WEBVTT 1 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.900 That's what I said just four years ago this month. 2 00:03:07.200 --> 00:03:09.940 Well, it doesn't do any good to say I told you so. 3 00:03:10.600 --> 00:03:15.000 There's just one cure for corruption, for maladministration. 4 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:19.780 In the good old American phrase, throw the rascals out. 5 00:03:28.580 --> 00:03:33.520 That's the cure you administered to the previous Republican administration in 1948, 6 00:03:33.960 --> 00:03:37.240 and it's the cure you're going to administer to this one a week from next Tuesday. 7 00:03:40.940 --> 00:03:44.420 You know, I think that one of the most revealing headlines that I ever saw, 8 00:03:45.040 --> 00:03:47.660 even in the world's most cynical Republican newspaper, 9 00:03:47.660 --> 00:03:51.520 appeared on Chicago's newsstands just the other day. 10 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:54.120 It was October 9th. It says, 11 00:03:54.580 --> 00:03:58.800 Hodge insists all he stole was $600,000. 12 00:04:01.880 --> 00:04:11.160 But you know, if there is any political advantage under Franco Lowell, 13 00:04:12.160 --> 00:04:17.700 I think it's interesting that so little notice has been taken in the public press 14 00:04:17.700 --> 00:04:21.340 of the relationships of the leaders of Illinois Republicanism 15 00:04:21.340 --> 00:04:23.920 with their party leaders in Washington. 16 00:04:25.080 --> 00:04:30.400 We've heard almost nothing of how although Hodge entertained Leonard Hall, 17 00:04:30.840 --> 00:04:34.740 chairman of the Republican National Committee, in his Florida hotel, 18 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:37.060 and made heavy contributions. 19 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:39.920 I wonder whose money that was. 20 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:48.680 To the National Republican Party war chest. 21 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:56.140 I wonder, has anyone suggested that maybe this money should be repaid to the Illinois taxpayers? 22 00:04:58.580 --> 00:05:02.820 On top of all this, I understand that President Eisenhower wrote Mr. Hodge 23 00:05:02.820 --> 00:05:07.820 a personal note of thanks for his services to the Republican Party. 24 00:05:13.460 --> 00:05:20.160 I wonder what the press of the country would say if it had been a Democratic national chairman 25 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.800 and a Democratic state auditor. 26 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:25.220 I think you have a pretty good idea. 27 00:05:26.400 --> 00:05:29.260 You remember what they did to one stray me. 28 00:05:29.260 --> 00:05:39.620 And for that matter, there was little comment when President Eisenhower's close friend, 29 00:05:40.620 --> 00:05:46.360 the secretary of the Air Force, was awarded a medal for his services 30 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:52.220 after Congress and the press had caught him using the influence of his office 31 00:05:52.220 --> 00:05:54.200 to promote his private business. 32 00:05:55.200 --> 00:06:01.420 And it is this same Mr. Hall, who is today refusing to testify before a congressional committee 33 00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:06.140 about the charge that large government contracts were given only to Republicans 34 00:06:07.020 --> 00:06:10.640 and upon the Republican national chairman's approval. 35 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:19.380 And it was this administration that called itself, do you remember, a great crusade, 36 00:06:19.380 --> 00:06:26.820 that tried to brazen through the Dixon-Yates deal, a deal which the Democrats showed up, 37 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:33.640 which even the Department of Justice has now confessed was illegal from the start, 38 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.740 and to quote its words, contrary to public policy. 39 00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:43.560 I'm always abused about one of those errant Republicans in exalted office 40 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:48.180 who defended himself when he confused his private affairs with his public affairs 41 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:51.540 by saying that he never did it except during his lunch hour. 42 00:06:53.060 --> 00:06:59.180 I personally get pretty disgusted with this mantle of self-righteousness 43 00:06:59.940 --> 00:07:03.240 that the Republican candidates wrap around themselves. 44 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:07.160 We need decent government in Springfield. 45 00:07:07.260 --> 00:07:10.420 This knows so well. Or is it the Quint Cities now? What are you? 46 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:16.300 Anyway, as you here know so well, this isn't just an agricultural problem. 47 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:20.300 One of the worst things I think that this administration has done 48 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:24.660 is to try to cover up its farm policy failures 49 00:07:24.660 --> 00:07:29.760 by setting city people against farmers and farmers against city people. 50 00:07:30.140 --> 00:07:35.080 They tell city people that farmers are really living high on the hog, 51 00:07:35.640 --> 00:07:42.840 that a strong farm program is inevitably going to mean higher food costs in the city. 52 00:07:42.840 --> 00:07:47.540 They tell farmers, yet I wonder if you realize, I'm sure you do, 53 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:55.600 that the farmer's share of the housewife's dollar has dropped from about 52 cents to 40 cents 54 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:59.480 while the cost of living has been steadily going up. 55 00:08:00.580 --> 00:08:06.760 And today, by the way, I read in the paper that the cost of living gets another all-time high. 56 00:08:06.760 --> 00:08:12.540 And the price of hogs, by the way, went down 25 cents yesterday in Chicago. 