Remarks at the Coliseum, Knoxville, Tennessee

Thank you, Governor Clement. I appreciate the gracious welcome that you and Mrs. Clement have given us today in Tennessee--and the most generous introduction that you have given me at least three or four times since we crossed the border of your State.

I believe this introduction you just gave me is about the best introduction I have ever had in all my public life, except one that I had down in Texas one time when my County Judge was supposed to introduce me and he didn't show up and I had to introduce myself!

I am delighted to be here in the great State of Tennessee with my friends, Senator Gore, Senator Waiters, Congressman Bass, and Congressman Fulton. I am very indebted to Judge Bozeman for his most generous statement. I want to thank Reverend Mattingly for being here today and leading us in prayer.

I want all of you to know that we came to listen and learn, but not just listen and learn, but to do something about the things that need something done about them. For that reason, I brought most of the Cabinet with me--Secretaries Freeman, Celebrezze, and Wirtz--and Mr. Wagner, Mr. Weaver, and Mr. Roosevelt.

As Governor Clement told you, Tennessee gave the Republic of Texas its first President, Sam Houston, and it has taken more than a hundred years, but I am glad to come back here today to Tennessee to thank all of you for that favor. I don't know whether you know it or not, but all of us Texans know that there never would have been a Texas if there hadn't been a Tennessee. There are times when you won't want to admit that, but it is true. Sam Houston was Governor of Tennessee before he came to our State and became President of Texas.

I want to assure you, however, that I have not come back here to run for Governor of Tennessee. I already have my hands full, at least for the time being.

Tennessee is full of warm memories. Not far from here, one of the greatest Americans of all times and one of the best friends that I ever had was born in Roane County, the late, beloved Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sam Rayburn. Sam Rayburn left Roane County a long time ago, but the migration of your young people to other States is still bleeding Tennessee of some of its best talent and some of its most precious resources. You should be disturbed by the fact that of the 100 graduates of LaFollette High School in 1952, only 3 still live in Campbell County. They left not because of any love lost for Campbell County but because of lost opportunities. They moved on, searching for jobs and searching for the security and the dignity that comes from having a job and being able to work.

They are not alone. Two-thirds of the membership of an electrical union headquartered in Knoxville has been forced to seek work outside of this area. And someone told me of the unemployed railroad worker here at Jellico who said to a reporter, "Up in my part of the country things are so rough that the river only runs twice a week, and you cannot get a job unless somebody else dies."

Our society cannot tolerate a situation where a man cannot work unless somebody else dies. And yet 6 percent of the working force of Tennessee's Appalachian area are unemployed.

But statistics tell only part of this story. They do not describe the harsh picture of despair and want in communities like Clairfield, where more than 200 children meet and study in two crumbling buildings heated by coal stoves and lighted by weak light bulbs, and where the only hot meal most of them get a day is the free lunch at school.

Figures could not tell the painful hopelessness of the Tennessee miner who works 8 to 10 hours in a treacherous dog hole for a week's profit of $30.¹ In a rich and in a great society I find it hard to believe that onefifth of our population has been left behind in misery and in want. Surely the wealthiest and the most powerful country in the world should be able to give every man who wants to work a chance to find a decent job, a chance to earn a decent wage, and a chance to provide a decent living for his family.

This can be done, and this administration is going to do it. This administration has declared war on poverty and unemployment, and we have asked Congress to approve a major assault on the problems of the Appalachia area which concern you people here so much. We have come here today to tell you that we need and we ask for your help in Tennessee and in Knoxville. We intend to fight both of these battles, and we intend to fight them until victory is ours.

Those who oppose us are determined people. They have already last week, on the Floor of the House of Representatives, called this war on poverty a cruel hoax. Well, that is an old, familiar phrase--cruel hoax. The first thing I want to observe is the man that coined that phrase must have had a job for a long time working for the Republican National Committee, because I first heard that phrase in the 1936 campaign when they called Social Security a cruel hoax.

If those men had had their way 30 years ago, the TVA would not be the world's shining example of how Government and free enterprise can work hand in hand to help people. If those men had had their way, the "For Sale" sign would be on TVA this very hour and Knoxville would not be nearly as well off as it is.

I take great pride in looking in this most beautiful building that is filled with fine, happy faces today. But only a moment ago, and a stone's throw from this building, I saw people as poverty ridden as I have seen in any part of the United States. And with your help and with God's help, we are not only going to enjoy this beautiful center that we meet in this afternoon, but we are going to clean up these places around it.

The TVA has already demonstrated what freedom can do by the collective action of the people, and by the vision of leadership. Now we must do it again. This time in fighting the war on poverty and carrying the Appalachian program to a successful conclusion, we can demonstrate that when the need is here, people will act.

I have come here today not as a sightseer of poverty, although I have seen some of it. I have not come with promises of plenty, although I am willing to make some promises, for there is no such thing as instant prosperity. There is no pat formula that will bring superfast relief to this section of the Nation.

But I have come to say that fighting together, we can and we will win this war on poverty in all this Nation. So help us fight this war and help us win this victory, and let us not wait for the day when the prophet will say that the harvest is past and the summer is ended, and we are not yet saved.

Let us, instead, work together so that one day we may hear the benediction, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

I know that you have had your dreams. I know that you have had your visions and your hopes. But I wonder if for just a moment, as we conclude, you would not engage in just a little introspection and ask yourself if you applied the Golden Rule and did unto others as you would have them do unto you; if you signed your name on the cornerstone of this building, and you demonstrated that you met here on this afternoon at the hour of 5 o'clock or 5:30, that you enlisted in the war on poverty, I wonder if in the decades and centuries to come the fact that your name was on that honor roll wouldn't be one of the proudest things that your descendants could point to.

So I ask you, and I appeal to you, to come and say that we can fight together. When President Roosevelt came here in 1934, he said what is true in 1964: "The good people of this valley will be known as veterans of a war to improve the living conditions of millions of Americans."

So I ask you today, please come help us do those things which need doing for the benefit of those who need help, to make sure that in this abundant land no child goes unfed; to make sure that in this abundant land no youngster goes unschooled; to make sure that in this abundant land no sick baby goes unattended; to make sure that there are jobs for those who want them, and sustenance for those in need; to make sure, and to be sure, that regardless of race or religion, or how we spell our name, or the country that our ancestors came from, or the color of our skin, that we have equal opportunity in this land we love, this land we are proud to call America.

Yes, let us here dedicate ourselves this afternoon so that every man can live with dignity and decency, no matter where he was born or the color of his skin or the church of his choice. How well you and I and all Americans finish this work that is today unfinished will determine and will measure the kind of society that we build, and will determine and will measure the kind of world that we leave to our children. So I appeal to you as your President to enlist your hearts and volunteer your hands.

America will be a better land for you and your families when the battle for a better life for all Americans is finally fought and is finally won.

Thank you and goodby.