I have always thought it an interesting commentary on history that all Democratic dinners across the country always link together the two founding fathers or our party, Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson. For we ought to realize that neither of them was beloved by all Democrats in their day. For example, one prominent Democrat is quoted as saying, in 1824:
"I feel much alarmed at the prospect of seeing General Jackson President. He is one of the most unfit men I know of for such a place. He has very little respect for the law...his passions are terrible...he is a dangerous man."
This was the statement of Thomas Jefferson.
And who do you suppose it was, when Mr. Jefferson was President, who described him as "too cowardly to resent foreign outrage on the republic" – a man willing "to seize peaceable Americans and prosecute them for political purposes" – a man who seemed to hold himself "above the law." This statement, of course, was made by General Andrew Jackson.
But while we are devoted to them both, I also think it is appropriate today to invoke the memory of another great Democratic President – a great Governor of this state and a great friend of this country – the man in whose progressive image our party must be forever molded – Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Every American who lived through the past generation has his own favorite memory of Franklin Roosevelt – some incident in that fabulous career that to him best illustrates F.D.R.'s character and personality.
But, in sorting out these memories, I like to think back to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 1936 – when F.D.R. was re-nominated by wild acclamation.
As the President came forward behind the curtain to the front of the stage, leaning on the arm of his son Jimmy, he suddenly lost his balance and fell to the ground. Lesser men might have lost their composure or dignity – most would have been visibly shaken. But with the aid of his son and the Secret Service, the President was instantly back on his feet. A few seconds later the curtain opened – he stood there calm and erect – launched confidently into one of his buoyant, most winning speeches. This is the image of Franklin Roosevelt's determination and leadership and leadership that we honor here today – and that is the kind of public leadership this state has always provided – in Grover Cleveland, Al Smith, Herbert Lehman, Averill Harriman, Robert Wagner, Sr., and Bob Wagner, Jr., and many, many others.
There may be disagreement with some of their deeds. "Governments can err", Roosevelt said that night in Philadelphia, "Presidents do make mistakes; but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales. Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."
The American people today are confronted in their Executive Branch with the very danger of which Franklin Roosevelt warned – "a Government frozen in their own indifference." Where Franklin Roosevelt opened new horizons, this Administration set ceilings. Where Roosevelt urged a spirit of self-sacrifice, we are now lulled into a spirit of self-satisfaction.
This same kind of contrast was noted in 1933, between the hesitant, moribund outgoing Republican Administration and the new dynamic drive of the New Deal.
And as the Republicans packed to move out, Robert E. Sherwood contrasted the old and the new administrations in a brief, sardonic poem:
"plodding feet
Tramp – tramp
The Grand Old Party's
Breaking camp.
Blare of bugles,
Din – Din
The New Deal is moving in."
In Washington today, on every major problem – crises in Formosa and Berlin – the plight of our cities – the neglect of our schools – the inadequacy of our defenses – the remaining pockets of poverty and discrimination – in every case, we see no new ideas, no bold action, no "blare of bugles". We see only "plodding feet… tramp, tramp" – and the "Grand Old Party… breaking camp."
I do not say that the President has remained silent on these issues. On the contrary, we have heard many a bold platitude that remind me of the exhortation from King Lear that goes: "I will do such things – what they are yet I know not – but they shall be… the terrors of the earth."
The Republican Party has traditionally been the party of the status quo – and today there is no status quo – The Democratic Party has since Jefferson's day been the party of peaceful revolution – and today at least ten peaceful revolutions are rocking our nation and our world.
These ten peaceful revolutions – each of them startling to behold and fantastic in their impact – constitute the basic agenda of our time – our unfinished business – the issues of the 1960 campaign – the differences between our two major parties.
1. First is the revolutions in our cities. 1960 will conclude the largest 10 year growth in the history of our country – a growth in the history of our country – a growth which equals the entire population of Poland and Spain – a growth which has been concentrated largely in our metropolitan areas. At this rate, we will double our population by the end of the century, only 41 years away. In fact, here in Nassau County, your population has doubled in the past ten years alone! – and by 1975 it will reach 1,400,000.
