Senator KENNEDY. Thank you very much, ladies
and gentlemen. Thank you, Governor. I want to express my thanks to all
of you for coming down on this whistle stop tour in this county. We are
carrying this campaign into the State of California. I want to make the
point that this really is not merely a contest between the Vice President
and myself, I think this is a contest between two political parties, between
the histories of those parties, and between their promises and the record
for the future. This is an important election. [Applause.] And I think
the record of the Democratic Party, and its assurances for the future,
is written in its record of the past: In the New Freedom of Woodrow
Wilson, in the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt, in the Fair Deal of Harry
Truman.
I can assure you that if we are successful
in January of 1961, that we are going to move ahead in this country, that
we are going to bring men and women from all parts of the United States
to go to work, as they worked in the 1930's for this country, to start
it moving again, to bring the best we have in talents from all sections
in order to work for the country once again.
I don't run for the office of the Presidency
promising you that if I am elected that life will be easy and the problems
all solved. I think the 1960's are going to be among the most difficult
years in our history, because we have a responsibility not only to ourselves
but we have a responsibility toward all those who look to us for leadership,
to the people in Latin America and Africa and Asia, who stand today on
the razor edge of decision, who are attempting to make a judgment as to
which side represents the leader of the future, whether we do or the Communists.
I believe that we do. But I believe that if we are going to meet the future
[applause] it is going to require the best of us all. I think we are going
to have to meet the problems we face here at home if we are going to successfully
convey an image of vitality and strength abroad. We are going to have to
develop the natural resources of the United States, the resources of this
valley. We are going to have to increase our economic growth. We are going
to have to put our country and our people back to work. This is a great
country, but I think it can be a greater country. I ask your help in this
campaign. Give me your help, give me your assistance. I think we can not
only win this campaign, but we can start the United States moving again.
Thank you. [Applause.]