I will ask you to make it possible for Members of the House of

Representatives to work more effectively in the service of the Nation

through a constitutional amendment extending the term of a Congressman

to 4 years, concurrent with that of the President. II.

Because of Vietnam we cannot do all that we should, or all that we would

like to do. We will ruthlessly attack waste and inefficiency. We will

make sure that every dollar is spent with the thrift and with the

commonsense which recognizes how hard the taxpayer worked in order to

earn it.

We will continue to meet the needs of our people by continuing to

develop the Great Society.

Last year alone the wealth that we produced increased $47 billion, and

it will soar again this year to a total over $720 billion.

Because our economic policies have produced rising revenues, if you

approve every program that I recommend tonight, our total budget deficit

will be one of the lowest in many years. It will be only $1.8 billion

next year. Total spending in the administrative budget will be $112.8

billion. Revenues next year will be $111 billion.

On a cash basis--which is the way that you and I keep our family

budget--the Federal budget next year will actually show a surplus. That

is to say, if we include all the money that your Government will take in

and all the money that your Government will spend, your Government next

year will collect one-half billion dollars more than it will spend in

the year 1967.

I have not come here tonight to ask for pleasant luxuries or for idle

pleasures. I have come here to recommend that you, the representatives

of the richest Nation on earth, you, the elected servants of a people

who live in abundance unmatched on this globe, you bring the most urgent

decencies of life to all of your fellow Americans.

There are men who cry out: We must sacrifice. Well, let us rather ask

them: Who will they sacrifice? Are they going to sacrifice the children

who seek the learning, or the sick who need medical care, or the

families who dwell in squalor now brightened by the hope of home? Will

they sacrifice opportunity for the distressed, the beauty of our land,

the hope of our poor?

Time may require further sacrifices. And if it does, then we will make

them.

But we will not heed those who wring it from the hopes of the

unfortunate here in a land of plenty.

I believe that we can continue the Great Society while we fight in

Vietnam. But if there are some who do not believe this, then, in the

name of justice, let them call for the contribution of those who live in

the fullness of our blessing, rather than try to strip it from the hands

of those that are most in need.

And let no one think that the unfortunate and the oppressed of this land

sit stifled and alone in their hope tonight. Hundreds of their servants

and their protectors sit before me tonight here in this great Chamber.

III.

The Great Society leads us along three roads--growth and justice and

liberation.

I can report to you tonight what you have seen for yourselves

already--in every city and countryside. This Nation is flourishing.

Workers are making more money than ever--with after-tax income in the

past 5 years up 33 percent; in the last year alone, up 8 percent.

More people are working than ever before in our history--an increase

last year of 2 1/2 million jobs.

Corporations have greater after-tax earnings than ever in history. For

the past 5 years those earnings have been up over 65 percent, and last

year alone they had a rise of 20 percent.

Average farm income is higher than ever. Over the past 5 years it is up

40 percent, and over the past year it is up 22 percent alone.

I was informed this afternoon by the distinguished Secretary of the

Treasury that his preliminary estimates indicate that our balance of

payments deficit has been reduced from $2.8 billion in 1964 to $1.3

billion, or less, in 1965. This achievement has been made possible by

the patriotic voluntary cooperation of businessmen and bankers working

with your Government.

We must now work together with increased urgency to wipe out this

balance of payments deficit altogether in the next year.

And as our economy surges toward new heights we must increase our

vigilance against the inflation which raises the cost of living and

which lowers the savings of every family in this land. It is essential,

to prevent inflation, that we ask both labor and business to exercise

price and wage restraint, and I do so again tonight.

I believe it desirable, because of increased military expenditures, that

you temporarily restore the automobile and certain telephone excise tax

reductions made effective only 12 days ago. Without raising taxes--or

even increasing the total tax bill paid--we should move to improve our

withholding system so that Americans can more realistically pay as they

go, speed up the collection of corporate taxes, and make other necessary

simplifications of the tax structure at an early date.

I hope these measures will be adequate. But if the necessities of

Vietnam require it, I will not hesitate to return to the Congress for

additional appropriations, or additional revenues if they are needed.

I propose legislation to establish unavoidable requirements for

nondiscriminatory jury selection in Federal and State courts--and to

give the Attorney General the power necessary to enforce those

requirements.

I propose legislation to strengthen authority of Federal courts to try

those who murder, attack, or intimidate either civil rights workers or

others exercising their constitutional rights--and to increase penalties

to a level equal to the nature of the crime.

Legislation, resting on the fullest constitutional authority of the

Federal Government, to prohibit racial discrimination in the sale or

rental of housing.

For that other nation within a Nation--the poor--whose distress has now

captured the conscience of America, I will ask the Congress not only to

continue, but to speed up the war on poverty. And in so doing, we will

provide the added energy of achievement with the increased efficiency of

experience.

To improve the life of our rural Americans and our farm population, we

will plan for the future through the establishment of several new

Community Development Districts, improved education through the use of

Teacher Corps teams, better health measures, physical examinations, and

adequate and available medical resources.

For those who labor, I propose to improve unemployment insurance, to

expand minimum wage benefits, and by the repeal of section 14(b) of the

Taft-Hartley Act to make the labor laws in all our States equal to the

laws of the 31 States which do not have tonight right-to-work measures.

And I also intend to ask the Congress to consider measures which,

without improperly invading State and local authority, will enable us

effectively to deal with strikes which threaten irreparable damage to

the national interest.

Yet, slowly, painfully, on the edge of victory, has come the knowledge

that shared prosperity is not enough. In the midst of abundance modern

man walks oppressed by forces which menace and confine the quality of

his life, and which individual abundance alone will not overcome.

We can subdue and we can master these forces--bring increased meaning to

our lives--if all of us, Government and citizens, are bold enough to

change old ways, daring enough to assault new dangers, and if the dream

is dear enough to call forth the limitless capacities of this great

people.

This year we must continue to improve the quality of American life.

Let us fulfill and improve the great health and education programs of

last year, extending special opportunities to those who risk their lives

in our Armed Forces.

I urge the House of Representatives to complete action on three programs

already passed by the Senate--the Teacher Corps, rent assistance, and

home rule for the District of Columbia.

In some of our urban areas we must help rebuild entire sections and

neighborhoods containing, in some cases, as many as 100,000 people.

Working together, private enterprise and government must press forward

with the task of providing homes and shops, parks and hospitals, and all

the other necessary parts of a flourishing community where our people

can come to live the good life.

I will offer other proposals to stimulate and to reward planning for the

growth of entire metropolitan areas.

Of all the reckless devastations of our national heritage, none is

really more shameful than the continued poisoning of our rivers and our

air.

We must undertake a cooperative effort to end pollution in several river

basins, making additional funds available to help draw the plans and

construct the plants that are necessary to make the waters of our entire

river systems clean, and make them a source of pleasure and beauty for

all of our people.

To attack and to overcome growing crime and lawlessness, I think we must

have a stepped-up program to help modernize and strengthen our local

police forces.

Our people have a right to feel secure in their homes and on their

streets--and that right just must be secured.

Nor can we fail to arrest the destruction of life and property on our

highways.

I will propose a Highway Safety Act of 1966 to seek an end to this

mounting tragedy.

We must also act to prevent the deception of the American

consumer--requiring all packages to state clearly and truthfully their

contents--all interest and credit charges to be fully revealed--and

keeping harmful drugs and cosmetics away from our stores.

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. We must change to master

change.

I propose to take steps to modernize and streamline the executive

branch, to modernize the relations between city and State and Nation.

A new Department of Transportation is needed to bring together our

transportation activities. The present structure--35 Government

agencies, spending $5 billion yearly--makes it almost impossible to

serve either the growing demands of this great Nation or the needs of

the industry, or the right of the taxpayer to full efficiency and real

frugality.

I will propose in addition a program to construct and to flight-test a

new supersonic transport airplane that will fly three times the speed of

sound--in excess of 2,000 miles per hour.

I propose to examine our Federal system--the relation between city,

State, Nation, and the citizens themselves. We need a commission of the

most distinguished scholars and men of public affairs to do this job. I

will ask them to move on to develop a creative federalism to best use

the wonderful diversity of our institutions and our people to solve the

problems and to fulfill the dreams of the American people.

As the process of election becomes more complex and more costly, we must

make it possible for those without personal wealth to enter public life

without being obligated to a few large contributors.

Therefore, I will submit legislation to revise the present unrealistic

restriction on contributions--to prohibit the endless proliferation of

committees, bringing local and State committees under the act--to attach

strong teeth and severe penalties to the requirement of full disclosure

of contributions--and to broaden the participation of the people,

through added tax incentives, to stimulate small contributions to the

party and to the candidate of their choice.

To strengthen the work of Congress I strongly urge an amendment to

provide a 4-year term for Members of the House of Representatives--which

should not begin before 1972.

The present 2-year term requires most Members of Congress to divert

enormous energies to an almost constant process of

campaigning--depriving this Nation of the fullest measure of both their

skill and their wisdom. Today, too, the work of government is far more

complex than in our early years, requiring more time to learn and more

time to master the technical tasks of legislating. And a longer term

will serve to attract more men of the highest quality to political life.

The Nation, the principle of democracy, and, I think, each congressional

district, will all be better served by a 4-year term for Members of the

House. And I urge your swift action. IV.

Tonight the cup of peril is full in Vietnam. That conflict is not an

isolated episode, but another great event in the policy that we have

followed with strong consistency since World War II.

The touchstone of that policy is the interest of the United States--the

welfare and the freedom of the people of the United States. But nations

sink when they see that interest only through a narrow glass.

In a world that has grown small and dangerous, pursuit of narrow aims

could bring decay and even disaster.

An America that is mighty beyond description--yet living in a hostile or

despairing world--would be neither safe nor free to build a civilization

to liberate the spirit of man.

In this pursuit we helped rebuild Western Europe. We gave our aid to

Greece and Turkey, and we defended the freedom of Berlin.

