Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
For my part I welcome that challenge. I believe that our country, at this
crucial point in world history, will meet that challenge successfully. I
believe that, in cooperation with the other free nations of the world, we
shall extend the full benefits of the democratic way of life to millions
who do not now enjoy them, and preserve mankind from dictatorship and
tyranny.
I believe that we shall succeed in our struggle for this peace, because I
have seen the success we have had in our own country in following the
principles of freedom. Over the last 50 years, the ideals of liberty and
equal opportunity to which this Nation is dedicated have been increasingly
realized in the lives of our people.
The ideal of equal opportunity no longer means simply the opportunity which
a man has to advance beyond his fellows. Some of our citizens do achieve
greater success than others as a reward for individual merit and effort,
and this is as it should be. At the same time our country must be more than
a land of opportunity for a select few. It must be a land of opportunity
for all of us. In such a land we can grow and prosper together.
The simple truth that we can all go forward together is often questioned by
selfish or shortsighted persons. It is strange that this is so, for this
proposition is so clearly demonstrated by our national history. During the
last 50 years, for example, our Nation has grown enormously in material
well-being. This growth has come about, not by concentrating the benefits
of our progress in the hands of a few, but by increasing the wealth of the
great body of our Nation and our citizens.
In the last 50 years the income of the average family has increased so
greatly that its buying power has doubled. The average hours of work have
declined from 60 to 40 a week, the whole hourly production of the average
worker has tripled. Average wages, allowing for price changes, have
increased from about 45 cents an hour to $1.40 an hour.
We have accomplished what to earlier ages of mankind would have been a
miracle--we work shorter hours, we produce more, and we live better.
Increasing freedom from poverty and drudgery has given a fuller meaning to
American life. Our people are better educated; we have more opportunities
for travel and recreation and enjoyment of the arts. We enjoy more personal
liberty in the United States today than ever before.
If we can continue in the spirit of cooperative adventure which has marked
the recent years of our progress, we can expect further scientific
advances, further increases in our standard of living, and a still wider
enjoyment of democratic freedom.
No one, of course, can foretell the future exactly. However, if we assume
that we shall grow as fast in the future as we have grown in the past, we
can get a good idea of how much our country should grow in the next 50
years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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