State of the Union AddressesJohnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines)
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State of the Union Addresses
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
We need a tax cut now to keep this country moving. V.
For our goal is not merely to spread the work. Our goal is to create more
jobs. I believe the enactment of a 35-hour week would sharply increase
costs, would invite inflation, would impair our ability to compete, and
merely share instead of creating employment. But I am equally opposed to
the 45- or 50-hour week in those industries where consistently excessive
use of overtime causes increased unemployment.
So, therefore, I recommend legislation authorizing the creation of a
tripartite industry committee to determine on an industry-by-industry basis
as to where a higher penalty rate for overtime would increase job openings
without unduly increasing costs, and authorizing the establishment of such
higher rates. VI.
Let me make one principle of this administration abundantly clear: All of
these increased opportunities--in employment, in education, in housing, and
in every field--must be open to Americans of every color. As far as the writ
of Federal law will run, we must abolish not some, but all racial
discrimination. For this is not merely an economic issue, or a social,
political, or international issue. It is a moral issue, and it must be met
by the passage this session of the bill now pending in the House.
All members of the public should have equal access to facilities open to
the public. All members of the public should be equally eligible for
Federal benefits that are financed by the public. All members of the public
should have an equal chance to vote for public officials and to send their
children to good public schools and to contribute their talents to the
public good.
Today, Americans of all races stand side by side in Berlin and in Viet Nam.
They died side by side in Korea. Surely they can work and eat and travel
side by side in their own country. VII.
We must also lift by legislation the bars of discrimination against those
who seek entry into our country, particularly those who have much needed
skills and those joining their families.
In establishing preferences, a nation that was built by the immigrants of
all lands can ask those who now seek admission: "What can you do for our
country?" But we should not be asking: "In what country were you born?"
VIII.
For our ultimate goal is a world without war, a world made safe for
diversity, in which all men, goods, and ideas can freely move across every
border and every boundary.
We must advance toward this goal in 1964 in at least 10 different ways, not
as partisans, but as patriots.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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