In this pursuit we have helped new nations toward independence. We have

extended the helping hand of the Peace Corps and carried forward the

largest program of economic assistance in the world.

And in this pursuit we work to build a hemisphere of democracy and of

social justice.

In this pursuit we have defended against Communist aggression--in Korea

under President Truman--in the Formosa Straits under President

Eisenhower--in Cuba under President Kennedy--and again in Vietnam.

Tonight Vietnam must hold the center of our attention, but across the

world problems and opportunities crowd in on the American Nation. I will

discuss them fully in the months to come, and I will follow the five

continuing lines of policy that America has followed under its last four

Presidents.

While special Vietnam expenditures for the next fiscal year are

estimated to increase by $5.8 billion, I can tell you that all the other

expenditures put together in the entire Federal budget will rise this

coming year by only $.6 billion. This is true because of the stringent

cost-conscious economy program inaugurated in the Defense Department,

and followed by the other departments of Government.

We will vigorously pursue existing proposals--and seek new ones--to

control arms and to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

By strengthening the common defense, by stimulating world commerce, by

meeting new hopes, these associations serve the cause of a flourishing

world.

We will take new steps this year to help strengthen the Alliance for

Progress, the unity of Europe, the community of the Atlantic, the

regional organizations of developing continents, and that supreme

association--the United Nations.

We will work to strengthen economic cooperation, to reduce barriers to

trade, and to improve international finance.

From the Marshall plan to this very moment tonight, that policy has

rested on the claims of compassion, and the certain knowledge that only

a people advancing in expectation will build secure and peaceful lands.

This year I propose major new directions in our program of foreign

assistance to help those countries who will help themselves.

We will conduct a worldwide attack on the problems of hunger and disease

and ignorance.

We will place the matchless skill and the resources of our own great

America, in farming and in fertilizers, at the service of those

countries committed to develop a modern agriculture.

We will aid those who educate the young in other lands, and we will give

children in other continents the same head start that we are trying to

give our own children. To advance these ends I will propose the

International Education Act of 1966.

I will also propose the International Health Act of 1966 to strike at

disease by a new effort to bring modern skills and knowledge to the

uncared-for, those suffering in the world, and by trying to wipe out

smallpox and malaria and control yellow fever over most of the world

during this next decade; to help countries trying to control population

growth, by increasing our research--and we will earmark funds to help

their efforts.

In the next year, from our foreign aid sources, we propose to dedicate

$1 billion to these efforts, and we call on all who have the means to

join us in this work in the world.

For a peaceful world order will be possible only when each country walks

the way that it has chosen to walk for itself.

We follow this principle by encouraging the end of colonial rule.

We follow this principle, abroad as well as at home, by continued

hostility to the rule of the many by the few--or the oppression of one

race by another.

We follow this principle by building bridges to Eastern Europe. And I

will ask the Congress for authority to remove the special tariff

restrictions which are a barrier to increasing trade between the East

and the West.

The insistent urge toward national independence is the strongest force

of today’s world in which we live.

In Africa and Asia and Latin America it is shattering the designs of

those who would subdue others to their ideas or their will.

It is eroding the unity of what was once a Stalinist empire.

In recent months a number of nations have east out those who would

subject them to the ambitions of mainland China.

History is on the side of freedom and is on the side of societies shaped

from the genius of each people. History does not favor a single system

or belief--unless force is used to make it so.

That is why it has been necessary for us to defend this basic principle

of our policy, to defend it in Berlin, in Korea, in Cuba--and tonight in

Vietnam.

For tonight, as so many nights before, young Americans struggle and

young Americans die in a distant land.

Tonight, as so many nights before, the American Nation is asked to

sacrifice the blood of its children and the fruits of its labor for the

love of its freedom.

How many times--in my lifetime and in yours--have the American people

gathered, as they do now, to hear their President tell them of conflict

and tell them of danger?

Each time they have answered. They have answered with all the effort

that the security and the freedom of this Nation required.

And they do again tonight in Vietnam. Not too many years ago Vietnam was

a peaceful, if troubled, land. In the North was an independent Communist

government. In the South a people struggled to build a nation, with the

friendly help of the United States.

There were some in South Vietnam who wished to force Communist rule on

their own people. But their progress was slight. Their hope of success

was dim. Then, little more than 6 years ago, North Vietnam decided on

conquest. And from that day to this, soldiers and supplies have moved

from North to South in a swelling stream that is swallowing the remnants

of revolution in aggression.

As the assault mounted, our choice gradually became clear. We could

leave, abandoning South Vietnam to its attackers and to certain

conquest, or we could stay and fight beside the people of South Vietnam.

We stayed.

And we will stay until aggression has stopped.

We will stay because a just nation cannot leave to the cruelties of its

enemies a people who have staked their lives and independence on

America’s solemn pledge--a pledge which has grown through the

commitments of three American Presidents.

We will stay because in Asia and around the world are countries whose

independence rests, in large measure, on confidence in America’s word

and in America’s protection. To yield to force in Vietnam would weaken

that confidence, would undermine the independence of many lands, and

would whet the appetite of aggression. We would have to fight in one

land, and then we would have to fight in another--or abandon much of

Asia to the domination of Communists.

And we do not intend to abandon Asia to conquest.

Last year the nature of the war in Vietnam changed again. Swiftly

increasing numbers of armed men from the North crossed the borders to

join forces that were already in the South. Attack and terror increased,

spurred and encouraged by the belief that the United States lacked the

will to continue and that their victory was near.

Despite our desire to limit conflict, it was necessary to act: to hold

back the mounting aggression, to give courage to the people of the

South, and to make our firmness clear to the North. Thus. we began

limited air action against military targets in North Vietnam. We

increased our fighting force to its present strength tonight of 190,000

men.

These moves have not ended the aggression but they have prevented its

success. The aims of the enemy have been put out of reach by the skill

and the bravery of Americans and their allies--and by the enduring

courage of the South Vietnamese who, I can tell you, have lost eight men

last year for every one of ours.

The enemy is no longer close to victory. Time is no longer on his side.

There is no cause to doubt the American commitment.

Our decision to stand firm has been matched by our desire for peace.

In 1965 alone we had 300 private talks for peace in Vietnam, with

friends and adversaries throughout the world.

Since Christmas your Government has labored again, with imagination and

endurance, to remove any barrier to peaceful settlement. For 20 days now

we and our Vietnamese allies have dropped no bombs in North Vietnam.

Able and experienced spokesmen have visited, in behalf of America, more

than 40 countries. We have talked to more than a hundred governments,

all 113 that we have relations with, and some that we don’t. We have

talked to the United Nations and we have called upon all of its members

to make any contribution that they can toward helping obtain peace.

In public statements and in private communications, to adversaries and

to friends, in Rome and Warsaw, in Paris and Tokyo, in Africa and

throughout this hemisphere, America has made her position abundantly

clear.

We seek neither territory nor bases, economic domination or military

alliance in Vietnam. We fight for the principle of

self-determination--that the people of South Vietnam should be able to

choose their own course, choose it in free elections without violence,

without terror, and without fear.

The people of all Vietnam should make a free decision on the great

question of reunification.

This is all we want for South Vietnam. It is all the people of South

Vietnam want. And if there is a single nation on this earth that desires

less than this for its own people, then let its voice be heard.

We have also made it clear--from Hanoi to New York--that there are no

arbitrary limits to our search for peace. We stand by the Geneva

Agreements of 1954 and 1962. We will meet at any conference table, we

will discuss any proposals--four points or fourteen or forty--and we

will consider the views of any group. We will work for a cease-fire now

or once discussions have begun. We will respond if others reduce their

use of force, and we will withdraw our soldiers once South Vietnam is

securely guaranteed the right to shape its own future.

We have said all this, and we have asked--and hoped--and we have waited

for a response.

So far we have received no response to prove either success or failure.

We have carried our quest for peace to many nations and peoples because

we share this planet with others whose future, in large measure, is tied

to our own action, and whose counsel is necessary to our own hopes.

We have found understanding and support. And we know they wait with us

tonight for some response that could lead to peace.

I wish tonight that I could give you a blueprint for the course of this

conflict over the coming months, but we just cannot know what the future

may require. We may have to face long, hard combat or a long, hard

conference, or even both at once.

Until peace comes, or if it does not come, our course is clear. We will

act as we must to help protect the independence of the valiant people of

South Vietnam. We will strive to limit the conflict, for we wish neither

increased destruction nor do we want to invite increased danger.

But we will give our fighting men what they must have: every gun, and

every dollar, and every decision--whatever the cost or whatever the

challenge.

And we will continue to help the people of South Vietnam care for those

that are ravaged by battle, create progress in the villages, and carry

forward the healing hopes of peace as best they can amidst the uncertain

terrors of war.

And let me be absolutely clear: The days may become months, and the

months may become years, but we will stay as long as aggression commands

us to battle.

There may be some who do not want peace, whose ambitions stretch so far

that war in Vietnam is but a welcome and convenient episode in an

immense design to subdue history to their will. But for others it must

now be clear--the choice is not between peace and victory, it lies

between peace and the ravages of a conflict from which they can only

lose.

The people of Vietnam, North and South, seek the same things: the shared

needs of man, the needs for food and shelter and education--the chance

to build and work and till the soil, free from the arbitrary horrors of

battle--the desire to walk in the dignity of those who master their own

destiny. For many painful years, in war and revolution and infrequent

peace, they have struggled to fulfill those needs.

It is a crime against mankind that so much courage, and so much will,

and so many dreams, must be flung on the fires of war and death.

To all of those caught up in this conflict we therefore say again

tonight: Let us choose peace, and with it the wondrous works of peace,

and beyond that, the time when hope reaches toward consummation, and

life is the servant of life.

In this work, we plan to discharge our duty to the people whom we serve.

V.

This is the State of the Union.

But over it all--wealth, and promise, and expectation--lies our

troubling awareness of American men at war tonight.

