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read, unless there is restraint now, unless there is voluntary self-discipline by management and labor, then your Government will be compelled by sheer necessity to act in order to protect all of the people.

For in a democracy, the interest of all the people is, and should be, always overriding. And it is Government's duty and it is your President's duty, and he will exercise that duty by trying to reason— -"come reason together"-to protect that interest.

But if, after we reason and after we appeal for self-discipline, after we ask for restraint, there are still general excesses, then I pledge you tonight we are going to protect your interests.

Now that sums up about all I have to say on the inflation problem. This will end my speaking for this week-at least this Saturday. I have told you the general subjects we have discussed.

I just want to conclude by talking about one that we have not discussed.

We have been talking about problems. But I want to talk about successes. I want to talk about the day in America when we have 76 million people working, working full 40-hour weeks, some of them drawing good overtime, working at an average factory wage in excess of $112 per weekthe highest in the history of this Nationmore people working, getting more pay, than at any time in the history of this Nation. We have the best education and health programs that any government has ever inaugurated. Our citizens are eating. more. They are wearing more. Their children are going to better schools.

They are driving better automobiles and more of them—some people even have two. They are living in better homes, although all of them don't have good homes. And except for our problems in Vietnam, we have so much to be thankful for.

So when you go home tonight after having listened to those whose principal job all day has been complaining, to those who got up on the wrong side of the bed and have been martyrs all day long, feeling that nobody loved them and they had been mistreated, just think about what other country you would like to trade your citizenship in for.

Just think about what other flag in the world represents as much to you as that one does. Just think of what boy and girl that you know who has more constitutional rights, more liberty, more freedom, more educational opportunity, more care of their body and their health, more opportunity for recreation, more opportunity to make individual decisions and be independent of everybody than you have here in America.

I have never felt that our people were unreasonably demanding. I think the average American doesn't ask much, doesn't expect much, doesn't have to have much.

He wants a church where he can worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. He wants a home where he and his wife can raise their family in comfort. He wants a job where he can earn enough to meet his responsibilities as a parent. He wants to be able to provide health care for his growing family and security for his old age.

And he may want to go to a park or a seashore once in a while, or even a movie, or to sit and listen to television. But outside of that, that is about all he asks for. And most of us have that and we ought to be thankful for it.

So if I could leave one thought with you, finally. I have gotten great strength from visiting with you and looking into your faces and giving you my views. I have learned something from you, too, you people in the five States that I have visited.

I can go back and listen to the complainers-if there be any in Washington--the commentators, I can hear their individual viewpoints. But I will have enough strength to make my judgments and my decisions, because every man that's ever been President of the United States wants to make the right decision.

No man who has ever been President, whether it was Hoover, Wilson, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Truman, or Kennedy-every single man that has ever been President, wanted to do what is right. Their great problem is knowing what is right because most of the decisions that come to a President are balanced just like this. The easy ones are settled by the Congressmen, the Senators, and Governors.

Last week or the week before, when we settled the airlines strike the first time, before the machinists had had their vote on it and had a chance to express themselves, I picked up some of the leading journals of this country which really have a good deal of information on a good many subjects.

One of the editorials said that I was a dictator, and I had arrogance of power, and I twisted arms, and I had brought about an agreement. That made me sad, because I don't like for people to say ugly things about me and I don't want to be a dictator.

And then, the next day they didn't ratify the contract. They turned it down and a week went by. Some of the writers had to ride a train from New York to Florida instead of being able to go by airplane. So then they said, not that he was a dictator, but they said, "Why doesn't he show some leadership?"

So then I was talking to Ed Muskie about it. I said, "I am between the devil and the deep blue sea. I don't want to be a dictator;

I do want to have some leadership. Now how do I go about it?"

He said it reminded him of the story about the fellow and the donkey. He said, "A man was walking along with a donkey. Someone said, 'Why would a man want to lead a donkey? Why doesn't he ride it?' Said he got on the donkey and the little boy he had with him was walking along beside him. Someone said, 'Why did that old, big man get on a donkey and let that little boy walk?' So the fellow said, 'OK,' and put the little boy on the donkey.

