Remarks at the Courthouse in Louisville

Governor Breathitt--Kentucky's young, fighting Governor Ned Breathitt; my old friends and great Kentucky patriots, Governor Happy Chandler, Governor Bert Combs, Governor Keen Johnson, Governor Lawrence Wetherby, Senator Earle Clements; the fighting, courageous Governor of North Carolina, Terry Sanford; Congressman Bill Natcher; Congressman Stubblefield; Congressman Chelf; Congressman Watts; Congressman Perkins--all great and powerful Members of the Kentucky delegation in Congress:

And I want to say just a special word for the man and woman that Kentuckians are going to send to Congress--Charles Farnsley--stand up, Charles. We need this man in Washington. You need this man in Washington. The world needs this man in Washington. Now don't forget; go and vote and get your uncles and your cousins and your aunts and your mommas and your poppas to vote for Charles Farnsley.

We have a shortage of good Democrats. We need good Democrats in Washington. Kentucky has one of the finest Democratic delegations, but we want to make it finer, and we want you to go and vote for Mrs. Frances Mills for Congress. Please stand up.

So many of my ancestors come from Kentucky that I can sing "My Old Kentucky Home" with almost as much feeling as you. My daddy's mother was born in Russellville in 1849. I have some real Kentucky blood in my veins. My great-great-grandmother, Phoebe Ann Desha, was the sister of Joseph Desha, a former Governor of the great State of Kentucky, and she also had a brother who was a Congressman from Kentucky at the same time, and also a brother who was a Congressman from the State of Tennessee.

My great-great-grandfather, John Huffman, farmed in central Kentucky until 1851. He was the first man to breed shorthorn cattle in Texas, and he introduced the Sir Archer breed of horses to the great State of Kentucky.

This is a great day for Louisville. We are honored by the presence of your fighting young, progressive Governor, who is in the spotlight of all the Nation. We are honored by the presence of five former Governors of Kentucky. Let me just tell you this: Any time you can get all five of them in one place at one time on the same platform for the same man, it is a great day for Kentucky. I want all five of them to know now, before they fall out, that I will remember each one of them as long as I live for coming here today and standing up and being counted.

Stand up there, fellows.

We are honored by the presence of the distinguished mayors of many of the great cities of Latin America. I understand that some of these gentlemen are going to visit TVA tomorrow. Well, you will have a great experience awaiting you.

We Americans feel that TVA is a symbol of the genius and the greatness of the democratic system. And Kentucky is not going to turn away from the upward course of American abundance. And we are not about to sell the TVA.

Kentucky is not going to abandon the policies which have given a decent living to the American farmer. We are not about to have 10 - cent tobacco.

Kentucky is not going to be afraid of the difficult, patient task of bringing peace to the world. And neither am I.

The names of Kentucky live in American folklore. There is Daniel Boone, Casey Jones, and old Zachary Taylor. All of them drew courage from your soil. All of them were ready to seek the new horizons.

And this is the heritage of the great State of Kentucky that will not listen to those who want to tear down instead of build; listen to those who want to run from the future instead of face up to it; listen to those who retire behind old frontiers instead of being willing to open new ones.

I have come here this morning to the great city of Louisville to put that issue before the American people. The issue of this campaign is whether the American people are going to continue to move forward or whether they are going to stand still.

I want to talk to you a moment about your future, about the future of the Upper South, about the future of America.

The billions of dollars worth of new industry that TVA has already brought to the Upper South is nothing compared to the development that lies ahead. The Upper South is fast becoming one of the most exciting new industrial frontiers anywhere in America.

In 1929 personal income from agriculture was twice as important in Kentucky as manufacturing. But by 1960 manufacturing was three times as important as agriculture.

Between 1960 and 1963 the average personal income in Kentucky jumped 17 percent, and that is one-third faster than the rate for the other States in the Nation.

The unemployment rate here in Louisville has been cut in half since 1961. But this is not good enough, and it is only half the story.

Over 38 percent of all the families in Kentucky live today with an income of less than $3,000, and I tell you that if I am elected President of the United States, and I have a chance to serve this country for 4 more years, I am going to serve the 38 percent of Kentucky families that are in the poverty group.

One of the first things that we did after I became President was to get the Congress to pass the tax cut bill. That tax cut bill restored $12 billion in purchasing power to the American people. It created 24,000 new jobs for Kentucky. It generated an increase in total income in this State alone of $360 million. It boosted the State and local revenues by $29 million. It put $88 million extra into the wage earners' pockets that had been withheld.

And this is a powerful boost to the State of Kentucky. But it is not enough.

The poverty program will attack poverty on a scale that no government has ever attempted in all history. We are going forward to develop this Upper South in the years of opportunity that lie ahead.

