Six Crises (76 page)

I would not be so presumptuous as to try to give him advice on how he should fulfill that responsibility. But could I relate something that I noted on the trip I have just completed? In every factory and on hundreds of billboards I saw this slogan, “Let us work for the victory of Commununism.”

If Mr. Khrushchev means by this slogan working for a better life for the people within the Soviet Union that is one thing. If, on the other hand, he means the victory of Communism over the United States and other countries, this is a horse of a different color. For we have our own ideas as to what system is best for us.

If he devotes his immense energies and talents to building a better life for the people of his own country, Mr. Khrushchev can go down in history as one of the greatest leaders the Soviet people have ever produced. But if he diverts the resources and talents of his people to the objective of promoting the communization of countries outside the Soviet Union, he will only assure that both he and his people will continue to live in an era of fear, suspicion and tension.

The Geneva conference is a case in point. It would not be proper for me to comment on the specific proposals that are pending before that conference at this time. But agreements between great powers cannot be reached unless they take into account the views and interests of all parties concerned. I was encouraged to note in my conversations with Mr. Khrushchev that he recognizes this fact and agrees that a successful outcome of this conference could be a great step forward in settling some of the problems I have discussed tonight.

I have one final thought to add. Mr. Khrushchev predicted that our grandchildren would live under Communism. He reiterated this to me in our talks last Sunday.

Let me say that we do not object to his saying this will happen. We only object if he tries to bring it about.

And this is my answer to him. I do not say that your grandchildren will live under capitalism. We prefer our system. But the very essence of our belief is that we do not and will not try to impose our system on anybody else. We believe that you and all other peoples on this earth should have the right to choose the kind of economic or political system which best fits your particular problems without any foreign intervention.

As I leave your country, I shall never forget an incident that occurred as I was driving through your beautiful Ural Mountains. A group of children on the side of the road threw wild flowers into my car and cried in English the words “friendship,” “friendship.” Mr. Zhukov told me that the first word children who study English are taught is the word “friendship.” There could be no more eloquent expression of the attitude of the Soviet people, an attitude which we share in common with you.

Finally, may I express on behalf of my wife and I, and all the members of our party, our deep appreciation for the warm friendship and boundless
hospitality we have found everywhere we have gone in the Soviet Union. I pledge to you that in the years to come I shall devote my best efforts to the cause of peace with justice for all the peoples of the world.

This address was reprinted, as agreed, in Soviet newspapers.

 

July 28, 1960

AN ADDRESS BY RICHARD M. NIXON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ACCEPTING THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION'S NOMINATION AS CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES

Mr. Chairman, delegates to this convention, my fellow Americans:

I have made many speeches in my life, yet never have I found it more difficult to find words adequate to express what I feel.

To stand here before this great convention, to hear your expressions of affection for me, for Pat, for our daughters, for my mother, for all of us who are representing our Party, is, of course, the greatest moment of my life.

I want you to know that my only prayer as I stand here is that in the months ahead I may be in some way worthy of the affection and the trust which you have presented to me on this occasion—in everything that I say, in everything that I do, in everything that I think in this campaign and afterwards.

May I also say that I have been wanting to come to this convention, but because of the protocol that makes it necessary that a candidate not attend the convention until the nominations are over, I have had to watch it on television.

I have never been so proud of my Party as I have been in these last three days as I compared this convention and the conduct of our delegates and our speakers with what went on in my native state of California just two weeks ago. I congratulate Chairman Halleck, and Chairman Morton, and all of those who have helped to make this convention one that will stand in the annals of our Party forever as one of the finest we have ever held.

Have you ever stopped to think of the memories you will take away from this convention? The things that run through my mind are these: That first day, with its magnificent speeches—Mr. Hoover with his great lessons for the American people; Walter Judd, with one of the most outstanding keynote addresses in either Party in history; our platform and its magnificent presentation by Chuck Percy, the Chairman; and last night our beloved, fighting President, making the greatest speech I ever heard him make. All of this is part of our convention.

For these and for so many other things, I want to congratulate you tonight and to thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of Americans—not just Republicans, but Americans everywhere—for making us proud of our country and of our two-Party system.

Tonight too, I particularly want to thank this convention for nominating as my running-mate a world statesman of the first rank, my friend and colleague, Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts. In refreshing contrast to
what happened in Los Angeles, you nominated a man who shares my views on the great issues and who will work with me and not against me in carrying out our magnificent platform.

During this week we Republicans with strong convictions about our Party and about our country had our differences—but as the speech by Senator Barry Goldwater indicated yesterday, and the eloquent and gracious remarks of my friend Nelson Rockefeller indicated tonight, we know that the differences that divided us were infinitesimal compared to the gulf between ourselves and the Democrats as a result of what they did at Los Angeles during their convention two weeks ago.

It was only eight years ago that I stood in this very place after you nominated as our candidate for the Presidency one of the great men of our century. Now, I say to you that for generations to come Americans, regardless of party, will gratefully remember Dwight Eisenhower as the man who brought peace to America, as the man under whose leadership Americans enjoyed the greatest progress and prosperity in history; and above all, they will remember him as the man who restored honesty, integrity and dignity to the conduct of government and to the highest office of this land.