How many men who listen to me tonight have served their Nation in other

wars? How very many are not here to listen?

The war in Vietnam is not like these other wars. Yet, finally, 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 this

world.

Many of you share the burden of this knowledge tonight with me. But

there is a difference. For finally I must be the one to order our guns

to fire, against all the most inward pulls of my desire. For we have

children to teach, and we have sick to be cured, and we have men to be

freed. There are poor to be lifted up, and there are cities to be built,

and there is a world to be helped.

Yet we do what we must.

I am hopeful, and I will try as best I can, with everything I have got,

to end this battle and to return our sons to their desires.

Yet as long as others will challenge America’s security and test the

clearness of our beliefs with fire and steel, then we must stand or see

the promise of two centuries tremble. I believe tonight that you do not

want me to try that risk. And from that belief your President summons

his strength for the trials that lie ahead in the days to come.

The work must be our work now. Scarred by the weaknesses of man, with

whatever guidance God may offer us, we must nevertheless and alone with

our mortality, strive to ennoble the life of man on earth.

Thank you, and goodnight.

***

State of the Union Address

Lyndon B. Johnson

January 10, 1967

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, distinguished Members of the Congress:

I share with all of you the grief that you feel at the death today of

one of the most beloved, respected, and effective Members of this body,

the distinguished Representative from Rhode Island, Mr. Fogarty.

I have come here tonight to report to you that this is a time of testing

for our Nation.

At home, the question is whether we will continue working for better

opportunities for all Americans, when most Americans are already living

better than any people in history.

Abroad, the question is whether we have the staying power to fight a

very costly war, when the objective is limited and the danger to us is

seemingly remote.

So our test is not whether we shrink from our country’s cause when the

dangers to us are obvious and dose at hand, but, rather, whether we

carry on when they seem obscure and distant--and some think that it is

safe to lay down our burdens.

I have come tonight to ask this Congress and this Nation to resolve that

issue: to meet our commitments at home and abroad--to continue to build

a better America--and to reaffirm this Nation’s allegiance to freedom.

As President Abraham Lincoln said, “We must ask where we are, and

whither we are tending.” I.

The last 3 years bear witness to our determination to make this a better

country.

We have struck down legal barriers to equality.

We have improved the education of 7 million deprived children and this

year alone we have enabled almost 1 million students to go to college.

We have brought medical care to older people who were unable to afford

it. Three and one-half million Americans have already received treatment

under Medicare since July.

We have built a strong economy that has put almost 3 million more

Americans on the payrolls in the last year alone.

We have included more than 9 million new workers under a higher minimum

wage.

We have launched new training programs to provide job skills for almost

1 million Americans.

We have helped more than a thousand local communities to attack poverty

in the neighborhoods of the poor. We have set out to rebuild our cities

on a scale that has never been attempted before. We have begun to rescue

our waters from the menace of pollution and to restore the beauty of our

land and our countryside, our cities and our towns.

We have given 1 million young Americans a chance to earn through the

Neighborhood Youth Corps--or through Head Start, a chance to learn.

So together we have tried to meet the needs of our people. And, we have

succeeded in creating a better life for the many as well as the few. Now

we must answer whether our gains shall be the foundations of further

progress, or whether they shall be only monuments to what might have

been--abandoned now by a people who lacked the will to see their great

work through.

I believe that our people do not want to quit--though the task is great,

the work hard, often frustrating, and success is a matter not of days or

months, but of years--and sometimes it may be even decades. II.

I have come here tonight to discuss with you five ways of carrying

forward the progress of these last 3 years. These five ways concern

programs, partnerships, priorities, prosperity, and peace.

First, programs. We must see to it, I think, that these new programs

that we have passed work effectively and are administered in the best

possible way.

Three years ago we set out to create these new instruments of social

progress. This required trial and error--and it has produced both. But

as we learn, through success and failure, we are changing our strategy

and we are trying to improve our tactics. In the long run, these

starts--some rewarding, others inadequate and disappointing--are crucial

to SUCCESS.

One example is the struggle to make life better for the less fortunate

among us.

On a similar occasion, at this rostrum in 1949, I heard a great American

President, Harry S. Truman, declare this: “The American people have

decided that poverty is just as wasteful and just as unnecessary as

preventable disease.”

Many listened to President Truman that day here in this Chamber, but few

understood what was required and did anything about it. The executive

branch and the Congress waited 15 long years before ever taking any

action on that challenge, as it did on many other challenges that great

President presented. And when, 3 years ago, you here in the Congress

joined with me in a declaration of war on poverty, then I warned, “It

will not be a short or easy struggle--no single weapon... will

suffice--but we shall not rest until that war is won.”

And I have come here to renew that pledge tonight.

I recommend that we intensify our efforts to give the poor a chance to

enjoy and to join in this Nation’s progress.

I shall propose certain administrative changes suggested by the

Congress--as well as some that we have learned from our own trial and

error.

I shall urge special methods and special funds to reach the hundreds of

thousands of Americans that are now trapped in the ghettos of our big

cities and, through Head Start, to try to reach out to our very young,

little children. The chance to learn is their brightest hope and must

command our full determination. For learning brings skills; and skills

bring jobs; and jobs bring responsibility and dignity, as well as taxes.

This war--like the war in Vietnam--is not a simple one. There is no

single battle-line which you can plot each day on a chart. The enemy is

not easy to perceive, or to isolate, or to destroy. There are mistakes

and there are setbacks. But we are moving, and our direction is forward.

This is true with other programs that are making and breaking new

ground. Some do not yet have the capacity to absorb well or wisely all

the money that could be put into them. Administrative skills and trained

manpower are just as vital to their success as dollars. And I believe

those skills will come. But it will take time and patience and hard

work. Success cannot be forced at a single stroke. So we must continue

to strengthen the administration of every program if that success is to

come--as we know it must.

We have done much in the space of 2 short years, working together.

I have recommended, and you, the Congress, have approved, 10 different

reorganization plans, combining and consolidating many bureaus of this

Government, and creating two entirely new Cabinet departments.

I have come tonight to propose that we establish a new department--a

Department of Business and Labor.

By combining the Department of Commerce with the Department of Labor and

other related agencies, I think we can create a more economical,

efficient, and streamlined instrument that will better serve a growing

nation.

This is our goal throughout the entire Federal Government. Every program

will be thoroughly evaluated. Grant-in-aid programs will be improved and

simplified as desired by many of our local administrators and our

Governors.

Where there have been mistakes, we will try very hard to correct them.

Where there has been progress, we will try to build upon it.

Our second objective is partnership--to create an effective partnership

at all levels of government. And I should treasure nothing more than to

have that partnership begin between the executive and the Congress.

The 88th and the 89th Congresses passed more social and economic

legislation than any two single Congresses in American history. Most of

you who were Members of those Congresses voted to pass most of those

measures. But your efforts will come to nothing unless it reaches the

people.

Federal energy is essential. But it is not enough. Only a total working

partnership among Federal, State, and local governments can succeed. The

test of that partnership will be the concern of each public

organization, each private institution, and each responsible citizen.

Each State, county, and city needs to examine its capacity for

government in today’s world, as we are examining ours in the executive

department, and as I see you are examining yours. Some will need to

reorganize and reshape their methods of administration--as we are doing.

Others will need to revise their constitutions and their laws to bring

them up to date--as we are doing. Above all, I think we must work

together and find ways in which the multitudes of small jurisdictions

can be brought together more efficiently.

During the past 3 years we have returned to State and local governments

about $40 billion in grants-in-aid. This year alone, 70 percent of our

Federal expenditures for domestic programs will be distributed through

the State and local governments. With Federal assistance, State and

local governments by 1970 will be spending close to $110 billion

annually. These enormous sums must be used wisely, honestly, and

effectively. We intend to work closely with the States and the

localities to do exactly that.

Our third objective is priorities, to move ahead on the priorities that

we have established within the resources that are available.

I wish, of course, that we could do all that should be done--and that we

could do it now. But the Nation has many commitments and

responsibilities which make heavy demands upon our total resources. No

administration would more eagerly utilize for these programs all the

resources they require than the administration that started them.

So let us resolve, now, to do all that we can, with what we

have--knowing that it is far, far more than we have ever done before,

and far, far less than our problems will ultimately require.

Let us create new opportunities for our children and our young Americans

who need special help.

We should strengthen the Head Start program, begin it for children 3

years old, and maintain its educational momentum by following through in

the early years.

We should try new methods of child development and care from the

earliest years, before it is too late to correct.

And I will propose these measures to the 90th Congress.

Let us insure that older Americans, and neglected Americans, share in

their Nation’s progress.

We should raise social security payments by an overall average of 20

percent. That will add $4 billion 100 million to social security

payments in the first year. I will recommend that each of the 23 million

Americans now receiving payments get an increase of at least 15 percent.

I will ask that you raise the minimum payments by 59 percent--from $44

to $70 a month, and to guarantee a minimum benefit of $100 a month for

those with a total of 25 years of coverage. We must raise the limits

that retired workers can earn without losing social security income.

We must eliminate by law unjust discrimination in employment because of

age.

We should embark upon a major effort to provide self-help assistance to

the forgotten in our midst--the American Indians and the migratory farm

workers. And we should reach with the hand of understanding to help

those who live in rural poverty.

And I will propose these measures to the 90th Congress.

So let us keep on improving the quality of life and enlarging the

meaning of justice for all of our fellow Americans.

We should transform our decaying slums into places of decency through

the landmark Model Cities program. I intend to seek for this effort,

this year, the full amount that you in Congress authorized last year.

We should call upon the genius of private industry and the most advanced

technology to help rebuild our great cities.

We should vastly expand the fight for dean air with a total attack on

pollution at its sources, and--because air, like water, does not respect

manmade boundaries--we should set up “regional airsheds” throughout this

great land.

We should continue to carry to every corner of the Nation our campaign

for a beautiful America--to dean up our towns, to make them more

beautiful, our cities, our countryside, by creating more parks, and more

seashores, and more open spaces for our children to play in, and for the

generations that come after us to enjoy.

We should continue to seek equality and justice for each citizen--before

a jury, in seeking a job, in exercising his civil rights. We should find

a solution to fair housing, so that every American, regardless of color,

has a decent home of his choice.

We should modernize our Selective Service System. The National

Commission on Selective Service will shortly submit its report. I will

send you new recommendations to meet our military manpower needs. But

let us resolve that this is to be the Congress that made our draft laws

as fair and as effective as possible.

We should protect what Justice Brandeis called the “right most valued by

civilized men”--the right to privacy. We should outlaw all

wiretapping--public and private--wherever and whenever it occurs, except

when the security of this Nation itself is at stake--and only then with

the strictest governmental safeguards. And we should exercise the full

reach of our constitutional powers to outlaw electronic “bugging” and

“snooping.”

I hope this Congress will try to help me do more for the consumer. We

should demand that the cost of credit be clearly and honestly expressed

where average citizens can understand it. We should immediately take

steps to prevent massive power failures, to safeguard the home against

hazardous household products, and to assure safety in the pipelines that

carry natural gas across our Nation.

We should extend Medicare benefits that are now denied to 1,300,000

permanently and totally disabled Americans under 65 years of age.

We should improve the process of democracy by passing our election

reform and financing proposals, by tightening our laws regulating

lobbying, and by restoring a reasonable franchise to Americans who move

their residences.

We should develop educational television into a vital public resource to

enrich our homes, educate our families, and to provide assistance in our

classrooms. We should insist that the public interest be fully served

through the public’s airwaves.

And I will propose these measures to the 90th Congress.

Now we come to a question that weighs very heavily on all our minds--on

yours and mine. This Nation must make an all-out effort to combat crime.

The 89th Congress gave us a new start in the attack on crime by passing

the Law Enforcement Assistance Act that I recommended. We appointed the

National Crime Commission to study crime in America and to recommend the

best ways to carry that attack forward.

And while we do not have all the answers, on the basis of its

preliminary recommendations we are ready to move.

This is not a war that Washington alone can win. The idea of a national

police force is repugnant to the American people. Crime must be rooted

out in local communities by local authorities. Our policemen must be

better trained, must be better paid, and must be better supported by the

local citizens that they try to serve and to protect.

The National Government can and expects to help.

And so I will recommend to the 90th Congress the Safe Streets and Crime

Control Act of 1967. It will enable us to assist those States and cities

that try to make their streets and homes safer, their police forces

better, their corrections systems more effective, and their courts more

efficient.

When the Congress approves, the Federal Government will be able to

provide a substantial percentage of the cost:

--90 percent of the cost of developing the State and local plans, master

plans, to combat crime in their area;

--60 percent of the cost of training new tactical units, developing

instant communications and special alarm systems, and introducing the

latest equipment and techniques so that they can become weapons in the

war on crime;

--50 percent of the cost of building crime laboratories and police

academy-type centers so that our citizens can be protected by the best

trained and served by the best equipped police to be found anywhere. We

will also recommend new methods to prevent juvenile delinquents from

becoming adult delinquents. We will seek new partnerships with States

and cities in order to deal with this hideous narcotics problem. And we

will recommend strict controls on the sale of firearms.

At the heart of this attack on crime must be the conviction that a free

America--as Abraham Lincoln once said--must “let reverence for the laws

. . . become the political religion of the Nation.”

Our country’s laws must be respected. Order must be maintained. And I

will support--with all the constitutional powers the President

possesses--our Nation’s law enforcement officials in their attempt to

control the crime and the violence that tear the fabric of our

communities.

Many of these priority proposals will be built on foundations that have

already been laid. Some will necessarily be small at first, but “every

beginning is a consequence.” If we postpone this urgent work now, it

will simply have to be done later, and later we will pay a much higher

price.

Our fourth objective is prosperity, to keep our economy moving ahead,

moving ahead steadily and safely.

We have now enjoyed 6 years of unprecedented and rewarding prosperity.

Last year, in 1966:

--Wages were the highest in history--and the unemployment rate,

announced yesterday, reached the lowest point in 13 years;

--Total after-tax income of American families rose nearly 5 percent;

--Corporate profits after taxes rose a little more than 5 percent;

--Our gross national product advanced 5.5 percent, to about $740

billion;

--Income per farm went up 6 percent.

Now we have been greatly concerned because consumer prices rose 4.5

percent over the 18 months since we decided to send troops to Vietnam.

This was more than we had expected--and the Government tried to do

everything that we knew how to do to hold it down. Yet we were not as

successful as we wished to be. In the 18 months after we entered World

War II, prices rose not 4.5 percent, but 13.5 percent. In the first 18

months after Korea, after the conflict broke out there, prices rose not

4.5 percent, but 11 percent. During those two periods we had OPA price

control that the Congress gave us and War Labor Board wage controls.

Since Vietnam we have not asked for those controls and we have tried to

avoid imposing them. We believe that we have done better, but we make no

pretense of having been successful or doing as well as we wished.

Our greatest disappointment in the economy during 1966 was the excessive

rise in interest rates and the tightening of credit. They imposed very

severe and very unfair burdens on our home buyers and on our home

builders, and all those associated with the home industry.

Last January, and again last September, I recommended fiscal and

moderate tax measures to try to restrain the unbalanced pace of economic

expansion. Legislatively and administratively we took several billions

out of the economy. With these measures, in both instances, the Congress

approved most of the recommendations rather promptly.

As 1966 ended, price stability was seemingly being restored. Wholesale

prices are lower tonight than they were in August. So are retail food

prices. Monetary conditions are also easing. Most interest rates have

retreated from their earlier peaks. More money now seems to be

available.

Given the cooperation of the Federal Reserve System, which I so

earnestly seek, I am confident that this movement can continue. I pledge

the American people that I will do everything in a President’s power to

lower interest rates and to ease money in this country. The Federal Home

Loan Bank Board tomorrow morning will announce that it will make

immediately available to savings and loan associations an additional $1

billion, and will lower from 6 percent to 5 3/4 percent the interest

rate charged on those loans.

We shall continue on a sensible course of fiscal and budgetary policy

that we believe will keep our economy growing without new inflationary

spirals; that will finance responsibly the needs of our men in Vietnam

and the progress of our people at home; that will support a significant

improvement in our export surplus, and will press forward toward easier

credit and toward lower interest rates.

I recommend to the Congress a surcharge of 6 percent on both corporate

and individual income taxes--to last for 2 years or for so long as the

unusual expenditures associated with our efforts in Vietnam continue. I

will promptly recommend an earlier termination date if a reduction in

these expenditures permits it. This surcharge will raise revenues by

some $4.5 billion in the first year. For example, a person whose tax

payment, the tax he owes, is $1,000, will pay, under this proposal, an

extra $60 over the 12-month period, or $5 a month. The overwhelming

majority of Americans who pay taxes today are below that figure and they

will pay substantially less than $5 a month. Married couples with two

children, with incomes up to $5,000 per year, will be exempt from this

tax--as will single people with an income of up to $1,900 a year.

Now if Americans today still paid the income and excise tax rates in

effect when I came into the Presidency, in the year 1964, their annual

taxes would have been over $20 billion more than at present tax rates.

So this proposal is that while we have this problem and this emergency

in Vietnam, while we are trying to meet the needs of our people at home,

your Government asks for slightly more than one-fourth of that tax cut

each year in order to try to hold our budget deficit in fiscal 1968

within prudent limits and to give our country and to give our fighting

men the help they need in this hour of trial.

For fiscal 1967, we estimate the budget expenditures to be $126.7

billion and revenues of $117 billion. That will leave us a deficit this

year of $9.7 billion.

For fiscal 1968, we estimate budget expenditures of $135 billion. And

with the tax measures recommended, and a continuing strong economy, we

estimate revenues will be $126.9 billion. The deficit then will be $8.1

billion.

I will very soon forward all of my recommendations to the Congress.

Yours is the responsibility to discuss and to debate them--to approve or

modify or reject them.

I welcome your views, as I have welcomed working with you for 30 years

as a colleague and as Vice President and President.

I should like to say to the Members of the opposition--whose numbers, if

I am not mistaken, seem to have increased somewhat--that the genius of

the American political system has always been best expressed through

creative debate that offers choices and reasonable alternatives.

Throughout our history, great Republicans and Democrats have seemed to

understand this. So let there be light and reason in our relations. That

is the way to a responsible session and a responsive government.

Let us be remembered as a President and a Congress who tried to improve

the quality of life for every American--not just the rich, not just the

poor, but every man, woman, and child in this great Nation of ours.

We all go to school--to good schools or bad schools. We all take air

into our lungs--clean air or polluted air. We all drink water--pure

water or polluted water. We all face sickness someday, and some more

often than we wish, and old age as well. We all have a stake in this

Great Society--in its economic growth, in reduction of civil strife--a

great stake in good government.

We just must not arrest the pace of progress we have established in this

country in these years. Our children’s children will pay the price if we

are not wise enough, and courageous enough, and determined enough to

stand up and meet the Nation’s needs as well as we can in the time

allotted us. III.

Abroad, as at home, there is also risk in change. But abroad, as at

home, there is a greater risk in standing still. No part of our foreign

policy is so sacred that it ever remains beyond review. We shall be

flexible where conditions in the world change--and where man’s efforts

can change them for the better.

We are in the midst of a great transition--a transition from narrow

nationalism to international partnership; from the harsh spirit of the

cold war to the hopeful spirit of common humanity on a troubled and a

threatened planet.

In Latin America, the American chiefs of state will be meeting very

shortly to give our hemispheric policies new direction.