First, we want maximum development of the entire Ohio River valley. This development will mean more industry. More industry will mean more jobs. More jobs will mean more income for the good families that live in this State.

Second, we are going to wipe out poverty in this region, in the rural mining areas as well as in the cities of Kentucky. When Franklin Roosevelt spoke to the people of this Nation, he said one-third of our people are ill dad and ill housed and ill fed--that was in the 1930's.

Well, I say to you today that we are very proud that we have moved that one-third down to one-fifth, but we have just begun to fight, and this Government, under my leadership, will never rest secure and will be as unsatisfied as a little boy's appetite as long as there is any poverty in our land.

Third, we want full development of all of our natural resources, development of our land, development of our water, development of our underground to improve the economy and the way of life.

Fourth, we want to continue the tobacco program, and by other measures insure small farmers a fair share of our Nation's general prosperity. We never want to go back to the farm-led and farm-fed depression days. We are never going back under my administration to any 10-cent tobacco.

We want to push forward our national economic programs that will continue our upward trend. We want every child born in this region to have a chance at the best education he can absorb. We want to improve and extend the social security system, and we are not going to make it voluntary, either.

We want to continue to help the people of the Upper South lift themselves by their own bootstraps. We want to help you realize the promise of this great region. We want to help contribute to the strength of the entire Nation. And until want, and misery, and despair are banished from every American home, I, as your leader and as your President, will not be satisfied.

Now, when we passed social security some people told us it was a "cruel hoax." When we passed minimum wages they said, "It will wreck your political career." When we passed our farm programs they said it was socialism. When we provided jobs for our men who were hungry to work, they said that was statism.

Well, those same old voices that said those same old things are now writing these same old speeches. Today they say "halt" and "fall back" and "slow down" and "status quo." The Democrats say, "Put your hand on the throttle and full speed ahead." Some of them say "empty dreams." We reply, "Franklin Roosevelt and George Norris dreamed dreams and we built the TVA."

Franklin Roosevelt was a Democrat. He came from New York. George Norris was a Republican. He was from Nebraska. But they worked together and they laid the groundwork for an industrial revolution in the Upper South. I am from Texas, and I am a Democrat. But I am first the President of all the people.

So here, today, in the great city of Louisville, in the happy State of Kentucky, I ask you to send us two more Democratic Congressmen to help us in the House, and I appeal to your two Republican Senators in the Senate to help us save the social security system, to keep us from selling TVA, to keep us from letting go down the drain all the accomplishments of the last 30 years.

No, we are not going to sit back in our rocking chairs and take it easy. We are going to continue, in the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, "to move."

I want to thank you for being so warm in your welcome. You know, the one thing that makes me so proud of my party, the one thing that makes me so proud of my friends, the one thing that makes me so proud of the people that wear these little LBJ hats and the red, white, and blue caps, is this: They are people of faith. They are happy people. They enjoy life. They like the South. They are good folks. They are not saying evil things about anybody. They are not slinging mud. They are not talking about their neighbors. They are not doubting the future. They are not worrying that socialism is taking over the country because we extend the hand of compassion to an elderly lady who has a social security check. They love people.

Yes, what makes our group so wonderful is that America is really, with a few exceptions-some people have had disappointments, some have had frustrations, some have gotten a little mixed up as they went along, but most of the people of America are people of great faith, with great religion, who love people instead of hating people. Most of your neighbors, most of your friends, most of the folks that you like the best are the folks that follow the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

So when you hear these bombshells and these explosions, and all these ugly things that you hear the last few weeks of a campaign, when you hear all these things I want you to keep your smile on your face. I want you to keep your blood pressure down. I want you to stay happy. I want you to turn the other cheek and look at the fellow that is desperate and is losing and is failing, and is upset about it, and just say--

I have to move along now. If there are any of you folks from over across the river, you have a mighty wonderful Congressman and I sure want you to give a great mandate and give him a wonderful reelection vote-Winfield Denton. Stand up, Winfield.

Now we have to move up in Old Hickory's territory, up in Nashville, because we want to see those good folks up there, and we want to tell them that we are going to help them save the TVA.

But before I leave, I want to especially thank you folks here in Louisville for the way you treated Lynda Bird when she was down here. She just loves Kentucky. I want to tell you that Lady Bird and Luci and I just listened to her stories about Kentucky for day after day. And now when I go back she is going to have to listen to me day after day.

We are proud of this State. Fred Vinson and Alben Barkley and Henry Clay, and all these great men here on the platform--they have all done what they thought was best for America all the time. And I don't have the slightest doubt but what Louisville and Kentucky are going to do what is best for their country on November 3d.

Thank you.