Remarks at the United States Pavilion, New York World's Fair.

My fellow Americans:

This pavilion houses an ambitious concept. It is an effort to convey the spirit of all America to the visitors of all the world. It tells where we came from. It tells who we are. And it tries to show us where we are going.

We have in this building tried not merely to talk about our accomplishments; we have been more concerned with the challenges to greatness than the achievements to greatness. We have been more interested in the hazards of the future than we have been interested in the victories of the past. That is the great lesson of this pavilion for those who come to see it from around the world.

We do not try to mask our national problems, whatever they may be, under a cloak of censorship or under a cloak of secrecy. We do not try to disguise our imperfections or to cover up our failures. Rather, we freely admit them, and we bend our energy and our toil to correct them.

I know of no other great power in the history of the world which so freely admitted fault and felt under such a great moral duty to correct those faults. This is because we realize that real progress comes through a constant process of criticism and reexamination; that those who censure the old provide the foundation upon which the new can be built.

Free and unhindered criticism of men, of ideas, and of institutions is the vital nourishment of all freedom. Thus we have chosen as our theme, "The Challenge to Greatness."

These challenges give the picture of the America that we would like to be, the future we would hope for, the land that we want our children to inherit.

There is much to be proud of in this America which is shown in this pavilion. But what we want most to convey is the spirit of America which is always building, in which the present is always prologue to the future, in which the energy of free men never falters. And with God's help and with your blessing we will continue to move forward to a world in which all men are equal, in which all peoples are prosperous, in which all human beings are free, and, finally, in which all of us can live at peace.

Thank you very much.