We have come a long way in this hemisphere since the inter-American

effort in economic and social development was launched by the conference

at Bogota in 1960 under the leadership of President Eisenhower. The

Alliance for Progress moved dramatically forward under President

Kennedy. There is new confidence that the voice of the people is being

heard; that the dignity of the individual is stronger than ever in this

hemisphere, and we are facing up to and meeting many of the hemispheric

problems together. In this hemisphere that reform under democracy can be

made to happen--because it has happened. So together, I think, we must

now move to strike down the barriers to full cooperation among the

American nations, and to free the energies and the resources of two

great continents on behalf of all of our citizens.

Africa stands at an earlier stage of development than Latin America. It

has yet to develop the transportation, communications, agriculture, and,

above all, the trained men and women without which growth is impossible.

There, too, the job will best be done if the nations and peoples of

Africa cooperate on a regional basis. More and more our programs for

Africa are going to be directed toward self-help.

The future of Africa is shadowed by unsolved racial conflicts. Our

policy will continue to reflect our basic commitments as a people to

support those who are prepared to work towards cooperation and harmony

between races, and to help those who demand change but reject the fool’s

gold of violence.

In the Middle East the spirit of good will toward all, unfortunately,

has not yet taken hold. An already tortured peace seems to be constantly

threatened. We shall try to use our influence to increase the

possibilities of improved relations among the nations of that region. We

are working hard at that task.

In the great subcontinent of South Asia live more than a sixth of the

earth’s population. Over the years we--and others--have invested very

heavily in capital and food for the economic development of India and

Pakistan.

We are not prepared to see our assistance wasted, however, in conflict.

It must strengthen their capacity to help themselves. It must help these

two nations--both our friends--to overcome poverty, to emerge as

self-reliant leaders, and find terms for reconciliation and cooperation.

In Western Europe we shall maintain in NATO an integrated common

defense. But we also look forward to the time when greater security can

be achieved through measures of arms control and disarmament, and

through other forms of practical agreement.

We are shaping a new future of enlarged partnership in nuclear affairs,

in economic and technical cooperation, in trade negotiations, in

political consultation, and in working together with the governments and

peoples of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

The emerging spirit of confidence is precisely what we hoped to achieve

when we went to work a generation ago to put our shoulder to the wheel

and try to help rebuild Europe. We faced new challenges and

opportunities then and there--and we faced also some dangers. But I

believe that the peoples on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as both

sides of this Chamber, wanted to face them together.

Our relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are also in

transition. We have avoided both the acts and the rhetoric of the cold

war. When we have differed with the Soviet Union, or other nations, for

that matter, I have tried to differ quietly and with courtesy, and

without venom.

Our objective is not to continue the cold war, but to end it.

We have reached an agreement at the United Nations on the peaceful uses

of outer space.

We have agreed to open direct air flights with the Soviet Union.

We have removed more than 400 nonstrategic items from export control.

We are determined that the Export-Import Bank can allow commercial

credits to Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia, as well as to

Romania and Yugoslavia.

We have entered into a cultural agreement with the Soviet Union for

another 2 years.

We have agreed with Bulgaria and Hungary to upgrade our legations to

embassies.

We have started discussions with international agencies on ways of

increasing contacts with Eastern European countries.

This administration has taken these steps even as duty compelled us to

fulfill and execute alliances and treaty obligations throughout the

world that were entered into before I became President.

So tonight I now ask and urge this Congress to help our foreign and our

commercial trade policies by passing an East-West trade bill and by

approving our consular convention with the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union has in the past year increased its long-range missile

capabilities. It has begun to place near Moscow a limited antimissile

defense. My first responsibility to our people is to assure that no

nation can ever find it rational to launch a nuclear attack or to use

its nuclear power as a credible threat against us or against our allies.

I would emphasize that that is why an important link between Russia and

the United States is in our common interest, in arms control and in

disarmament. We have the solemn duty to slow down the arms race between

us, if that is at all possible, in both conventional and nuclear weapons

and defenses. I thought we were making some progress in that direction

the first few months I was in office. I realize that any additional race

would impose on our peoples, and on all mankind, for that matter, an

additional waste of resources with no gain in security to either side.

I expect in the days ahead to closely consult and seek the advice of the

Congress about the possibilities of international agreements bearing

directly upon this problem.

Next to the pursuit of peace, the really greatest challenge to the human

family is the race between food supply and population increase. That

race tonight is being lost.

The time for rhetoric has clearly passed. The time for concerted action

is here and we must get on with the job.

We believe that three principles must prevail if our policy is to

succeed:

First, the developing nations must give highest priority to food

production, including the use of technology and the capital of private

enterprise.

Second, nations with food deficits must put more of their resources into

voluntary family planning programs.

And third, the developed nations must all assist other nations to avoid

starvation in the short run and to move rapidly towards the ability to

feed themselves.

Every member of the world community now bears a direct responsibility to

help bring our most basic human account into balance. IV.

I come now finally to Southeast Asia--and to Vietnam in particular. Soon

I will submit to the Congress a detailed report on that situation.

Tonight I want to just review the essential points as briefly as I can.

We are in Vietnam because the United States of America and our allies

are committed by the SEATO Treaty to “act to meet the common danger” of

aggression in Southeast Asia.

We are in Vietnam because an international agreement signed by the

United States, North Vietnam, and others in 1962 is being systematically

violated by the Communists. That violation threatens the independence of

all the small nations in Southeast Asia, and threatens the peace of the

entire region and perhaps the world.

We are there because the people of South Vietnam have as much right to

remain non-Communist--if that is what they choose--as North Vietnam has

to remain Communist.

We are there because the Congress has pledged by solemn vote to take all

necessary measures to prevent further aggression.

No better words could describe our present course than those once spoken

by the great Thomas Jefferson:

“It is the melancholy law of human societies to be compelled sometimes

to choose a great evil in order to ward off a greater.”

We have chosen to fight a limited war in Vietnam in an attempt to

prevent a larger war--a war almost certain to follow, I believe, if the

Communists succeed in overrunning and taking over South Vietnam by

aggression and by force. I believe, and I am supported by some

authority, that if they are not checked now the world can expect to pay

a greater price to check them later.

That is what our statesmen said when they debated this treaty, and that

is why it was ratified 82 to 1 by the Senate many years ago.

You will remember that we stood in Western Europe 20 years ago. Is there

anyone in this Chamber tonight who doubts that the course of freedom was

not changed for the better because of the courage of that stand?

Sixteen years ago we and others stopped another kind of aggression--this

time it was in Korea. Imagine how different Asia might be today if we

had failed to act when the Communist army of North Korea marched south.

The Asia of tomorrow will be far different because we have said in

Vietnam, as we said 16 years ago in Korea: “This far and no further.”

I think I reveal no secret when I tell you that we are dealing with a

stubborn adversary who is committed to the use of force and terror to

settle political questions.

I wish I could report to you that the conflict is almost over. This I

cannot do. We face more cost, more loss, and more agony. For the end is

not yet. I cannot promise you that it will come this year--or come next

year. Our adversary still believes, I think, tonight, that he can go on

fighting longer than we can, and longer than we and our allies will be

prepared to stand up and resist.

Our men in that area--there are nearly 500,000 now--have borne well “the

burden and the heat of the day.” Their efforts have deprived the

Communist enemy of the victory that he sought and that he expected a

year ago. We have steadily frustrated his main forces. General

Westmoreland reports that the enemy can no longer succeed on the

battlefield.

So I must say to you that our pressure must be sustained--and will be

sustained--until he realizes that the war he started is costing him more

than he can ever gain.

I know of no strategy more likely to attain that end than the strategy

of “accumulating slowly, but inexorably, every kind of material

resource”--of “laboriously teaching troops the very elements of their

trade.” That, and patience--and I mean a great deal of patience.

Our South Vietnamese allies are also being tested tonight. Because they

must provide real security to the people living in the countryside. And

this means reducing the terrorism and the armed attacks which kidnaped

and killed 26,900 civilians in the last 32 months, to levels where they

can be successfully controlled by the regular South Vietnamese security

forces. It means bringing to the villagers an effective civilian

government that they can respect, and that they can rely upon and that

they can participate in, and that they can have a personal stake in. We

hope that government is now beginning to emerge.

While I cannot report the desired progress in the pacification effort,

the very distinguished and able Ambassador, Henry Cabot Lodge, reports

that South Vietnam is turning to this task with a new sense of urgency.

We can help, but only they can win this part of the war. Their task is

to build and protect a new life in each rural province.

One result of our stand in Vietnam is already clear.

It is this: The peoples of Asia now know that the door to independence

is not going to be slammed shut. They know that it is possible for them

to choose their own national destinies--without coercion.

The performance of our men in Vietnam--backed by the American

people--has created a feeling of confidence and unity among the

independent nations of Asia and the Pacific. I saw it in their faces in

the 19 days that I spent in their homes and in their countries. Fear of

external Communist conquest in many Asian nations is already

subsiding--and with this, the spirit of hope is rising. For the first

time in history, a common outlook and common institutions are already

emerging.

This forward movement is rooted in the ambitions and the interests of

Asian nations themselves. It was precisely this movement that we hoped

to accelerate when I spoke at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore in April 1965,

and I pledged “a much more massive effort to improve the life of man” in

that part of the world, in the hope that we could take some of the funds

that we were spending on bullets and bombs and spend it on schools and

production.

Twenty months later our efforts have produced a new reality: The doors

of the billion dollar Asian Development Bank that I recommended to the

Congress, and you endorsed almost unanimously, I am proud to tell you

are already open. Asians are engaged tonight in regional efforts in a

dozen new directions. Their hopes are high. Their faith is strong. Their

confidence is deep.

And even as the war continues, we shall play our part in carrying

forward this constructive historic development. As recommended by the

Eugene Black mission, and if other nations will join us, I will seek a

special authorization from the Congress of $200 million for East Asian

regional programs.

We are eager to turn our resources to peace. Our efforts in behalf of

humanity I think need not be restricted by any parallel or by any

boundary line. The moment that peace comes, as I pledged in Baltimore, I

will ask the Congress for funds to join in an international program of

reconstruction and development for all the people of Vietnam--and their

deserving neighbors who wish our help.

