Senator KENNEDY. Mr. Mayor, Governor Di Salle,
who supported my candidacy last January, who led this delegation of Ohio
and supported it in July, and who will, I hope, lead Ohio in our support
on November 8 [applause] Congressman Cook, I used to represent for 6 years
in the Congress the 11th District of Massachusetts. But it was never like
this. I know you are going to return him to Congress with a wide majority
as he deserves. [Applause.] And after you have taken care of these other
candidates from top to bottom, give Kennedy a vote. [Applause.]
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to make it very
clear that I come to Ohio on this occasion as the standard bearer for the
Democratic Party, and I say very clearly that there are sharp differences
between the Republican spokesman and myself. In his own way the differences
are sharp and important and as significant as they were between Roosevelt
and Hoover. [Applause.] And Roosevelt and Landon, and Truman and Dewey.
Where did they get those candidates? The Republican Party for 25 years
has put up candidates, and, as a party, has taken the position against
every piece of progressive legislation that serves the people, from minimum
wage to unemployment compensation, to better housing, to aid for education,
to more equal rights for all Americans, for a stronger defense for a stronger
and more vital society. The Republican Party, ever since it drove Theodore
Roosevelt into the wilderness 50 years ago, has stood still. We have dragged
them ahead, and Mr. Nixon goes through the country making speeches which
a Democrat might have run on 15 years ago. They are always behind. They
are always waiting for us to take the leadership. [Applause.] What is the
issue in this campaign? What is it that Mr. Nixon and I differ on? It is
this: He believes that the United States is doing everything it should
do to maintain its position in the world. He believes that our prestige
is steadily rising around the world, and 3 weeks ago, after a vote in the
United Nations which was 70 to nothing, he said that is pretty good score
in a ball game and a pretty good score at the United Nations. Well, if
he wants to make it on that basis, I will give him the score yesterday.
Yesterday at the United Nations the issue
came up which most directly affected the power and prestige and influence
of the United States. It was on the question of the matter of whether the
admission of Red China would be brought to the docket of the United Nations.
And here is the vote, and if this does not tell the story, if this does
not demonstrate that our prestige is not increasing, if this does not demonstrate
that the United States is not growing in power, I would like to know what
does.
Here they are: On the question of whether
this matter would be brought to a vote and, therefore, whether Red China
would be admitted to the United Nations, in the case of Africa, a key area
in the world only two countries voted with us, Liberia and the Union of
South Africa. Eight voted against us, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco,
Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan. All countries that had gained their independence
in this past decade. Every one of them voted against us. Liberia has been
associated with us for 140 years. The Union of South Africa domestic policy
and its treatment of Negroes has made it opposed by every African nation,
and yet Liberia and the Union of South Africa were the only two nations
in all of Africa who voted with us. And eight voted against us. Not 1 of
the 15 new nations admitted to the United Nations in the last 2 months
voted with us.
Nine countries of Asia supported the United
States. Ten countries of Asia voted against us, and three Asian countries
abstained. Voting against the United States were such longtime friends
as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
I just want to make it clear that any American
who reads that record, who sees our steel mills going at 44 percent of
capacity, who sees our farm income driven down 20 percent, who sees our
power and prestige and vigor standing still around the world and at home,
any American who can make a judgment, their own judgment - you don't have
to be in the Pentagon. You can stay in Warren, Ohio, and read the papers,
and look at television, and you know which way the tide is going. You know
whether this administration is meeting its responsibilities. You know whether
we are doing everything that must be done if we are going to survive. You
know what is happening in Latin America. You know that a candidate for
President of Brazil had to make a trip and visit Castro during his election
so that he would get the Castro vote in Brazil. You know that 8 years ago
in 1952, seven countries, only seven countries in the world voted for the
admission of Red China. Yesterday 34. Mr. Nixon says the tide is riding
in our favor. If you think this administration has given attention to the
problems of the United Nations in opposition - Khrushchev has stayed here
for nearly a month. The President of the United States visited it for 2
days. I believe this country can do better and I don't want anyone on November
8, when you finally come to vote, to go into the polls and say "They both
stand for the same things." I don't. I don't stand where Mr. Nixon stands.
I don't take his view about [applause] - I don't say that $1.25 minimum
wage is extreme. I don't lead a party that voted nearly unanimously against
25 cents minimum wage. I don't go around saying 4.5 million Americans unemployed
is insignificant, is necessary. I am not part of an administration which
vetoed the depressed area bill twice, and then makes promises about it
at election time. I am not part of an administration which killed a housing
bill, vetoed it twice last year. I am not part of an administration which
vetoed a bill to clean our rivers from pollution. I am part of a party
which in this century stood with Woodrow Wilson and stood with Franklin
Roosevelt and stood with Harry Truman for a better life for all of us.
[Applause.]
I don't want African leaders or Latin American
leaders or Asian leaders - because that is where this straggle is going
to be fought out - which system carries with it the most vigor? Which system
do they want to duplicate? Do they want to follow the hammer and sickle,
or do they want to follow us on the road to freedom? My judgment is that
they want to be free, that they want to follow us. But if the trumpet blows
uncertain sounds, who will prepare for the battle, as the Bible tells us,
and we have been blowing a mighty uncertain sound in recent months and
years. We have been living off our fat. I call upon you for help. I call
upon you regardless of party. I call upon all those who are not contented,
who are not satisfied, who want to move again. I call upon all those who
have devotion to their country, who want to see it fulfill its destiny,
who want to see us go ahead. I call upon all those who, regardless of age,
are young in spirit. I call upon all those who want to cross in the sixties
the new frontiers.
I call upon you. I ask your help in this election,
and I can assure you that if we win on November 8, that this country will
stand once again for the great symbol of freedom for all people, for a
better life for all people here in this country, for justice for all Americans,
regardless of their race or their creed or their color, or their religion,
and I can assure you, I can assure you that the United States [applause]
- that in Africa, Latin America and Asia once again they will be reading
not merely what Mr. Khrushchev is doing, or Castro, but what the President
of the United States and the United States are doing.
Away back nearly 100 years ago, in the campaign
of 1860, Abraham Lincoln wrote to a friend:
I know there is a God, and that He hates injustice. I see the storm coming, and I know His hand is in it. But if He has a place and a part for me, I believe that I am ready.Now, 100 years later, we know there is a God, and we know He hates injustice, and we see the storm coming. We know His hand is in it. But if He has a place and a part for us, I believe that we are ready. Thank you. [Applause.]