Home Search The American Presidency Project
John Woolley and Gerhard Peters Home Data Documents Elections Media Links
 
• Public Papers
• State of the Union
  Messages
• Inaugural Addresses
• Radio Addresses
• Fireside Chats
• Press Conferences
• Executive Orders
• Proclamations
• Signing Statements
• Press Briefings
• Statements of
 Administration Policy
• Debates
• Convention Speeches
• Party Platforms
• 2008 Election Documents
• 2009 Transition
• 2001 Transition
Data Index
Audio/Video Index
Election Index
Florida 2000
Presidential Libraries
View Public Papers by Month and Year

Check to exclude documents from the Office of the Press Secretary
Search the Entire Document Archive
Enter keyword: 


AND OR NOT
Limit by Year

From:
To    :

Limit results per page

Check to exclude documents from the Office of the Press Secretary

Instructions
You can search the Public Papers in two ways:

1. Search by Keyword and Year
You can search by keyword and choose the range of years within your search by filling out the boxes under Search the Public Papers.

2. View by Month and/or Year
Select the month and/or year you would like information about and press View Public Papers. Then choose a Public Paper and the page will load for you.

Search Engine provided by the Harry S. Truman Library. Our thanks to
Jim Borwick and Dr. Rafee Che Kassim at Project Whistlestop for critical assistance in the implementation of the search function, and to Scott Roley at the Truman Library for facilitating this collaboration.
 
Richard Nixon: Excerpts From Remarks by the Vice President, Town Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA
Richard
Richard Nixon
Excerpts From Remarks by the Vice President, Town Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA
September 19, 1960
1960 Presidential Election Campaign
1960 Campaign:<br>Vice-President Nixon<br>Aug. 1 - Nov. 7
1960 Campaign:
Vice-President Nixon
Aug. 1 - Nov. 7
Font Size:
Print
 Report Typo
What do I mean by maturity?

Mr. Khrushchev is just visiting this country at the present time at the United Nations. He's going to say a lot of things while he is here. He may do some things while he is here that people who are rash and immature will react to by saying: "Oh, my, something is wrong with the United States because Mr. Khrushchev is saying these things."

And I'm going to suggest this: Whatever Mr. Khrushchev says, whatever he does while he's attending the United Nations, remember, we are strong. We are stronger militarily, stronger economically, stronger morally and spiritually, and we are not to be shaken and we are not to lose our nerve or be knocked off balance by anything he says or does.

I say that is important because there has been a tendency recently in America for us to blame ourselves for what the Communists do. When they staged riots in Japan, but kept President Eisenhower from going there, some Americans threw up their hands and said, "We must be at fault." But we kept our heads. We didn't change our policy toward Japan. Result: Today, the people of Japan are stronger on our side than they've ever been, and the Government as well.

That is what I mean by maturity.

So, I say a policy that is firm, one that will always be willing to negotiate with Mr. Khrushchev or anybody else, on fairer terms, but one that will always stand for our freedom and for the freedom of others throughout the world, is the kind of policy that America needs in these critical years of the sixties and it is the kind of a policy I believe in because I know this man and I know this is the kind that works with him, and a policy of softness, a policy of rashness, a policy of immaturity would play directly into his hands and would not serve the cause of peace.

Now, if I might add to that just two other thoughts, and I will be finished. What I have said up to this time will simply hold the line. It will keep the peace, as we have been keeping it; but, my friends, we must do more than that. America must stand for extending the cause of freedom, of winning the battle for freedom that is going on all over the world, and that battle, my friends, is one that's taking place in a number of areas, and one of them is economic.

In this economic area, America is ahead of the Soviet Union today. We outproduce them two times to one. But, in order to stay ahead we've got to move ahead and, in order to move ahead, may I say that America cannot afford for any Americans to stay behind or for any section of the country to stay behind. Not only must America move ahead economically as a nation, but all Americans, regardless of their backgrounds must move along as well and all sections of the country must move.

That brings me to a point I want to mention here. As I came in I noticed some billboards saying: "VOTE DEMOCRATIC. THE DEMOCRATS CARE." If they cared about Wilkes-Barre, about the depressed area conditions, here, they would not have played politics with that issue. They would have thought of the people and we would have had a bill that would have done something about it. I say to you today, and I pledge to you, that America, first, cannot afford to allow any pockets of unemployment to exist. We cannot afford not to use the tremendous human resources that are here in this area that are not being used. We cannot afford not to use the natural resources that are not being used and, as I shall develop in my speech at Scranton tonight, in the next session of Congress, if I have the opportunity to lead this country, I can assure you we are going to get a bill and we are going to do something about it in the next session of the Congress.



Citation: John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25403.
Home         
© 1999-2010 - Gerhard Peters - The American Presidency Project
Locations of visitors to this page