We shall continue to hope for a reconciliation between the people of

Mainland China and the world community--including working together in

all the tasks of arms control, security, and progress on which the fate

of the Chinese people, like their fellow men elsewhere, depends.

We would be the first to welcome a China which decided to respect her

neighbors’ rights. We would be the first to applaud her were she to

apply her great energies and intelligence to improving the welfare of

her people. And we have no intention of trying to deny her legitimate

needs for security and friendly relations with her neighboring

countries.

Our hope that all of this will someday happen rests on the conviction

that we, the American people and our allies, will and are going to see

Vietnam through to an honorable peace.

We will support all appropriate initiatives by the United Nations, and

others, which can bring the several parties together for unconditional

discussions of peace--anywhere, any time. And we will continue to take

every possible initiative ourselves to constantly probe for peace.

Until such efforts succeed, or until the infiltration ceases, or until

the conflict subsides, I think the course of wisdom for this country is

that we just must firmly pursue our present course. We will stand firm

in Vietnam.

I think you know that our fighting men there tonight bear the heaviest

burden of all. With their lives they serve their Nation. We must give

them nothing less than our full support--and we have given them

that--nothing less than the determination that Americans have always

given their fighting men. Whatever our sacrifice here, even if it is

more than $5 a month, it is small compared to their own.

How long it will take I cannot prophesy. I only know that the will of

the American people, I think, is tonight being tested.

Whether we can fight a war of limited objectives over a period of time,

and keep alive the hope of independence and stability for people other

than ourselves; whether we can continue to act with restraint when the

temptation to “get it over with” is inviting but dangerous; whether we

can accept the necessity of choosing “a great evil in order to ward off

a greater”; whether we can do these without arousing the hatreds and the

passions that are ordinarily loosed in time of war--on all these

questions so much turns.

The answers will determine not only where we are, but “whither we are

tending.”

A time of testing--yes. And a time of transition. The transition is

sometimes slow; sometimes unpopular; almost always very painful; and

often quite dangerous.

But we have lived with danger for a long time before, and we shall live

with it for a long time yet to come. We know that “man is born unto

trouble.” We also know that this Nation was not forged and did not

survive and grow and prosper without a great deal of sacrifice from a

great many men.

For all the disorders that we must deal with, and all the frustrations

that concern us, and all the anxieties that we are called upon to

resolve, for all the issues we must face with the agony that attends

them, let us remember that “those who expect to reap the blessings of

freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”

But let us also count not only our burdens but our blessings--for they

are many.

And let us give thanks to the One who governs us all.

Let us draw encouragement from the signs of hope--for they, too, are

many.

Let us remember that we have been tested before and America has never

been found wanting.

So with your understanding, I would hope your confidence, and your

support, we are going to persist--and we are going to succeed.

***

State of the Union Address

Lyndon B. Johnson

January 17, 1968

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the Congress, and my fellow

Americans:

I was thinking as I was walking down the aisle tonight of what Sam

Rayburn told me many years ago: The Congress always extends a very warm

welcome to the President--as he comes in.

Thank all of you very, very much.

I have come once again to this Chamber--the home of our democracy--to

give you, as the Constitution requires, “Information of the State of the

Union.”

I report to you that our country is challenged, at home and abroad:

--that it is our will that is being tried, not our strength; our sense

of purpose, not our ability to achieve a better America;

--that we have the strength to meet our every challenge; the physical

strength to hold the course of decency and compassion at home; and the

moral strength to support the cause of peace in the world.

And I report to you that I believe, with abiding conviction, that this

people--nurtured by their deep faith, tutored by their hard lessons,

moved by their high aspirations--have the will to meet the trials that

these times impose.

Since I reported to you last January:

--Three elections have been held in Vietnam--in the midst of war and

under the constant threat of violence.

--A President, a Vice President, a House and Senate, and village

officials have been chosen by popular, contested ballot.

--The enemy has been defeated in battle after battle.

--The number of South Vietnamese living in areas under Government

protection tonight has grown by more than a million since January of

last year.

These are all marks of progress. Yet:

--The enemy continues to pour men and material across frontiers and into

battle, despite his continuous heavy losses.

--He continues to hope that America’s will to persevere can be broken.

Well--he is wrong. America will persevere. Our patience and our

perseverance will match our power. Aggression will never prevail.

But our goal is peace--and peace at the earliest possible moment.

Right now we are exploring the meaning of Hanoi’s recent statement.

There is no mystery about the questions which must be answered before

the bombing is stopped.

We believe that any talks should follow the San Antonio formula that I

stated last September, which said:

--The bombing would stop immediately if talks would take place promptly

and with reasonable hopes that they would be productive.

--And the other side must not take advantage of our restraint as they

have in the past. This Nation simply cannot accept anything less without

jeopardizing the lives of our men and of our allies.

If a basis for peace talks can be established on the San Antonio

foundations--and it is my hope and my prayer that they can--we would

consult with our allies and with the other side to see if a complete

cessation of hostilities--a really true cease-fire--could be made the

first order of business. I will report at the earliest possible moment

the results of these explorations to the American people.

I have just recently returned from a very fruitful visit and talks with

His Holiness the Pope and I share his hope--as he expressed it earlier

today--that both sides will extend themselves in an effort to bring an

end to the war in Vietnam. I have today assured him that we and our

allies will do our full part to bring this about.

Since I spoke to you last January, other events have occurred that have

major consequences for world peace.

--The Kennedy Round achieved the greatest reduction in tariff barriers

in all the history of trade negotiations.

--The nations of Latin America at Punta del Este resolved to move toward

economic integration.

--In Asia, the nations from Korea and Japan to Indonesia and Singapore

worked behind America’s shield to strengthen their economies and to

broaden their political cooperation.

--In Africa, from which the distinguished Vice President has just

returned, he reports to me that there is a spirit of regional

cooperation that is beginning to take hold in very practical ways.

These events we all welcomed. Yet since I last reported to you, we and

the world have been confronted by a number of crises:

--During the Arab-Israeli war last June, the hot line between Washington

and Moscow was used for the first time in our history. A cease-fire was

achieved without a major power confrontation.

Now the nations of the Middle East have the opportunity to cooperate

with Ambassador Jarring’s U.N. mission and they have the responsibility

to find the terms of living together in stable peace and dignity, and we

shall do all in our power to help them achieve that result.

--Not far from this scene of conflict, a crisis flared on Cyprus

involving two peoples who are America’s friends: Greece and Turkey. Our

very able representative, Mr. Cyrus Vance, and others helped to ease

this tension.

--Turmoil continues on the mainland of China after a year of violent

disruption. The radical extremism of their Government has isolated the

Chinese people behind their own borders. The United States, however,

remains willing to permit the travel of journalists to both our

countries; to undertake cultural and educational exchanges; and to talk

about the exchange of basic food crop materials.

Since I spoke to you last, the United States and the Soviet Union have

taken several important steps toward the goal of international

cooperation.

As you will remember, I met with Chairman Kosygin at Glassboro and we

achieved if not accord, at least a clearer understanding of our

respective positions after 2 days of meeting.

Because we believe the nuclear danger must be narrowed, we have worked

with the Soviet Union and with other nations to reach an agreement that

will halt the spread of nuclear weapons. On the basis of communications

from Ambassador Fisher in Geneva this afternoon, I am encouraged to

believe that a draft treaty can be laid before the conference in Geneva

in the very near future. I hope to be able to present that treaty to the

Senate this year for the Senate’s approval.

We achieved, in 1967, a consular treaty with the Soviets, the first

commercial air agreement between the two countries, and a treaty banning

weapons in outer space. We shall sign, and submit to the Senate shortly,

a new treaty with the Soviets and with others for the protection of

astronauts.

Serious differences still remain between us, yet in these relations, we

have made some progress since Vienna, the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban

missile crisis.

But despite this progress, we must maintain a military force that is

capable of deterring any threat to this Nation’s security, whatever the

mode of aggression. Our choices must not be confined to total war--or to

total acquiescence.

We have such a military force today. We shall maintain it.

I wish--with all of my heart--that the expenditures that are necessary

to build and to protect our power could all be devoted to the programs

of peace. But until world conditions permit, and until peace is assured,

America’s might--and America’s bravest sons who wear our Nation’s

uniform--must continue to stand guard for all of us--as they gallantly

do tonight in Vietnam and other places in the world.

Yet neither great weapons nor individual courage can provide the

conditions of peace.

For two decades America has committed itself against the tyranny of want

and ignorance in the world that threatens the peace. We shall sustain

that commitment. This year I shall propose:

--That we launch, with other nations, an exploration of the ocean depths

to tap its wealth, and its energy, and its abundance.

--That we contribute our fair share to a major expansion of the

International Development Association, and to increase the resources of

the Asian Development Bank.

--That we adopt a prudent aid program, rooted in the principle of

self-help.

--That we renew and extend the food for freedom program.

Our food programs have already helped millions avoid the horrors of

famine.

But unless the rapid growth of population in developing countries is

slowed, the gap between rich and poor will widen steadily.

Governments in the developing countries must take such facts into

consideration. We in the United States are prepared to help assist them

in those efforts.

But we must also improve the lives of children already born in the

villages and towns and cities on this earth. They can be taught by great

teachers through space communications and the miracle of satellite

television--and we are going to bring to bear every resource of mind and

technology to help make this dream come true.

Let me speak now about some matters here at home.

Tonight our Nation is accomplishing more for its people than has ever

been accomplished before. Americans are prosperous as men have never

been in recorded history. Yet there is in the land a certain

restlessness--a questioning.

The total of our Nation’s annual production is now above $800 billion.

For 83 months this Nation has been on a steady upward trend of growth.

All about them, most American families can see the evidence of growing

abundance: higher paychecks, humming factories, new cars moving down new

highways. More and more families own their own homes, equipped with more

than 70 million television sets.

