Remarks at a Ceremony Commemorating the Birth of Abraham Lincoln.

All of the distinguished guests on the platform, and ladies and gentlemen and our guests who are listening on radio and television:

As I was reading about the Lincoln Memorial before coming down here this morning, I found that of all of the great historical sights in the Washington area, the Lincoln Memorial is visited more often than any other by far.

As a matter of fact, I have learned, I will say to Mr. Walker of the Park Service, that the Memorial has been visited so often and has received so much wear and tear that it perhaps is going to have to have some substantial work done to build it back up so that it can take all the traffic.

The question that I would like to address briefly this morning on Lincoln's birthday is why, why is Lincoln, of all the American Presidents, more revered, not only in America but in the world?

There are several reasons that come to mind. He freed the slaves. He saved the Union. He died of an assassin's bullet just at the height of his career, at the end of the War Between the States.

And then there are other factors which come to mind: the Lincoln character which has been described in so many, many hundreds of books--much better than I can describe it in a few words-the humility, the humor, the feeling and kindness for people, but perhaps more than anything else the strength, the poise under pressure.

When we examine the American Presidents, it is quite clear that no President in history has been more vilified or was more vilified during the time he was President than Lincoln.

Those who knew him, his secretaries, have written that he was very deeply hurt by what was said about him and drawn about him. But on the other hand, Lincoln had that great strength of character never to display it, always to stand tall and strong and firm no matter how harsh or unfair the criticism might be.

These elements of greatness, of course, inspire us all today. The particular factor that I would like to address, however, is one that Mr. Whitaker has alluded to in his gracious introduction. It has to do with Lincoln's vision about America's role in the world.

What we sometimes forget is that Abraham Lincoln was a world statesman at the time that America was not a world power. Here on these walls are inscribed many of his very famous sayings. One from the second Inaugural comes to mind when Lincoln said: to do all that we may to achieve and to cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and between all nations.

This is Lincoln 110 years ago when America, torn by civil strife, and when America, even after it was united, with both North and South working together to build a greater country, could not and would not even play a great role in the world for years and years to come. And yet Lincoln, with that mystical sense of destiny and vision, saw it all ahead when he said, "Ours is earth's last, best hope."

And now we come to today, 110 years later. Even Lincoln would have marveled if he were living today. This Nation now, the strongest nation in the world, the richest nation by far in the world, and a nation greatly respected all over the world--and the question he would have asked, as we must ask ourselves, is, how will history look back on our time? What did we do with our strength? What did we do with our wealth? Did we use it only for ourselves, or did we recognize, as Lincoln recognized, that we had a destiny far beyond this great Nation, looking out over the whole wide world?

These thoughts come to mind that Lincoln might well have advised us: one, that in this period of time that America was never petulant simply because we do not get our way in the world councils every time, that America did not bully weaker nations simply because we were stronger, that America always used its strength--certainly in this century at least--used its strength to defend freedom and never to destroy it, to keep the peace and to defend the peace and never to break it.

I think Lincoln also would have had this admonition to his fellow Americans on such an occasion as this in this particular period of our history. He would have hoped that America, with its strength and its wealth, would not turn away from greatness despite the fact that some other nations in the world turn inward, failing to assume their responsibilities for building a peaceful world.

Lincoln would have said a great nation, a strong nation, a rich nation, and a great people will use their strength and their wealth to build a world in which peace and freedom can survive for themselves and for others as well. This, I think, is the Lincoln heritage for today. It is the Lincoln admonition for tomorrow and, I would trust, for the next generation and perhaps for the next century.

I do not suggest all of this in any sense that America wants to dominate any other country, because we do not. I do not suggest this because America wants strength simply because of the jingoistic idea that we must be number one. That is not the reason.

I do suggest it because I know, as Lincoln would have known, that in today's world, without America and its strength and its will and its respect and its determination, peace and freedom will not survive in the world. What a great challenge for a great people.

I conclude simply by paraphrasing what Lincoln said so many years ago so much more eloquently: We could meanly lose what is mankind's last best hope for peace and freedom, but we could also nobly save it.

Abraham Lincoln, who saved the Union, would say to us today: Let this great Union--North, South, East, and West--now save the cause of peace and freedom for the whole world.

Thank you.