So first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, A date which will live in infamy. The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. A short time ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy.
That bomb has more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold, and the end is not yet.
With this bomb, we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic process. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans, Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. And there are even a few who say that it's true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass sie nach Berlin in common. Let them come.
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, Ich bin ein Berliner. I have a dream. My four little children.
One day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. Let freedom ring, and when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring... When we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.
There is no constitutional issue here. The command of the Constitution is plain. There is no moral issue.
It is wrong, deadly wrong, to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country. War is to know that there is still madness in this world. They're poor to be lifted up and their cities to be built and there's a world to be helped. Yet, we do what we must. I am hopeful and I will try with best I can with everything I've 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 dearness of our beliefs with fire and steel, then we must stand or see the promise of two centuries tremble. All we say to America is be true to what you said on paper. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read. Of the freedom of speech, somewhere I read.
Of the freedom of press, somewhere I read. That the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say we aren't going to let any dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around.
I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over and I've seen the promised land.
I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people... will get to the promised land. So I'm happy tonight, I'm not worried about anything, I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think, uh, sad news. For all of our fellow citizens and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee. Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort.
For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed. But he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States. We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond or go beyond these rather difficult times.
A favorite poem, my favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote... Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart.
Until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God. What we need in the United States is not division. What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom and compassion toward one another.
Feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black. Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me. In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in as president at that hour in this office.
Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.
We've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger 7, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes.
And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons.
The future doesn't belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Just two hours ago, Allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait.
These attacks continue as I speak. Ground forces are not engaged. This conflict started August 2nd, when the dictator of Iraq invaded a small and helpless neighbor.
Kuwait, a member of the Arab League and a member of the United Nations, was crushed. Its people brutalized. Five months ago, Saddam Hussein started this cruel war against Kuwait.
Tonight, the battle has been joined. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, honored guests, my fellow Americans, we are fortunate to be alive at this moment in history. Never before... Has our nation enjoyed at once so much prosperity and social progress with so little internal crisis and so few external threats?
Never before have we had such a blessed opportunity and therefore such a profound obligation to build the more perfect union of our founders dreams. We begin the new century with over 20 million new jobs, the fastest economic growth in more than 30 years, the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years, the lowest poverty rates in 20 years, the lowest African-American and Hispanic unemployment rates on record, the first back-to-back surpluses in 42 years, and next month, America will achieve the longest period of economic growth in our entire history. Good evening. Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd President of the United States.
And I promised him that I wouldn't call him back this time. Now the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court's decision, I accept it.
I accept the finality of this outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession. For the workers who work here, the family...
The nation stands with the good people of New York City, Jersey and Connecticut, as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens....and the people... People who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. USA, USA, USA, USA, USA.
And all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared. And a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear the world down, we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security, we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright, tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals, democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
That's the true genius of America, that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations, but one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She is a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election, except for one thing. Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery. A time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky. When someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons, because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America. The heartache and the hope, the struggle and the progress. The times we were told that we can't, and the people who press us to do it.
pressed on with that American creed, yes we can. At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can. When there was despair in the Dust Bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a new deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose.
Yes we can. When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes, we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told the people that we shall overcome. Yes, we can. A man touched down on the moon. A wall came down in Berlin. A world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen and cast her vote. Because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes, we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much, but there's so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves, if our children should live to see the next century, If my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids. To restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace.
To reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that... fundamental truth that out of many we are one, that while we breathe we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people. Yes we can. Thank you.
God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.