We are impressed by the nature of our problem when we are confronted with the fact that almost half of the murderers in Death Row at Sing Sing are under twenty-one. And the number of arrests of youths under eighteen is increasing steadily.
We are today in the midst of a great debate, whether or not this nation, the champion of freedom throughout the world, can now extend full freedom to twenty million of our own citizens who have yet to achieve it. Passage of the Civil Rights Act is not an end to the debate. It only…
For an American man, woman, or child to be turned away from a public place for no reason other than the color of his skin is an intolerable insult, an insult that is in no way eased by the bland explanation that it has been allowed to go on for a hundred years or more.…
Ultimately, Communism must be defeated by progressive political programs which wipe out the poverty, misery, and discontent on which it thrives. For that reason, progressive political programs are the best way to erode the Communist presence in Latin America, to turn back the Communist thrust into Southeast Asia, and to ensure the stability of the…
I have no sympathy for those who are defeatists and who would rather be “Red than dead.” Nor do I have sympathy with those who, in the name of fighting Communism, sow seeds of suspicion and distrust by making false or irresponsible charges, not only against their neighbors, but against courageous teachers and public officials…
Many voices, many views all have combined into an American consensus, and it has been a consensus of good sense. “In the multitude of counselors, there is safety,” says the Bible, and so it is with American democracy. Tolerance is an expression of trust in that consensus and each new enlargement of tolerance is an…
The individual man, in whose hands democracy must put its faith and its fate, is capable of great heights of achievement. He is also capable of infinite degradation. Fortunately most of our institutions have safe-guards which ultimately unseat a man when power results in arrogance and corruption. But often before justice is done the very…
Most of our fellow citizens do their best—and do it the modest, unspectacular, decent, natural way which is the highest form of public service. But every day in a shameful variety of ways the selfish actions of the small minority sully the honor of our na
When our forebears—yours and mine—came to America, they came because this country promised them something. It promised them an opportunity, nourished by education, not merely to grind for a bare living, but to strive for a good life.
The legitimate purpose of bail is to ensure that defendants appear for trial. It has been distorted into systematic injustice. Every year thousands of persons are kept in jail for weeks and even months following arrest.
Through most of the United States today the bail system is a cruel and illogical institution which perpetuates injustice in the name of the law. In actual practice, control is frequently in the hands of bondsmen rather than the courts.
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