"As they went on down the road a little bit, one of these complainers saw the little donkey coming along with the man and the boy both on it and they said, 'Why do those two big men ride that poor little donkey?' And they went on down a little bit further and finally someone said, "That is an outrage! Why don't they carry the donkey?'”

Now dissent, different viewpoints, different objectives are the strength of America. We don't all see everything alike or we would all belong to the same church, we would all wear the same clothes, we would all drive the same automobile, and we would all want the same wife.

It is this difference and this right to express it that makes this the most powerful, the most wealthy, the most stable nation in all the world.

But while we are exercising all these rights we have, all these liberties we cherish, all these privileges that we claim, let's not ever lose completely our perspective. Let's not start feeling so sorry for ourselves that we fail to be thankful and that we fail to realize really how many blessings we have. Thank you, and good night.

NOTE: The President spoke at 6:15 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, Lewiston, Maine. In

his opening words he referred to Representative William D. Hathaway of Maine. During his remarks he referred to, among others, Senator Edmund S. Muskie, Governor John H. Reed, and Senator Margaret Chase Smith, all of Maine, Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, Senate Majority Leader Mike

Mansfield of Montana, Senator Thomas J. McIntyre of New Hampshire, Senator George D. Aiken and Senator Winston L. Prouty of Vermont, Governor John A. Volpe of Massachusetts, Governor John W. King of New Hampshire, and Milton P. Semer, Counsel to the President.

400 Remarks at Franklin D. Roosevelt's Summer Cottage, Campobello Island, New Brunswick. August 21, 1966

Mr. Prime Minister and Mrs. Pearson, Senator Macnaughton, Senator and Mrs. Muskie, distinguished guests on the platform, ladies and gentlemen:

I am very proud to be on this historic island with the distinguished Prime Minister of our neighbor and our close friend, Canada.

If Campobello had not been located between our two nations, I think President Roosevelt would have moved it here. He had a reverence for the island just as he had a deep affection, Mr. Prime Minister, for your country and for your people.

When I first came to Washington 35 years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt was only a few months away from the Presidency.

Before his death 14 years later, he was to help change forever America's course in the affairs of the world. And he was to leave on a very young Congressman an enduring awareness of both the limits as well as the obligations of power.

I saw President Roosevelt on occasion during those years of intense debate over America's response to aggression in Asia and Europe. I saw his concern grow as one test after another gave the belligerent powers increasing confidence that they could get away with aggression.

And here, at Campobello-where the memory of Franklin Roosevelt is strong-I am reminded today of how those years have shaped the realities of our own time.

First, we know that our alternatives are

sometimes determined more by what others do than by our own desires.

We do not choose to use force, but aggression narrows the alternatives-either we do nothing and let aggression succeed, or we take our stand to resist it.

We would always choose peace, but when other men choose peace at the expense of someone else's freedom, the alternative is unacceptable.

Second, we know that a great power can influence events just as much by withdrawing its power as it can by using its

power.

Third, we have learned that unrest and instability in one part of the world are a real danger to other areas in the world and to other peoples who live in those areas. If hostilities in strategic areas can be contained, they will be less likely to threaten world peace with a confrontation of nations that possess unlimited power.

Fourth, we know that if a safe world. order depends as much on a large power's word and its will as it does on weapons, for the world to be secure our friends must trust our treaties and our adversaries must respect our resolve.

Fifth, we know that power carries with it a mandate for restraint and patience: restraint because nuclear weapons have raised the stakes of unmeasured force; and patience, because we are concerned with more than just tomorrow.

No man loved peace more than Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was in the marrow of his soul and I never saw him more grieved than when reports came from the War Department of American casualties in a major battle.

But he led my Nation and he led it courageously in conflict-not for war's sake, because he knew that beyond war lay the larger hopes of man.

And so it is today. The history of mankind is the history of conflict and agonyof wars and of rumors of wars. Still today, we must contend with the cruel reality that some men still believe in using force and seek by aggression to impose their will on others. And that is not the kind of world that America wants, but it is the kind of world that we have.

The day is coming when those men will realize that aggression against their neighbors does not pay. It will be hastened if every nation that abhors war will apply all the influence at their command to persuade the aggressors from their chosen

course.