57 00:08:17.660 --> 00:08:21.740 You know, sometimes I wonder how they manage to do it. 58 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:27.240 And then they tell the farmers that the working man drives around in a Cadillac, 59 00:08:27.540 --> 00:08:33.160 and that because of his wages, the farmer must pay higher prices for what he buys. 60 00:08:33.160 --> 00:08:38.420 Yet the administration also points at the same time with pride 61 00:08:38.420 --> 00:08:42.660 to the highest corporation profits in history. 62 00:08:43.880 --> 00:08:49.160 They do this, I think, because they know that so long as they can keep laboring 63 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:54.640 the working people of the city from joining forces with the farmers, 64 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:56.640 the working people of the country, 65 00:08:56.640 --> 00:09:02.900 then they can harvest votes from the resentment of each 66 00:09:02.900 --> 00:09:07.340 and keep themselves in office and keep their special plans, 67 00:09:08.140 --> 00:09:10.240 their special interests in the driver's seat. 68 00:09:11.140 --> 00:09:14.680 But I believe that the American people are catching on. 69 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:17.020 I don't want human terms. 70 00:09:17.980 --> 00:09:21.520 But you know how our Republican friends, I wonder if you noticed, 71 00:09:21.820 --> 00:09:26.000 what has always amused and struck me, their passion for statistics, 72 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.140 for figures, for averages. 73 00:09:28.660 --> 00:09:33.740 If one big man makes $50,000 a year and you make nothing, 74 00:09:34.420 --> 00:09:36.940 then on the average you're both making $25,000. 75 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:39.640 Isn't that just awesome? 76 00:09:49.160 --> 00:09:52.360 The basic problem, of course, is the collapse of farm income. 77 00:09:52.500 --> 00:09:55.640 When this administration was elected, the figures are familiar. 78 00:09:55.640 --> 00:09:56.820 There's a parity ratio. 79 00:09:57.740 --> 00:10:00.080 Yet President Eisenhower said the other day, 80 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:04.500 and I quote him that, over the nation, the prosperity we are sharing today 81 00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:08.240 is at a new height, a new level, even for the United States. 82 00:10:08.580 --> 00:10:13.940 He said that the outlook for the farmer is much better than it's been in the last 10 years. 83 00:10:14.640 --> 00:10:17.500 He talked about the happiness on people's faces, 84 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:21.600 and he said, I haven't seen so much happiness in a long time. 85 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:25.600 I wonder whose faces he was looking at. 86 00:10:28.920 --> 00:10:36.880 I wonder if it was men who used to have jobs in the farm equipment industry. 87 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:41.060 I wonder if it was housewives paying the highest prices in history. 88 00:10:41.620 --> 00:10:45.360 I wonder if it was teachers in overcrowded classrooms. 89 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:52.880 But you know, I think I know what it was. 90 00:10:53.480 --> 00:10:55.360 I think it was the faces of his cabinet, 91 00:10:55.980 --> 00:10:59.100 or perhaps it was the faces of the board of directors of General Motors. 92 00:11:06.600 --> 00:11:09.320 But it isn't a question of smiles on people's faces. 93 00:11:09.740 --> 00:11:11.580 Sure, we smile. Of course we do. 94 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:15.340 That's... 95 00:11:15.340 --> 00:11:20.280 Most of us are pretty well off, and we're grateful for all the blessings that we enjoy in this blessed land. 96 00:11:20.880 --> 00:11:23.260 But we are talking about here the business of government, 97 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:30.180 and one of the questions is what we mean to do about some pretty serious situations 98 00:11:30.180 --> 00:11:33.120 that make it mighty hard for some people to smile, 99 00:11:33.420 --> 00:11:35.980 and for reasons that are not always their own fault. 100 00:11:36.700 --> 00:11:41.800 We Democrats just don't propose to stand by while people suffer in the distressed areas, 101 00:11:41.800 --> 00:11:46.880 any more than we propose to stand by while people suffer on the farms. 102 00:11:46.880 --> 00:11:53.040 We have a program for the distressed areas, as we have a program for the farms. 103 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:59.960 I wish there were time here to talk about so many of the other specific issues that we face here in America today, 104 00:12:00.160 --> 00:12:03.520 even in these comparatively prosperous times. 105 00:12:03.920 --> 00:12:10.900 And yet I suspect that the really basic issues in this 1956 election are of a much broader kind. 106 00:12:10.900 --> 00:12:16.180 We are entering a new age that we sometimes don't think about, I believe. 107 00:12:16.920 --> 00:12:22.640 A new age that requires not only new men, but it requires new ideas. 