Senator KENNEDY. Congressman Roush, Matt Welsh,
who is going to be the next Governor of the State of Indiana [applause]
and your present U.S. Senator, Vance Hartke [applause] Mr. Mayor, ladies
and gentlemen, I want to express my great appreciation to all of you for
your kindness in coming out and giving us a warm Hoosier welcome. I understand
that this town suffered a misfortune this morning when the bank was robbed.
I am confident that the Indianapolis Star will say that Democrats arrive
and bank robbed. But we don't believe that. [Laughter.]
We are here on a different mission. We are
here on a mission to rebuild this State and country. I think this is a
most important election, and I believe the people of Indiana should make
a careful judgment as to which party and which candidate they should endorse
in this State and country. It has been 24 years since Indiana voted Democratic
in a national election, in Franklin Roosevelt's second term in 1936. Each
presidential year since then Indiana has voted Republican. But I must say
that I think this year Indiana, which is participating as a part of the
United States, must realize that at home and abroad this country is not
realizing its full potential. Here in this State which has lost over 38,000
factory jobs in the last 8 years, which has seen its agricultural income
go steadily down, which sees corn now sell for 93 or 94 or 95 cents and
realizes that the bottom has not yet hit, I must say that any citizen of
Indiana and any citizen of the United States should consider carefully
this election. The kind of leadership which this country has, the kind
of President which you elect, the kind of Congress which is dominated by
one party or another, has a good deal to do with the prosperity of this
city of Anderson, and the prosperity of the State of Indiana.
The kind of schools that you have, the kind
of assistance which you have for the aged people of this country, the kind
of agricultural program which stabilizes corn and hog and wheat prices,
or permits them to go down, the kind of national defense, the kind of vigor
with which the United States speaks in our relations abroad - all those
are tied up in this presidential election.
My own judgment is that after 8 years of the
Republicans that the Democrats can begin to move this country ahead. I
think this is an important election. [Applause.] If there is any merchant
in this town who thinks his business is good this fall, who looks to the
future of 1961 with optimism, who thinks that agricultural prices are going
to go up, who thinks that the tide is rising in Indiana and the Nation,
who believes that our position is more secure in the world than it was
5 years ago, who believes that the balance of power is moving in our direction
rather than in the direction of our enemies, I believe they should vote
for Mr. Nixon. But any citizen of this community and any citizen of Indiana
who believes that the balance of power in the world is not moving in our
direction, who is concerned about the rise of Castro in Cuba, and the spread
of his power through all of Latin America, who is concerned that the nations
of Africa are not following our road but one of nentrality and one of increasing
friendship with the Communists, who believes that the economy of this country
is moving at a slow rate, who sees that we are only using 50 percent of
our steel capacity, only 50 percent - last week the Soviet Union outproduced
us in steel, though they have one-half of the potential we do, because
we are only using 54 percent of our capacity.
Corn is down, steel mills are at 50 percent,
a recession in 1958, and already less than 2 years later, we find the economy
in the fall which should be our best time moving at a slower rate of growth
than it should. This State and this country is going to have to find 25,000
new jobs a week for the next 10 years to maintain full employment. Here
you have a General Motors plant and those of you who work there know that
new machinery takes the place of men, and unless this country moves its
economy at twice the rate it now is, you cannot maintain full employment
in the United States. We have 4 million out of work and 3 million part
time. And in the winter of 1961 and 1962, unless this country moves again,
this State won't move. I don't care what happens in Indiana by itself -
unless the rest of the country is going ahead. Who buys the products of
General Motors? Not the citizens of Indiana but the citizens of the United
States. Therefore, in this State, which for 24 years has sustained the
Republicans, I think you should give us a chance. I think you should give
us a chance to lead. [Applause.]
I think the choice is between standing still
and drifting, and moving ahead. The choice is between our meeting the unfinished
business of our country and the cause of freedom around the world, or drifting
along through the early sixties, the most difficult and dangerous time
in the life of our country. This district is fortunate to have a vigorous
spokesman for its interests in the Congress, and Ed Roush speaks not only
for this district, but for the United States. And Matt Welsh, I believe,
can give leadership to this State as Governor of Indiana. In the final
analysis what this district does and what this State does depends on what
the United States is doing. Corn sells for the same price in Indiana as
it does in Minnesota. Automobiles sell in Indiana and sell in Michigan
and sell in Massachusetts. This country rises or falls based upon its economic
growth, its economic vitality. And I come to Indiana facing a hard fight
in this State, and I come here and ask your help in this campaign.
I ask your support, and I can assure you [applause]
- I can assure you that if we are successful we will begin to give this
country the kind of leadership which I think it needs, if it is not only
to survive, but also to prevail. We will set before this country as Franklin
Roosevelt did in the early thirties, our unfinished business.
I want those of you who are ready to move,
and to see this country realize its potential, to join us. We will give
this country, I think, the chance to meet its historic destiny of being
the great example of freedom at a time when freedom is under attack all
over the globe.
The next 10 years will see the balance of
power begin to move in the world in one direction or another. I want it
to move with us. Lincoln said 100 years ago that this Nation cannot exist
half slave and half free. I don't think the world will exist in the long
run half slave and half free. Whether it moves in the direction of slavery,
or whether it moves in the direction of freedom depends, in the final analysis,
upon the citizens of the United States; it depends upon us. To do that,
I think this country must move. This country must go forward again. This
country must say "Yes" to the sixties. This country must move. Thank you.
[Applause.]