State of the Union AddressesEisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David)
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State of the Union Addresses
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
High priority should be given the school construction bill. This will
benefit children of all races throughout the country-and children of all
races need schools now. A program designed to meet emergency needs for more
classrooms should be enacted without delay. I am hopeful that this program
can be enacted on its own merits, uncomplicated by provisions dealing with
the complex problems of integration. I urge the people in all sections of
the country to approach these problems with calm and reason, with mutual
understanding and good will, and in the American tradition of deep respect
for the orderly processes of law and justice.
I should say here that we have much reason to be proud of the progress our
people are making in mutual understanding--the chief buttress of human and
civil rights. Steadily we are moving closer to the goal of fair and equal
treatment of citizens without regard to race or color. But unhappily much
remains to be done.
Last year the Administration recommended to the Congress a four-point
program to reinforce civil rights. That program included:
(1) creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate asserted violations
of civil rights and to make recommendations;
(2) creation of a civil rights division in the Department of Justice in
charge of an Assistant Attorney General;
(3) enactment by the Congress of new laws to aid in the enforcement of
voting rights; and
(4) amendment of the laws so as to permit the Federal Government to seek
from the civil courts preventive relief in civil rights cases.
I urge that the Congress enact this legislation.
Essential to the stable economic growth we seek is a system of well-adapted
and efficient financial institutions. I believe the time has come to
conduct a broad national inquiry into the nature, performance and adequacy
of our financial system, both in terms of its direct service to the whole
economy and in terms of its function as the mechanism through which
monetary and credit policy takes effect. I believe the Congress should
authorize the creation of a commission of able and qualified citizens to
undertake this vital inquiry. Out of their findings and recommendations the
Administration would develop and present to the Congress any legislative
proposals that might be indicated for the purpose of improving our
financial machinery.
In this message it seems unnecessary that I should repeat recommendations
involving our domestic affairs that have been urged upon the Congress
during the past four years, but which, in some instances, did not reach the
stage of completely satisfactory legislation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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