1963
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Speech at the Meeting of the University of South Carolina Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, Columbia, South Carolina
Every generation inherits a world it never made; and, as it does so, it automatically becomes the trustee of that world for those who come after. In due course, each generation makes its own accounting to its children.
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Speech in Chicago
We face a severe challenge. Daily before our eyes there is a growing army of unemployed and out-of-school youth.
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Address at Kentucky’s Centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky
The dilemma of poverty faced by the society and the polity is the gap between expectations and reality. Great expectations were the creation, not of idle political promises, but of the country itself and its history.
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Speech in Chicago
The real problem of power, of the concentration of power, is not its existence, because we cannot wish it away. The problem of power is how to achieve its responsible use rather than its irresponsible and indulgent use—of how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public.
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Speech delivered at the 10th Anniversary Convocation for the Center for Study of Democratic Institutions of the Fund for the Republic, New York City
All great questions must be raised by great voices, and the greatest voice is the voice of the people—speaking out—in prose, or painting or poetry or music; speaking out— in homes and halls, streets and farms, courts and cafes— let that voice speak and the stillness you hear will be the gratitude of mankind.
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Address to the Civil Rights Committee of New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, New York City
The people’s vote is the people’s voice and when some people cannot vote they cannot effectively speak against injustice and deprivation of other rights.
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Speech in Chicago
I believe that, as long as the instruments of peace are available, war is madness. Government must be strong wherever madness threatens the peace.
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Address at the Annual Convention of the Theater Owners of America, New York City
The most any law can do is point the way—the rest is up to the people. Civil Rights is not an issue that can be solved by governmental edict—it must be dealt with at the community level, within states, within cities, within neighborhoods—wherever a meeting takes place between persons of light and dark skin.
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Address at the American G.I. Forum, Chicago, Illinois
What none of us forget that we are living in a time of infinite possibilities. Both domestically and in international relations, America has never before in history had a greater chance to fulfill the dreams of men through the ages—dreams of individual freedom, national prosperity, and world peace.
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Address at the Annual Convention of the Theatre Owners of America, New York City
Those of us who are white can only dimly guess at what the pain of racial discrimination must be—what it must be like to be turned away from a public place, or made to use only a segregated portion of that place,
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Speech at the Opening of Exhibit on the Emancipation Proclamation at The National Archives in Washington, D.C.
In this generation we have seen an extraordinary change in America—a new surge of idealism in our life—a new and profound reality in our democratic order. Much has been done. But much more must be done, first because it is right, and because in making equal opportunity a reality for all Americans, we make it…
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Address at the 120th Anniversary Dinner of B’nai B’rith, Chicago, Illinois
The law which governs us must be written in the statute books. But there are areas in which our guide is more moral than legal—more a part of the basic fabric of humanity than a rigid code—more a part of our beliefs than specific rules of conduct.
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