108 00:12:23.180 --> 00:12:26.760 It calls for a young party, a party of life and of hope, 109 00:12:27.160 --> 00:12:31.360 which holds human beings in affection and respect 110 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:36.420 when massiveness and growth and bigness is threateningly precious, 111 00:12:36.420 --> 00:12:41.700 all as individuals, as this inexorable monster increases, 112 00:12:41.760 --> 00:12:45.500 whether it's communications, whether it's business, whether it's government, whatever it is, 113 00:12:45.560 --> 00:12:47.680 it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. 114 00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:52.780 Yet the purpose of democratic government is the preservation of the individual in society. 115 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:59.640 A party and an... I say to you that our difficulties and our dangers in the world are multiplying every minute, 116 00:13:00.300 --> 00:13:06.040 as in sewage, and also our opportunities, as in Poland and Hungary, 117 00:13:06.040 --> 00:13:08.360 and so it is also here at home. 118 00:13:08.920 --> 00:13:14.720 On the one hand, our deficiencies become more apparent in education, in health, 119 00:13:15.220 --> 00:13:19.120 housing, slum clearance, social security, equal opportunities for all, 120 00:13:19.520 --> 00:13:22.160 and nothing or next to nothing is being done about them. 121 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:25.400 And on the other hand, thanks to our natural blessings, 122 00:13:25.780 --> 00:13:29.180 thanks to the great technological revolution of this age, 123 00:13:29.560 --> 00:13:35.580 the means are now at hand as never before of this mad arms race in helpless terror 124 00:13:35.580 --> 00:13:38.480 and in ever expanding hunger and misery and want. 125 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:45.280 Just because this administration has not been able to make any progress towards safe disarmament 126 00:13:45.280 --> 00:13:48.920 or even towards controlling hydrogen development, 127 00:13:49.520 --> 00:13:52.400 does not mean that such agreements are forever impossible. 128 00:13:53.140 --> 00:13:56.340 No matter which party wins the election in November, 129 00:13:57.300 --> 00:14:02.740 another supreme effort must be undertaken, and if that one fails, then another and another. 130 00:14:02.740 --> 00:14:04.780 For leaders must lead. 131 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:18.340 I say to you, my friends, that there is much work, much work to be done. 132 00:14:19.660 --> 00:14:23.240 In our land and in our world, great work lies ahead of us. 133 00:14:23.380 --> 00:14:28.540 I believe with all of my heart and soul that this nation is about to cook, 134 00:14:28.540 --> 00:14:33.160 is on the threshold of a richer age than man has ever known. 135 00:14:33.660 --> 00:14:36.340 And the question is, shall we press forth? 136 00:14:36.880 --> 00:14:38.720 Shall we attain this goal? 137 00:14:38.800 --> 00:14:41.640 Shall we use our riches for all of the people? 138 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:47.980 Or shall we stand mute, irritably, silent and alone? 139 00:14:49.040 --> 00:14:51.600 Or shall we use them for just some of the people? 140 00:14:52.160 --> 00:14:55.400 And can we master these new machines? 141 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:58.000 Or must we serve the new machines? 142 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.400 And can we put the atom to our peaceful use? 143 00:15:02.220 --> 00:15:03.340 Or will it destroy us? 144 00:15:03.920 --> 00:15:06.660 These are great questions, they require great answers, 145 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:12.340 and those answers can come only from the strength and the wisdom of you, 146 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:14.220 you the American people. 147 00:15:14.800 --> 00:15:21.240 And they will not be drawn forth by leadership that fails to lead, that frowns on new ideas. 148 00:15:21.380 --> 00:15:25.440 They will be drawn forth only by leadership that dares to try the new, 149 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:29.680 that meets the crises of our times with an unbeatable enthusiasm. 150 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:32.040 You remember what Emerson said? 151 00:15:32.060 --> 00:15:35.800 He said nothing great on earth was ever accomplished without enthusiasm. 152 00:15:36.380 --> 00:15:40.820 So I say let us go forward, never satisfied with things as they are, 153 00:15:41.280 --> 00:15:46.360 and daring always to try the new, daring nobly, doing greatly, 154 00:15:46.880 --> 00:15:51.120 and so building the new America of our dreams. 155 00:15:51.920 --> 00:16:03.500 The only hope is a democratic victory in November, 156 00:16:03.680 --> 00:16:06.360 a victory for a party which cares about people. 157 00:16:11.540 --> 00:16:18.200 A party that wants to put the human being and not the dollar sign at the center of American life. 158 00:16:22.020 --> 00:16:28.360 And a party in which there is no place for the Richard Nixon's of this earth. 159 00:16:34.820 --> 00:16:37.100 As they first step toward the new America, 160 00:16:38.740 --> 00:16:43.300 you gave the Congress back to the Democratic Party in 1954, 161 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:50.360 and the next step is to give the executive branch of the government back to the Democratic Party in 1957. 162 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:53.520 The new Democratic Party is a party that wants to put the people of America in the same place. 163 00:16:53.520 --> 00:17:01.820 The new Democratic Party is a party that wants to put the people of America in the same place. 164 00:17:01.820 --> 00:17:04.060 The new Democratic Party is a party that wants to put the people of America in the same place. 165 00:17:09.980 --> 00:17:11.380 The new Democratic Party is a party that wants to put the people of America in the same place.