A new college is founded every week. Today more than half of the high

school graduates go on to college.

There are hundreds of thousands of fathers and mothers who never

completed grammar school--who will see their children graduate from

college.

Why, then, this restlessness?

Because when a great ship cuts through the sea, the waters are always

stirred and troubled.

And our ship is moving. It is moving through troubled and new waters; it

is moving toward new and better shores.

We ask now, not how can we achieve abundance?--but how shall we use our

abundance? Not, is there abundance enough for all?--but, how can all

share in our abundance?

While we have accomplished much, much remains for us to meet and much

remains for us to master.

--In some areas, the jobless rate is still three or four times the

national average.

--Violence has shown its face in some of our cities.

--Crime increases on our streets.

--Income for farm workers remains far behind that for urban workers; and

parity for our farmers who produce our food is still just a hope--not an

achievement.

--New housing construction is far less than we need--to assure decent

shelter for every family.

--Hospital and medical costs are high, and they are rising.

--Many rivers--and the air in many cities--remain badly polluted. And

our citizens suffer from breathing that air.

We have lived with conditions like these for many, many years. But much

that we once accepted as inevitable, we now find absolutely intolerable.

In our cities last summer, we saw how wide is the gulf for some

Americans between the promise and the reality of our society.

We know that we cannot change all of this in a day. It represents the

bitter consequences of more than three centuries.

But the issue is not whether we can change this; the issue is whether we

will change this.

Well, I know we can. And I believe we will.

This then is the work we should do in the months that are ahead of us in

this Congress.

The first essential is more jobs, useful jobs for tens of thousands who

can become productive and can pay their own way.

Our economy has created 7 1/2 million new jobs in the past 4 years. It

is adding more than a million and a half new jobs this year.

Through programs passed by the Congress, job training is being given

tonight to more than a million Americans in this country.

This year, the time has come when we must get to those who are last in

line--the hard-core unemployed--the hardest to reach.

Employment officials estimate that 500,000 of these persons are now

unemployed in the major cities of America. Our objective is to place

these 500,000 in private industry jobs within the next 3 years.

To do this, I propose a $2. 1 billion manpower program in the coming

fiscal year--a 25 percent increase over the current year. Most of this

increase will be used to start a new partnership between government and

private industry to train and to hire the hard-core unemployed persons.

I know of no task before us of more importance to us, to the country, or

to our future.

Another essential is to rebuild our cities.

Last year the Congress authorized $662 million for the Model Cities

program. I requested the full amount of that authorization to help meet

the crisis in the cities of America. But the Congress appropriated only

$312 million--less than half.

This year I urge the Congress to honor my request for model cities funds

to rebuild the centers of American cities by granting us the full amount

that you in the Congress authorized--$1 billion.

The next essential is more housing--and more housing now.

Surely a nation that can go to the moon can place a decent home within

the reach of its families.

Therefore we must call together the resources of industry and labor, to

start building 300,000 housing units for low- and middle-income families

next year--that is three times more than this year. We must make it

possible for thousands of families to become homeowners, not

rent-payers.

I propose, for the consideration of this Congress, a 10-year campaign to

build 6 million new housing units for low and middle-income families.

Six million units in the next 10 years. We have built 530,000 the last

10 years.

Better health for our children--all of our children--is essential if we

are to have a better America.

Last year, Medicare, Medicaid, and other new programs that you passed in

the Congress brought better health to more than 25 million Americans.

American medicine--with the very strong support and cooperation of

public resources--has produced a phenomenal decline in the death rate

from many of the dread diseases.

But it is a shocking fact that, in saving the lives of babies, America

ranks 15th among the nations of the world. And among children, crippling

defects are often discovered too late for any corrective action. This is

a tragedy that Americans can, and Americans should, prevent.

I shall, therefore, propose to the Congress a child health program to

provide, over the next 5 years, for families unable to afford it--access

to health services from prenatal care of the mother through the child’s

first year.

When we do that you will find it is the best investment we ever made

because we will get these diseases in their infancy and we will find a

cure in a great many instances that we can never find by overcrowding

our hospitals when they are grown.

Now when we act to advance the consumer’s cause I think we help every

American.

Last year, with very little fanfare the Congress and the executive

branch moved in that field.

We enacted the Wholesome Meat Act, the Flammable Fabrics Act, the

Product Safety Commission, and a law to improve clinical laboratories.

And now, I think, the time has come to complete our unfinished work. The

Senate has already passed the truth-in-lending bill, the fire safety

bill, and the pipeline safety laws.

Tonight I plead with the House to immediately act upon these measures

and I hope take favorable action upon all of them. I call upon the

Congress to enact, without delay, the remainder of the 12 vital consumer

protection laws that I submitted to the Congress last year.

I also urge final action on a measure that is already passed by the

House to guard against fraud and manipulation in the Nation’s commodity

exchange market.

These measures are a pledge to our people--to keep them safe in their

homes and at work, and to give them a fair deal in the marketplace.

And I think we must do more. I propose:

--New powers for the Federal Trade Commission to stop those who defraud

and who swindle our public.

--New safeguards to insure the quality of fish and poultry, and the

safety of our community water supplies.

--A major study of automobile insurance.

--Protection against hazardous radiation from television sets and other

electronic equipment.

And to give the consumer a stronger voice, I plan to appoint a consumer

counsel in the Justice Department--a lawyer for the American

consumer--to work directly under the Attorney General, to serve the

President’s Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs, and to serve the

consumers of this land.

This Congress--Democrats and Republicans--can earn the thanks of

history. We can make this truly a new day for the American consumer, and

by giving him this protection we can live in history as the

consumer-conscious Congress.

So let us get on with the work. Let us act soon.

We, at every level of the government, State, local, Federal, know that

the American people have had enough of rising crime and lawlessness in

this country.

They recognize that law enforcement is first the duty of local police

and local government.

They recognize that the frontline headquarters against crime is in the

home, the church, the city hall and the county courthouse and the

statehouse--not in the far-removed National Capital of Washington.

But the people also recognize that the National Government can and the

National Government should help the cities and the States in their war

on crime to the full extent of its resources and its constitutional

authority. And this we shall do.

This does not mean a national police force. It does mean help and

financial support:

--to develop State and local master plans to combat crime,

--to provide better training and better pay for police, and

--to bring the most advanced technology to the war on crime in every

city and every county in America.

There is no more urgent business before this Congress than to pass the

Safe Streets Act this year that I proposed last year. That law will

provide these required funds. They are so critically needed that I have

doubled my request under this act to $100 million in fiscal 1969.

And I urge the Congress to stop the trade in mail-order murder, to stop

it this year by adopting a proper gun control law.

This year, I will propose a Drug Control Act to provide stricter

penalties for those who traffic in LSD and other dangerous drugs with

our people.

I will ask for more vigorous enforcement of all of our drug laws by

increasing the number of Federal drug and narcotics control officials by

more than 30 percent. The time has come to stop the sale of slavery to

the young. I also request you to give us funds to add immediately 100

assistant United States attorneys throughout the land to help prosecute

our criminal laws. We have increased our judiciary by 40 percent and we

have increased our prosecutors by 16 percent. The dockets are full of

cases because we don’t have assistant district attorneys to go before

the Federal judge and handle them. We start these young lawyers at

$8,200 a year. And the docket is clogged because we don’t have authority

to hire more of them.

I ask the Congress for authority to hire 100 more. These young men will

give special attention to this drug abuse, too.

Finally, I ask you to add 100 FBI agents to strengthen law enforcement

in the Nation and to protect the individual rights of every citizen.

A moment ago I spoke of despair and frustrated hopes in the cities where

the fires of disorder burned last summer. We can--and in time we

will--change that despair into confidence, and change those frustrations

into achievements. But violence will never bring progress.

We can make progress only by attacking the causes of violence and only

where there is civil order founded on justice.

Today we are helping local officials improve their capacity to deal

promptly with disorders.

Those who preach disorder and those who preach violence must know that

local authorities are able to resist them swiftly, to resist them

sternly, and to resist them decisively.

I shall recommend other actions:

--To raise the farmers’ income by establishing a security commodity

reserve that will protect the market from price-depressing stocks and

protect the consumer from food scarcity.

--I shall recommend programs to help farmers bargain more effectively

for fair prices.

--I shall recommend programs for new air safety measures.

--Measures to stem the rising costs of medical care.

--Legislation to encourage our returning veterans to devote themselves

to careers in community service such as teaching, and being firemen, and

joining our police force, and our law enforcement officials.

--I shall recommend programs to strengthen and finance our

anti-pollution efforts.

--Fully funding all of the $2.18 billion poverty program that you in the

Congress had just authorized in order to bring opportunity to those who

have been left far behind.

--I shall recommend an Educational Opportunity Act to speed up our drive

to break down the financial barriers that are separating our young

people from college.

I shall also urge the Congress to act on several other vital pending

bills--especially the civil rights measures--fair jury trials,

protection of Federal rights, enforcement of equal employment

opportunity, and fair housing.

The unfinished work of the first session must be completed--the Higher

Education Act, the Juvenile Delinquency Act, conservation measures to

save the redwoods of California, and to preserve the wonders of our

scenic rivers, the Highway Beautification Act--and all the other

measures for a cleaner, and for a better, and for a more beautiful

America.

Next month we’ll begin our 8th year of uninterrupted prosperity. The

economic outlook for this year is one of steady growth--if we are

vigilant.

True, there are some clouds on the horizon. Prices are rising. Interest

rates have passed the peak of 1966; and if there is continued inaction

on the tax bill, they will climb even higher.

I warn the Congress and the Nation tonight that this failure to act on

the tax bill will sweep us into an accelerating spiral of price

increases, a slump in homebuilding, and a continuing erosion of the

American dollar.

This would be a tragedy for every American family. And I predict that if

this happens, they will all let us know about it.