My fellow Americans, I know now that you will understand what I am about to say. Because the next President of the United States will have Dwight Eisenhower's great example to follow in confronting new and challenging world problems of utmost gravity, this truly is the time for greatness in America's leadership.

I am sure you will understand why I do not say tonight that I alone am the man who can furnish that leadership. That question is not for me to decide, but for you—and I only ask that the thousands of you in this hall and the millions of you listening to me on television make that decision in the most thoughtful way you possibly can, because what you decide this November will not only affect your lives and your future, it will affect the future of millions throughout the world. I urge you to study the records of the candidates, to listen to my speeches and my opponent's, and Mr. Lodge's and his opponent's, and then, after you have studied our records and listened to our speeches, decide. Decide, on the basis of what we say and what we believe, who is best qualified to lead America and the free world in this critical period.

To help you make this decision I would like to discuss tonight some of the great problems which will confront the next President of the United States and the policies that I believe should be adopted to meet them.

•  •  •

One hundred years ago, in this very city, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President of the United States. The problems which will confront our next President will be even greater than those that confronted Lincoln. The question then was freedom for the slaves and survival of the nation. The question now is freedom for all mankind and the survival of civilization. The choice that each of you listening to me makes this November can affect the answer to that question.

What should your choice be? Let us first examine what our opponents offered in Los Angeles two weeks ago. They claimed theirs was a new program, but you know what it was. It was simply the same old proposition that a political party should be all things to all men, and nothing more than that. They promised everything to everybody with one exception: they didn't promise to pay the bill.

And I say tonight that with their convention, their platform, and their ticket, they composed a symphony of political cynicism which is out of harmony with our times today.

Now, we come to the key question, what should our answer be? Some might say to do as they do—and even out-promise them because that is the only way to win. I want to tell you my answer.

I happen to believe that their program would be disastrous for America, that it would wreck our economy and that it would dash our people's high hopes for a better life. So I serve notice here and now that whatever the political consequences, we are not going to try to out-promise our opponents in this campaign. We are not going to make promises we cannot and should not keep, and we are not going to try to buy the people's votes with their own money.

To those who say that this position will mean political defeat, my answer is this: We have more faith than that in the good sense of the American people, provided the people know the facts.

I pledge to you tonight that we will bring the facts home to the American people, and we will do it with a campaign such as this country has never seen before.

I have been asked all week by the newsmen sitting on my right and left, “When is this campaign going to begin, Mr. Vice President? On Labor Day or one of the other traditional starting dates?” This is my answer: This campaign begins tonight, here and now, and this campaign will continue without letup from now until November 8.

I have also been asked by my friends in the press, “Mr. Vice President, where are you going to concentrate? What states are you going to visit?” This is my answer: In this campaign we are taking no states for granted, and we are conceding no states to the opposition. I announce to you tonight—and I pledge to you—that I personally will carry this campaign into every one of the fifty states of this nation between now and November 8.

And in this campaign I make a prediction—I say that, just as in 1952 and 1956, millions of Democrats will join us in 1960; not because they are deserting their Party, but because their Party deserted them at Los Angeles two weeks ago.

•  •  •

Now, I have suggested to you what our friends of the opposition offered to the American people. What do we offer? First, we are proud to offer the best eight-year record of any administration in the history of this country. But, my fellow Americans, that isn't all and that isn't enough. We happen to believe that a record is not something to stand on, but something to build on. In building on the record of this administration we shall build a better America. We shall build an America in which we shall see the realization of the dreams of millions of people not only in America but throughout the world for a fuller, freer, richer life than men have ever known in the history of mankind.

Let me tell you something of the goals of this better America toward which we will strive. In this America, our older citizens shall have not only adequate protection against the hazards of ill health, but—rather than sitting on the sidelines—they shall have a greater opportunity to lead useful and productive lives by participating to the extent they are able in the nation's exciting work.

And in the better America, young Americans shall have not only the best
basic education, but every boy and girl of ability, regardless of financial circumstances, shall have the opportunity to develop intellectual capabilities to the fullest.

Our wage earners shall enjoy increasingly higher wages in honest dollars, with better protection against the hazards of unemployment and old age.

For those millions of Americans who are still denied equality of rights and opportunity, there shall be the greatest progress in human rights since the days of Lincoln one hundred years ago.

America's farmers, to whose hard work and almost incredible efficiency we owe the fact that we are the best fed, best clothed people in the world, must and will receive what they do not have today, and what they deserve—a fair share of America's ever-increasing prosperity.

To accomplish these things we will develop to the full the untapped natural resources, our water, our minerals, our power with which we are so fortunate to be blessed in this rich land. We shall provide for our scientists the support they need for the research that will open exciting new highways into a future in which we shall have progress which we cannot even dream of today.

Above all, in this decade of decision and progress we will witness the continued revitalization of America's moral and spiritual strength, with a renewed faith in the eternal ideals of freedom and justice under God which are our priceless heritage as a people.

Now, I am sure that many of you in this hall, and many of you watching on television, might well ask, “But Mr. Nixon, don't our opponents favor just such goals as this?” And my answer is, “Yes, of course.” All Americans regardless of Party want a better life for our people.

What is the difference then? I will tell you what it is. The difference is in the way we propose to reach these goals. The record shows that our way works and theirs doesn't, and we are going to prove it in this campaign. We produce on the promises that they make. We succeed where they fail.