But this urban revolution – this population explosion in our metropolitan areas – has not been matched in our public plans and program. Fifteen million families live in substandard housing, says the Bureau of Census – nearly five million urban homes still lack plumbing of any kind – nearly seven million urban homes need to be totally replaced – and still our crowded cities grow. And yet urban redevelopment projects initiated as far back as 1950 are still incomplete. Our older cities are decaying at the core – and now we are witnessing a new and disturbing phenomenon: suburban slums.
These problems of the urban revolution will continue – they cannot be ignored, they cannot be half-heartedly met, they cannot be vetoed out of existence. And the will require a Democratic administration in 1961.
2. Second is the revolution on the farm. In 1958, on the smallest acreage in 40 years, with a farm population of five million below that of the previous decade, our farms nevertheless produced the largest crop – and the largest surplus – in our history.
Consequently, under our present farm program, our abundance is a curse and not a blessing – for the family farmer, for the nation, and for the hungry would express the nation's conscience by sharing the nation's abundance – with the needy of other nations and with our own needy here at home.
3. Third is the revolution in our birth rate. Between 1946 and 1958, nearly 51 million children were born in this country – a number greater than the entire population of 1880 – and, as a result, we face the most critical classroom shortage in our history. Hundreds of thousands of boys and girls must go to school part-time. Millions more must go to school in classes of 40 or more.
We have no prepared for this crisis. The Republicans have defeated every effort to obtain federal assistance for new school construction. They have required countries such as Nassau to increase their tax rate for school purposes year after year, until local finances reach the straining point.
We need imagination and we need industry and we need leadership – and that leadership must come from the Democratic Party.
4. Fourth is the revolution in life expectancy. Soon 10 per cent of our population will be over the age of 65. But their social security checks have been eaten away by inflation – their chronic illnesses are not covered by group insurance. Their housing needs are unmet. Those still able to work are the first to be fired and the last to be re-hired. They are, in the worst of the song, "too old to work and too young to die" – and they must look to the Democratic Party for rescue.
5. Fifth is the revolution of technology – the wonders of automation. Mechanic computers can no conduct centuries of calculation in a few hours. In every kind of endeavor – machine is replacing man – and man is looking for work. In the midst of prosperity and high employment, we still have over 3½ million unemployed – a third of them out of work for more than four months, – and a long list of distressed areas with chronic labor surpluses. We rejoice in the wonders of automation. But we cannot forget our unemployed workers and our depressed cities. The Democratic Party believes in our programs of foreign aid and mutual security – and we also believe in taking care of our own.
6. Sixth is the revolution of energy – the demands on electrical energy, atomic energy and every other kind. Every American uses every year an amount of energy which would require nine tons of coal or its equivalent – 180 times as much as the average Asian – and yet our demands are still growing.
It requires that we make the maximum use of our natural resources – that we harness our rivers for the public good – and that we begin now a program of civilization atomic reactors that will give us the energy we need. The present Republican Administration apparently does not recognize this energy revolution – a Democratic Administration will.
7. Seventh is the revolution in our standard of living. As a people, we Americans enjoy the highest per capita income the world has ever known. For more Americans, poverty, famine and pestilence are words from the ancient past.
But the harsh facts of the matter are that this revolution of living standards is not shared by all Americans. Millions of workers have no federal protection against substandard wages, particularly women in our retail stores and service establishments. Millions of others are receiving little more than the $1 minimum.
Increasing and extending our minimum wage laws – so that all Americans can share this revolutionary standard of living – is a must for the Democratic Party program.
8. Eighth, turning to the field of national security, is the revolution in weapons development. In terms of military proximity and warning, we are closer to the Soviet Union today than France was to Germany in 1939. Devastation is literally minutes away.
This challenge cannot be met by men who have delivered us into our present position of peril – by those who fix weapons policies as a part of our budgetary policies. The Democratic Party rejects the principle of a cheap, second best defense – and it intends to see that we have the money and brainpower necessary to do the job.