For this is the real limit of power: We have the means of unlimited destruction,

401

but we do not have the power alone to make peace in the world. Only when those who promote aggression will agree to come and reason together will the world finally know, again, the blessings of peace. That day, I do not doubt, will come, and once men realize that aggression really bears no rewards, it may be that the deepest hopes of Franklin Roosevelt-hopes for a genuine peace and an end to war of every kind-will finally be realized.

So it is good to be here with a man to whom peace has been a lifelong pursuit. American Presidents and Canadian Prime Ministers have always had a very close and informal arrangement reflecting the ties that bind our two countries together.

On this occasion, may we all remember the courage and the strength of a man whose name grows even larger with each passing year: Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

NOTE: The President spoke at 3:35 p.m., following discussions with Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson of Canada, at the laying of the cornerstone for the visitors' center at the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park. In his opening words the President referred to Prime Minister and Mrs. Pearson, Alan Aylesworth Macnaughton, Member of the Canadian Senate from the Province of Quebec, and Senator and Mrs. Edmund S. Muskie of Maine.

The President's News Conference of
August 24, 1966

THE PRESIDENT. The Press Secretary tells me
that some of you wanted to meet with me
today. I am available for any questions
you may want to ask.

THE VICE-PRESIDENCY IN 1968

[1.] Q. Mr. President, former Vice President Nixon said yesterday that he guessed that we might see a Johnson-Kennedy ticket in 1968, and that this might be some added

insurance for you.

I was wondering if you could give us your estimate of Mr. Nixon's political perspicacity. THE PRESIDENT. No. I think the people of the country have a pretty good estimate of that. And I will just leave it at that.

THE COST OF LIVING

[2.] Q. Mr. President, the cost of living went up again in July and you are looking

into rising medical costs. Now, I realize this is a repetitive line of questioning, but I wonder if you are considering any new steps in this direction other than examination of the situation.

THE PRESIDENT. Yes. We constantly review what is taking place, and the emphasis, and psychology, and factual information.

The increases from July last year to July this year were about 21⁄2 percent in the Consumer Price Index, compared to the average since World War II of about 2.6 percent per year, so they have been a little under it. With the rise yesterday, they will be approximately what the average has been since World War II, per year.

In some years, in the early 1960's, when we had a good deal of unemployment, and late 1950's, it was lower. In some years, like 1957, it was higher.

We are constantly receiving evaluations of these developments. We are concerned at the advance in physicians' fees and hospital costs, which were rather substantial the first 6 months of this year and were reflected in the estimate yesterday.

We are concerned with increased transportation costs, as reflected in the index yesterday.

We are very hopeful that we can appeal to those who set the standards on wages to keep their wage demands within reasonable bounds of productivity increases. We hope that those who determine profit margins will exercise self-restraint.

There is little I can add to what I said in my weekend statement on the economy. I recognize that when you have the full employment that we have, you are going to have problems with wages and prices. We are going to keep them in bounds as best we can. And as of now we think that record is reasonably good.

Prices have gone up roughly 10 percent since 1960. Wages have gone up roughly 17 percent during that same period. Profits have gone up 83 percent. So, as long as you can keep your wages and your profits up that much, you can understand that there will be some increase in prices.

Now, we are going to try to keep them all as stable as possible, but when you have wages rising, prices will rise-and they do rise over a period of 6 years, and they have risen over the last year-but comparably speaking, and relatively speaking, not as much as elsewhere.

I was talking to a distinguished leader of another country not long ago. He was rather hoping that he could keep his prices. and wages and profits in line with ours. It may be that the Government will have to take other measures. But we are not ready to recommend them at this time. We are very anxious to see what the Congress does with the more than a dozen appropriation bills that are yet to be acted upon.

I can give you a little more information after we see whether they cut our budget or whether they add to our budget.

PARTY CONTRIBUTIONS AND THE AWARD OF

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

[3] Q. Mr. President, sir, in House debate on the appropriations for Project. Mohole last week and again in a syndicated. column in a morning paper here this morning, there have been suggestions that contributions to the President's Club of the Democratic Party may influence the award of Government contracts. Do you have any comment on that?

THE PRESIDENT. No, they do not influence the award. And I think that you can expect to have periodic political charges of this

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