We--those of us in the executive branch, in the Congress, and the

leaders of labor and business--must do everything we can to prevent that

kind of misfortune.

Under the new budget, the expenditures for 1969 will increase by $10.4

billion. Receipts will increase by $22.3 billion including the added tax

revenues. Virtually all of this expenditure increase represents the

mandatory cost of our defense efforts, $3 billion; increased interest,

almost $1 billion; or mandatory payments under laws passed by

Congress--such as those provided in the Social Security Act that you

passed in 1967, and to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, veterans,

and farmers, of about $4 1/2 billion; and the additional $1 billion 600

million next year for the pay increases that you passed in military and

civilian pay. That makes up the $10 billion that is added to the budget.

With few exceptions, very few, we are holding the fiscal 1969 budget to

last year’s level, outside of those mandatory and required increases.

A Presidential commission composed of distinguished congressional fiscal

leaders and other prominent Americans recommended this year that we

adopt a new budget approach. I am carrying out their recommendations in

this year’s budget. This budget, therefore, for the first time

accurately covers all Federal expenditures and all Federal receipts,

including for the first time in one budget $47 billion from the social

security, Medicare, highway, and other trust funds.

The fiscal 1969 budget has expenditures of approximately $186 billion,

with total estimated revenues, including the tax bill, of about $178

billion.

If the Congress enacts the tax increase, we will reduce the budget

deficit by some $12 billion. The war in Vietnam is costing us about $25

billion and we are asking for about $12 billion in taxes--and if we get

that $12 billion tax bill we will reduce the deficit from about $20

billion in 1968 to about $8 billion in 1969.

Now, this is a tight budget. It follows the reduction that I made in

cooperation with the Congress--a reduction made after you had reviewed

every appropriations bill and reduced the appropriations by some $5 or

$6 billion and expenditures by $1.5 billion. We conferred together and I

recommended to the Congress and you subsequently approved taking 2

percent from payrolls and 10 percent from controllable expenditures. We

therefore reduced appropriations almost $10 billion last session and

expenditures over $4 billion. Now, that was in the budget last year.

I ask the Congress to recognize that there are certain selected programs

that meet the Nation’s most urgent needs and they have increased. We

have insisted that decreases in very desirable but less urgent programs

be made before we would approve any increases. So I ask the Congress

tonight:

--to hold its appropriations to the budget requests, and

--to act responsibly early this year by enacting the tax surcharge which

for the average American individual amounts to about a penny out of each

dollar’s income.

This tax increase would yield about half of the $23 billion per year

that we returned to the people in the tax reduction bills of 1964 and

1965.

This must be a temporary measure, which expires in less than 2 years.

Congress can repeal it sooner if the need has passed. But Congress can

never repeal inflation.

The leaders of American business and the leaders of American

labor--those who really have power over wages and prices--must act

responsibly, and in their Nation’s interest by keeping increases in line

with productivity. If our recognized leaders do not do this, they and

those for whom they speak and all of us are going to suffer very serious

consequences.

On January 1st, I outlined a program to reduce our balance of payments

deficit sharply this year. We will ask the Congress to help carry out

those parts of the program which require legislation. We must restore

equilibrium to our balance of payments.

We must also strengthen the international monetary system. We have

assured the world that America’s full gold stock stands behind our

commitment to maintain the price of gold at $35 an ounce. We must back

this commitment by legislating now to free our gold reserves.

Americans, traveling more than any other people in history, took $4

billion out of their country last year in travel costs. We must try to

reduce the travel deficit that we have of more than $2 billion. We are

hoping that we can reduce it by $500 million--without unduly penalizing

the travel of teachers, students, business people who have essential and

necessary travel, or people who have relatives abroad whom they want to

see. Even with this reduction of $500 million, the American people will

still be traveling more overseas than they did in 1967, 1966, or 1965 or

any other year in their history.

If we act together as I hope we can, I believe we can continue our

economic expansion which has already broken all past records. And I hope

that we can continue that expansion in the days ahead.

Each of these questions I have discussed with you tonight is a question

of policy for our people. Therefore, each of them should be--and

doubtless will be--debated by candidates for public office this year.

I hope those debates will be marked by new proposals and by a

seriousness that matches the gravity of the questions themselves.

These are not appropriate subjects for narrow partisan oratory. They go

to the heart of what we Americans are all about--all of us, Democrats

and Republicans.

Tonight I have spoken of some of the goals I should like to see America

reach. Many of them can be achieved this year--others by the time we

celebrate our Nation’s 200th birthday--the bicentennial of our

independence.

Several of these goals are going to be very hard to reach. But the State

of our Union will be much stronger 8 years from now on our 200th

birthday if we resolve to reach these goals now. They are more

important--much more important--than the identity of the party or the

President who will then be in office.

These goals are what the fighting and our alliances are really meant to

protect.

Can we achieve these goals?

Of course we can--if we will.

If ever there was a people who sought more than mere abundance, it is

our people.

If ever there was a nation that was capable of solving its problems, it

is this Nation.

If ever there were a time to know the pride and the excitement and the

hope of being an American--it is this time.

So this, my friends, is the State of our Union: seeking, building,

tested many times in this past year--and always equal to the test.

Thank you and good night.

***

State of the Union Address

Lyndon B. Johnson

January 14, 1969

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the Congress and my fellow

Americans:

For the sixth and the last time, I present to the Congress my assessment

of the State of the Union.

I shall speak to you tonight about challenge and opportunity--and about

the commitments that all of us have made together that will, if we carry

them out, give America our best chance to achieve the kind of great

society that we all want. Every President lives, not only with what is,

but with what has been and what could be.

Most of the great events in his Presidency are part of a larger sequence

extending back through several years and extending back through several

other administrations.

Urban unrest, poverty, pressures on welfare, education of our people,

law enforcement and law and order, the continuing crisis in the Middle

East, the conflict in Vietnam, the dangers of nuclear war, the great

difficulties of dealing with the Communist powers, all have this much in

common: They and their causes--the causes that gave rise to them--all of

these have existed with us for many years. Several Presidents have

already sought to try to deal with them. One or more Presidents will try

to resolve them or try to contain them in the years that are ahead of

us.

But if the Nation’s problems are continuing, so are this great Nation’s

assets:

--our economy,

--the democratic system,

--our sense of exploration, symbolized most recently by the wonderful

flight of the Apollo 8, in which all Americans took great pride,

--the good commonsense and sound judgment of the American people, and

--their essential love of justice.

We must not ignore our problems. But .neither should we ignore our

strengths. Those strengths are available to sustain a President of

either party--to support his progressive efforts both at home and

overseas.

Unfortunately, the departure of an administration does not mean the end

of the problems that this administration has faced. The effort to meet

the problems must go on, year after year, if the momentum that we have

all mounted together in these past years is not to be lost.

Although the struggle for progressive change is continuous, there are

times when a watershed is reached--when there is--if not really a break

with the past--at least the fulfillment of many of its oldest hopes, and

a stepping forth into a new environment, to seek new goals. I think the

past 5 years have been such a time.

We have finished a major part of the old agenda.

Some of the laws that we wrote have already, in front of our eyes, taken

on the flesh of achievement.

Medicare that we were unable to pass for so many years is now a part of

American life.

Voting rights and the voting booth that we debated so long back in the

riffles, and the doors to public service, are open at last to all

Americans regardless of their color.

Schools and school children all over America tonight are receiving

Federal assistance to go to good schools.

Preschool education--Head Start--is already here to stay and, I think,

so are the Federal programs that tonight are keeping more than a million

and a half of the cream of our young people in the colleges and the

universities of this country.

Part of the American earth--not only in description on a map, but in the

reality of our shores, our hills, our parks, our forests, and our

mountains--has been permanently set aside for the American public and

for their benefit. And there is more that will be set aside before this

administration ends.

Five million Americans have been trained for jobs in new Federal

programs.

I think it is most important that we all realize tonight that this

Nation is close to full employment--with less unemployment than we have

had at any time in almost 20 years. That is not in theory; that is in

fact. Tonight, the unemployment rate is down to 3.3 percent. The number

of jobs has grown more than 8 1/2 million in the last 5 years. That is

more than in all the preceding 12 years.

These achievements completed the full cycle, from idea to enactment and,

finally, to a place in the lives of citizens all across this country.

I wish it were possible to say that everything that this Congress and

the administration achieved during this period had already completed

that cycle. But a great deal of what we have committed needs additional

funding to become a tangible realization.

Yet the very existence of these commitments--these promises to the

American people, made by this Congress and by the executive branch of

the Government--are achievements in themselves, and failure to carry

through on our commitments would be a tragedy for this Nation.

This much is certain: No one man or group of men made these commitments

alone. Congress and the executive branch, with their checks and

balances, reasoned together and finally wrote them into the law of the

land. They now have all the moral force that the American political

system can summon when it acts as one.

They express America’s common determination to achieve goals. They imply

action.

In most cases, you have already begun that action--but it is not fully

completed, of course.

Let me speak for a moment about these commitments. I am going to speak

in the language which the Congress itself spoke when it passed these

measures. I am going to quote from your words.

In 1966, Congress declared that “improving the quality of urban life is

the most critical domestic problem facing the United States.” Two years

later it affirmed the historic goal of “a decent home . . . for every

American family.” That is your language.

Now to meet these commitments, we must increase our support for the

model cities program, where blueprints of change are already being

prepared in more than 150 American cities.

To achieve the goals of the Housing Act of 1968 that you have already

passed, we should begin this year more than 500,000 homes for needy

families in the coming fiscal year. Funds are provided in the new budget

to do just this. This is almost 10 times--10 times--the average rate of

the past 10 years.

Our cities and our towns are being pressed for funds to meet the needs

of their growing populations. So I believe an urban development bank

should be created by the Congress. This bank could obtain resources

through the issuance of taxable bonds and it could then lend these

resources at reduced rates to the communities throughout the land for

schools, hospitals, parks, and other public facilities.