9. Ninth is the revolution in the underdeveloped nations of the world. The astounding explosive growth of the world's population, which will also double in this century, is centered largely on those nations of the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America least able to support it.
The world may be enjoying more prosperity than ever before – but, strange as it may seem, it has never seen so much poverty in all its history. If these nations – including such key nations as India, engaged in a fierce economic competition with Red China that will determine the future of all Asia – if these nations are to get ahead of their population increases, they must step up the expansion of their economies – they must increase their capital development – and this means they must obtain development capital from the wealthy nations of the West. Our best tool to help the underdeveloped world is the Development Loan Fund. The Republicans have starved this fund – they have stunted its growth. The Democrats must fill in the gap.
10. Tenth and finally is the revolution of nationalism. In Asia, Latin America and particularly in Africa, man's eternal desire to be free is rising to the fore.
But the principles of self-determination are still being contested in some parts of the globe. Too often it is a struggle between a white minority and a colored majority, with dangerous implications for our future. This requires that we in this nation make completely clear our strong unequivocal stand on civil rights – not only to help us abroad but to strengthen us here at home.
We cannot doubt that these peoples eventually will, and ought to be, free and equal. The only question is one of timing – and whether, once that freedom is achieved, they will regard the United States as friend or foe. This nation, the home of the Declaration of Independence, should have led this nationalist revolution instead of helping to throttle it. – and I am hopeful that, if it is not too late, a new Democratic Administration can still fulfill that role.
What we need now in this nation, more than atomic power, or airpower, or financial, industrial or even manpower, is brainpower. The dinosaur was bigger and stronger than anyone else – he may even have been more pious – but he was also dumber. And look what happened to him.
I do not confuse brainpower with word power. For words are not enough. Missiles are not enough. Atoms are not enough. All of these may help us gain time to find a solution – but they are not a solution themselves.
We need new ideas – new ideas to obtain an endless supply of fresh water, food and energy from the ocean depths – to expand the world's arable land 7 times – and multiply the output per acre even more. To replace our dwindling supply of energy resources from the granite that lies beneath every continent – and, instead of beating our swords into plow-shares, and our spears into pruning hooks, to convert our bombs into power reactors that can electrify the frontier and the jungle. All of this we can do with new ideas.
But we cannot obtain new ideas until we have a government and a nation and a press and a public opinion which respect new ideas and respect the people who have them. Our country has surmounted great crises in the past, not because of our wealth, not because of our rhetoric, not because we had longer cars and whiter iceboxes and bigger television screens than anyone else, but because our ideas were more compelling and more penetrating and more wise and enduring.
A tired nation, said David Lloyd George, is always a Tory nation. And the United States today cannot afford to be either tired or Tory. If we are to live up to our national promise and live up to our national destiny, then we must forever remember this: If we are to be the land of the free, then we must also be the home of the brave.
For we are now face to face with the severest test this nation has ever known – the test of survival itself.
This, after all, is the real issue of our times – the issue beyond Berlin. The hard, tough question for the next decade – for this or any other group of Americans – is whether any free society – with its freedom of choice – its breadth of opportunity – its range of alternatives – can meet the single minded advance of the Communist system.
Can a nation organized and governed such as ours endure? That is the real question. Have we the nerve and the will? Can we carry through in an age where we will witness not only new breakthroughs in weapons of destruction – but also a race for mastery of the sky and the rain, the ocean and the tides, the far side of space and the inside of men's minds? We and the Russian now have the power to destroy with one blow one-quarter of the earth's population – a feat not accomplished since Cain slew Abel.
But now we have taken in our human hands the source of energy that has lighted the universe from the beginning of time – we can ignite stars on earth hotter than any that shine in the heavens – and, indeed, we are racing to launch our own stars and our own moons.
To keep our faith and our freedom alive will require leadership better equipped than any since Jackson's day to make clear to our people that vast spectrum of our challenges.
Source: Papers of John F. Kennedy. Pre-Presidential Papers. Senate Files, Box 903, "Democratic dinner, Garden City, New York, 6 June 1959." John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.