Our Nation will be moving toward this goal when artificial barriers, wrong in principle, are all made impossible in fact in the life of our people and when good will, understanding, and friendship replace the hate, prejudice, and bigotry that lie in the hearts of some of our citizens. Our Nation will be approaching perfection when breeders, carriers, and spreaders of hate no longer strike at the very vitals of the institutions upon which our liberties rest. America will be near to perfection when all basic human needs,12 spiritual as well as physical, are met. 12 We must all do our part to make the land in which we live a bit more beautiful and better because we have been in it. We must labor earnestly to see a living and growing America, full of promise, become an America in which that promise is fulfilled. Our Nation is no stronger than the combined strength of the men and women who make it up. And the strength of each of these comes from within, not from without. Democracy is the sum total of its individual citizens. Only as the individuals improve can the Nation move toward its ideal—a goal as high as the stars. Each citizen must, indeed, do his part to make democracy work for all, instead of expecting it to work for him alone. He must understand that he can have no true liberty except as he finds it in the liberty of all. For every liberty there is a corresponding loyalty, for every right an accompanying duty, and for every privilege a related responsibility. We have something worth defending in this country, something more than buildings and factories and material things; something more than a body of land extending from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific; something more than valleys and mountains, cities and plains; and something even more than power and glory. That something is the soul of America, the dwelling place of ideals and principles. Maintenance and defense of this trust challenge every American citizen to make a positive and continuing contribution to America. Saint James challenged the men of his day with the words: "When we talk of freedom and opportunity for all nations, the mocking paradoxes in our own society become so clear they can no longer be ignored. If we want to talk about freedom, we must mean freedom for everyone inside our frontiers as well as outside." Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth. therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. In this crucial time in national and world history, when a spirit of uneasiness, apprehension, and even of fear is abroad in our land and in every other land, speakers may well point out the need to choose a philosophy to live by. They may emphasize that we must choose a philosophy of hope or a philosophy of fear. If we choose the philosophy of fear and failure, we shall destroy ourselves physically and spiritually. But if we choose the philosophy of hope and courage, we shall find a good life for ourselves and all humanity. No one bred in the American tradition of hope and courage should ever be captive to fear. The philosophy of fear has no place in our American life. Fear did not win our independence, or carve a land of justice, liberty, and opportunity out of a wilderness. In the words of Chief Justice Vinson: We should recall that this is not the first period of crisis and * We live in the most challenging age of all time. on the threshold of a great scientific era that furnishes the tools with which to explore the rich resources of the earth. Americans, who are by heritage builders and not destroyers, must use these resources for the betterment of mankind. With faith in man, faith in country, and faith in God, our Nation, full of golden opportunities, can become a land in which those opportunities are realized. Citizens of today are building for tomorrow. May all glory in the building. 1a Address before the American Bar Association, Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 22, 1947. |