 325 00:42:13,844 --> 00:42:22,024 President-elect Nixon in the days ahead is going to need your understanding, just as 326 00:42:22,024 --> 00:42:25,304 I did. 327 00:42:25,304 --> 00:42:32,304 And he's entitled to have it. 328 00:42:32,304 --> 00:42:46,984 And I hope every member will remember that the burdens he will bear as our president 329 00:42:46,984 --> 00:42:51,624 will be borne for all of us. 330 00:42:51,624 --> 00:42:59,384 Each of us should try not to increase these burdens for the sake of narrow personal or 331 00:42:59,384 --> 00:43:04,744 partisan advantage. 332 00:43:04,744 --> 00:43:12,784 And now it's time to leave. 333 00:43:12,784 --> 00:43:26,804 I hope it may be said a hundred years from now that by working together we help to make 334 00:43:26,804 --> 00:43:39,764 our country more just, more just for all of its people as well as to ensure and guarantee 335 00:43:39,764 --> 00:43:48,004 the blessings of liberty for all of our posterity. 336 00:43:48,004 --> 00:43:49,064 That's what I hope. 337 00:43:49,064 --> 00:44:00,604 But I believe that at least it will be said that we tried. 338 00:44:09,764 --> 00:44:11,764 Thank you.