Remarks at Washington High School, Lake County, Indiana

Governor Welsh, Indiana's two fighting Senators, Vance Hartke and Birch Bayh, the next Governor of this great State, that great American Roger Branigin, Congressman Ray Madden:

I want to thank you for that wonderful introduction. I think it was the best introduction I have ever had in my political life, except one. One time down in Texas the fellow that was supposed to show up didn't get there and I had to introduce myself-Mayor Katz, Mayor Dowling, Mayor John Nicosia, my fellow Americans:

Our business here this morning is politics, so let us get right down to business. I understand that there have been some other political speeches around here recently. Well, this one is going to be different. I am not going to tear down anybody or anything.

I am proud that you have a responsible government in Washington and in Indianapolis. I think the best way to keep it there is to make this a good, responsible campaign.

We are going to be responsible. This goes for your great fighting Senator, the next senior Senator from Indiana, Vance Hartke. This goes for that great statesman on the Rules Committee of the House of Representatives, Ray Madden. This goes for your next Governor, Roger Branigin. This goes for that brilliant, new, young star, Birch Bayh, and you better keep your eyes on him because he is going places in this Nation.

If we are honest with ourselves, and we have to be, political issues affect us all personally. It does not degrade our hopes for peace in the world that we want most of all to be alive, and to be sure that our sons and our daughters have the right to live. It does not degrade our hopes for prosperity.

I believe in full employment. I believe that every man and woman who is willing to work should have a job and have a chance to work. The recession of 1957-58 hit hard here. Unemployment was above 8 percent.

Six years ago, Vance Hartke ran for United States Senator. This industrial area was in trouble. I came here to work for Vance Hartke and I am mighty proud I did, because he has delivered and has made a good Senator.

Many steelworkers at that time were on a 4-day week. Four years ago things were not much better. We were in another recession. We met that challenge. Today East Chicago and Hammond and Gary are boomtowns. Unemployment is down. Profits and production are up.

From the beginning our business system has been developed by wise public policy. For the first time in history more than 70 million good Americans are working. For the first time in history the profits are higher than ever before.

And I say to anyone who thinks that we are going to stop here, even to rest, you better move over or you are going to get run over !

First, I think we must start with our children. They are the future. I believe that every American boy or girl is entitled to all the education that he can master.

Second, we must build an economy in which every man or woman who is willing and able to work will have a job and a fair wage for doing it. Our tax cut was designed to move us in that direction. That tax cut is generating three-quarters of a billion dollars in income for your individuals and for your businesses.

Third, we must build a society in which the advancing years of life bring rewards for work well done.

There is no limit to what America can do. And that is why, as I come here to this wonderful industrial area this morning, this city where my Press Secretary, George Reedy, one of the best human beings I ever knew, was born--and I want to salute George here this morning--that is why I say that our program must be peace for all of our people, jobs for all of our people, education for all of our children, and prosperity for all families in America.

We must do something about our immigration laws. Two-thirds of the total immigration quota goes under that law, to people who never use all their quota.

President Roosevelt, with a good Dutch name, proposed the immigration law be changed.

President Truman, with a good English name, proposed the law be changed.

President Eisenhower, with a good German name, proposed the law be changed.

President Kennedy, with a good Irish name, proposed that the law be changed. And now a President, Lyndon Johnson, with an English name, and with an Irish name, and with German and Scottish and French forebears, proposes this law be changed.

We want to abolish those discriminatory quotas gradually over a 5-year period and raise the overall limit by 9,000, or 1/80th of 1 percent of our work force. This would permit families to unite which have too long been broken.

We stand for a compassionate nation, not a callous nation. Will you stand up with us and help us in that fight ? We stand for uniting our country instead of dividing it. Will you stand up with us in that fight?

We are a nation of lovers instead of haters, and we are proud of it. Aren't you? We are all Americans. We are one nation--one people. There is room for all of us in this great land, so let's get on with the job. There is just one thing that really amounts in your life that is the most important thing to you, and that is whether we have peace in the world or not.

We have more power than any nation in all the world. But we must not be rash and we must not be reckless and we must not be careless. We must use that power with good judgment and we must use it with restraint.

Not long ago, a dictator, Mr. Castro, cut our water off at our base at Guantanamo, and there were voices in the land that immediately rose up and said, "Let's send in the Marines." Well, we considered it carefully and we decided it would be a lot wiser to send in one admiral to turn the water off than to send a bunch of Marines in to turn the water on.

Now, we are concerned with peace in Washington. We are going to keep our strength. We are going to keep our guard up, but we are going to keep our hand out. We will go anywhere, any time, to talk to anyone, if we can promote peace in the world. We do not want war, we do not believe in rattling our rockets or talking about dropping our bombs. We have been through two World Wars, and we know the price we paid for them. So that is why we are going to keep strong. That is why we are going to keep sensible.

The next thing that is important is to stay prosperous, to try to see that every child has a schoolroom to attend, and a teacher to teach him. Try to see that every father has a job to send that kid to school. Try to see that he is paid decent wages. In this election, all of those things are at stake. We fought for social security 30 years ago. Twenty million Americans today draw social security. We don't want it to go down the drain. That is why you better go vote on November 3d if you don't want social security to become voluntary.

We believe in equal rights for all Americans, and special privileges for none. But that is why you better go vote on November 3d, and you better vote Democratic. We believe in strong unions. We believe in collective bargaining. We have fought for that right and we want to preserve it and protect it, and that is why you better go vote on November 3d.

I remember a great labor leader one time said that the working people don't have much and they don't ask much. They are not a selfish group. They get up early in the morning, they wash the kids, they dress them and send them to school, and they are on their way to work. They work hard all day long, and they come home in the evening for that family meal, say their prayers and go to bed reasonably early. That was before the days of television, I guess. But we are still mighty proud of that family unit.

And this great leader of the Steelworkers of America, Phil Murray, said:

"We don't ask for much. We want the right of collective bargaining. We want a shorter workweek. We want better pay for what we produce. We want a share of the profits. But we haven't asked for too much for our labors. We would like to have a home, a roof over our heads, some food for our bodies, some clothes to cover our forms. We would like to have a home with a rug on the floor, with a picture on the wall, and with music in the living room."

All of those things are at stake in this election. You have a choice. You have a privilege. You have a right to exercise. You have an obligation to your family.

I haven't come out here to sling mud and say ugly things. You use your own judgment. But you use it; don't sit by and neglect it. Don't talk about how proud you are to be an American and how you want your boy to avoid war, and then sit home and not vote. You go and vote, and you vote for the man in your judgment, and the ticket in your judgment, that is most likely to protect your job, your prosperity, and your home and your children.

You go vote for the man and the ticket that in your judgment is most likely to preserve peace in the world.

If you do that, if you vote for peace and prosperity for yourselves, according to the dictates of your own conscience, Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey will be mighty happy.