Remarks at Kingston, New York

Your neighbor from across the river is mighty glad to be back here after four years. It has become a sort of a four-year custom by now. But it is rather a good custom for me to come to Kingston, and I always like it. I am happy, too, that now my county across the river is going to have a new Congressman. I told them in Newburgh that I was very glad that the legislature had taken my Congressman away from me, and that Hamilton Fish won't be my Congressman after the first of January.

You know, I go back into the history of this city quite a long way, because I had an ancestor who came up from New York to a place called Esopus about 1660, which is quite a way back. And he came up here just in time to take a musket and help to repel Indians who tried to kill all the original settlers. He was a member of what they called the militia in those days.

And that, perhaps, is why I inherited a good deal of love for the armed forces of the United States, who have been carrying on this war so magnificently.

The war is not in Kingston and Hyde Park physically. It is across the oceans. But it means the preservation of our homes in Hyde Park and in Kingston. The people are beginning to realize more and more that we are fighting for the defense of America. I think we are doing a pretty good job of it.

It takes me longer to go from Hyde Park to Kingston because you have taken off the ferry. I was complaining to the Mayor about it, and I think probably the only other thing to do is to build a bridge.

Well, it has been good to see you on this occasion. I think it is a bigger crowd than it has ever been before. And I hope that in the next four years when I come back for an occasional weekend at home from Washington I will be able to come over here and see you all.

In the meantime, I have heard of the great things you are doing in the war. Your Mayor was telling me the wonderful figures, the percentage of your boys that are in the armed forces. And I want to congratulate you also on what you are doing for the Navy in the two yards, one of which I happened to start twenty-five years ago.

So, keep up the good work, and good luck to you all.

Goodbye.