Statement by the President: Know Your America Week.

THE STRENGTH of America is centered in the idea--the concept of freedom. This concept is the most powerful and creative force on earth.

Freedom is power because it leads directly to and inspires the heart of every man. Freedom includes justice for all men, equal opportunity to work, and the right to worship according to one's conscience. In a free society, like ours, regimentation is repudiated, self-discipline is required. Consequently freedom imposes upon the individual responsibilities commensurate with the rights and privileges it guarantees to him.

I believe that the purpose of "Know Your America Week" is to revitalize in every citizen a determination to study and apply the principles on which our nation was founded. Thus he can make certain that representative government shall continue to serve each one of us and advance the general welfare of all.

The eyes of the world are upon free peoples and their governments as never before. Uncounted millions of people will look to us and other free nations to see whether we have still the determination, the wisdom and the spirit to insure that concepts of freedom and human dignity shall flourish, never wither, in the years before us.

We shall continue to hold ever higher the flame of liberty so that men everywhere may see clearly by its light and cherish its values.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER