Remarks in Lantana, Florida

Mr. Mayor, Jim [Kenneth] Seaquist, and all of you wonderful people of Lantana, and a few out-of-towners from Illinois and Michigan and someplace else:

It is just great to be here. I like the weather. [Laughter] I like the people a heck of a lot more. Let me take just a minute.

We in this country have a great opportunity to move ahead both at home and abroad. We have to have an ideal, we have to have something to look down the road with some dignity, some imagination. I would like to say that ideal is freedom--freedom to have a society where your rights are protected, protected against an oppressive government, freedom to do and move and say and write as you want to.

I think freedom is an ideal that we want--freedom against economic difficulties, freedom against the fear of war. Freedom is something that people cherish all over the world. And we are the one country in. this whole globe that has more freedom than any place else, any place else, and we should be thankful.

But in the process of having freedom, it means you have to do something to protect it, to save it, to expand it, to make it more available for more people. I have great faith that 215 million Americans--those in Lantana, Lake Worth, and elsewhere--are going to stand tall and strong and keep moving forward to protect what we have but to help other people too.

I have to say goodby now, and I hate to leave Lantana, but let me add, if I might, as I have shaken many hands and looked in many eyes and heard from many people right on this street, I have a feeling that I have a friend or two here.

I think friendship is the greatest thing, and may I ask for your help and support on March 9? I would appreciate it, and I won't let you down. We will stand tall and strong throughout the world, and we will build a better and better America, and your help and support will be most appreciated.

Thank you very, very much.