Remarks at the University of Kentucky

Dr. Oswald, Governor Breathitt, Senator Cooper, my dear friends, the former Governors of Kentucky, ladies and gentlemen:

This is the home of Henry Clay. He was not only a brilliant statesman, but he was a man of great wit. One time a fellow Congressman, while giving a long boring speech, turned to Henry Clay and said, "You, sir, speak for this generation but I speak for posterity." Clay quickly replied, "Yes, and you seemed to have resolved to speak until the arrival of your audience."

I come here today to speak not to posterity but to your generation.

In a new and changing world you receive the oldest trust of all. George Washington, in his first Inaugural Address, said: "The destiny of the republican model of government is justly considered... as deeply, as finally staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people."

In the years since he spoke the great experiment has prospered. Where we once stood alone, today the sun never sets on free men, or on men struggling to be free• Even where dictators rule, they often find it necessary to use the language of the rights of man and sometimes find it necessary to modify other dictatorships. For our democracy has proven the most powerful secular idea in the history of man.

But the record of success does not mean that we will continue to be successful. The spread of freedom does not guarantee freedom will continue to flourish. The fact we have grown does not mean we will continue to grow.

As it has come to every generation of Americans, to your hands--to your willingness to work and sacrifice and dare--will be entrusted the fate of the American experiment.

Though the responsibility is the same, your task is different and much more difficult than any that have gone before.

First, your world will be a young person's world. Fifty-five percent of the world's population is under the age of 25. By 1968 the average age of an American citizen will have dropped to 25. Your generation, the younger generation, is the world's majority.

Second, you inherit a world with the greatest of danger, the largest difficulties, and the most promising destiny in history. No longer can we ignore the hopes of the poor and the oppressed. And for the first time we have the power to fulfill those hopes. You may witness a rebirth of hope or the ruin of civilization, you may witness the defeat of misery or the destruction of man. These are choices which you, too, are called upon to make.

Third, as an American citizen today, you are also a citizen of the world. Your cause is truly the cause of all mankind.

We are the children of revolution. The history of America is the history of continuing revolution. That revolution has conquered a continent and it has extended democracy. It has given us unmatched mastery over nature, and it has given us the tools to conquer material wants. It has set the stage for a new order of society--devoted to enriching the life of every human being on a scale never before thought possible. True, these revolutions have been peaceful; but they have shaken the entire globe.

Our struggle against colonial rule is still reshaping continents. Our achievements have lifted the hopes and ambitions of men who live everywhere, lifted him for a better life. Our political ideas have helped to make "freedom" a rallying cry in every corner of the world.

And if the consequences of these forces sometimes cause us difficulty or create danger, then let us not be dismayed. For this is what America is all about; to show the way to the liberation of man from every form of tyranny over his mind, his body, and his spirit.

We cannot, and we will not, withdraw from this world. We are too rich, too powerful, and too important. But most important, we are too concerned.

I do not speak of the grave and immediate issues of foreign policy, although they concern me constantly. I speak of the great transcendent issues which affect the life of nearly every human being on this planet.

We care that men are hungry--not only in Appalachia but in Asia and in Africa and in other spots in the world.

We care that men are oppressed--not only among ourselves but wherever man is unjust to man.

We care that men should govern themselves and shape their own destinies--not only in Kentucky but in every corner of every continent.

We care for peace, not only for ourselves but for every country that is torn by conflict.

George Washington fought for a Declaration of Independence which said "all men are created equal." It did not say "all Americans," or "all Westerners" or "all white men." All are equal in the eyes of God; and in the right to use their talents, and to provide for their families, and to enjoy freedom.

This is our goal in America. This is our concern, not simply as a matter of national interest or national security. It is part of the moral purpose of the American Nation.

So this is the measure of your responsibility. I know that you are willing to accept that responsibility and that you want to share in the life of America. We have always believed that each man could make a difference. This faith in each man's significance is at the root of human dignity. Yet, it is often difficult to see how an individual young person can make a difference in today's world.

Science has shown the complexities of nature to be beyond ordinary understanding. World events--the rise and fall of nations--even survival and death--may seem at times beyond ordinary human control. Enormous factories and great cities seem to exist and grow apart from those who run them and live in them. The old, tried values of family and neighborhood and community are imperiled or eroded. Man himself seems to be in danger; trapped between contending forces of science and growth, increasing numbers and movements that he can hardy understand.

Yet this is our world. The discoveries are ours. We raised the cities and we reach for the stars. We unveiled the mysteries and wove the intricate patterns of today. It is our central task to make this world serve to enrich the dignity and the value of the human being.

We will do this not through riches or position, or power, or comfort. You will find meaning only by sharing in the responsibilities, the dangers, and the passions of your time. A great American told us to ask what we could do for our country. By asking, you will not only help others, you will be ling purpose to your own life.

Think with me today of just how much there is to do about us. You must rebuild the cities of America and you must rescue the countryside from destruction. You must wipe out poverty and you must eliminate racial injustice. You must labor for peace and freedom and an end to misery around the world.

The Great Society will offer you the chance to do this work. It does not promise luxury and comfort and a life of ease. It does promise every American a chance to enrich his spirit and to share in the great common enterprises of our people.

Your energy and your sacrifice are needed. It is our job to tap those resources, and to help provide the chance to serve. We have already begun.

Thousands of volunteers are needed today for the Peace Corps--to bring hope and the ideals of freedom to the villages and towns of more than half the world. Thirteen thousand young Americans have already accepted this responsibility in 46 countries. In the next 4 years we hope to double the size of this effort.

Five thousand VISTA volunteers are needed this year to enlist in the war against poverty. All our programs for Appalachia will not succeed without the work of individual volunteers that are filled with compassion for their fellows, and a willingness to serve their country.

I am so glad that it seems to me that here at the crossroads of this great university is where education and Appalachia meet.

Twenty thousand women will be needed, this summer, to help prepare deprived young children for success in school.

All of you are needed to organize community action programs--to map the strategy and to carry out the plans for wiping out poverty in each community.

The effort to restore and to protect beauty in America demands the volunteer efforts of private citizens, alert to danger, demanding always that nature be respected.

In every area of national need the story is almost the same. The Great Society cannot be built--either at home or abroad-by government alone. It needs your sacrifice and it needs your effort.

I intend to continue to search for new ways to give all of you a chance to serve your country and your civilization. And I hope to move toward the day when every young American will have the opportunity-and feel the obligation--to give at least a few years of his or her life to the service of others in this Nation and in the world.

And you will bring to this work, not only skills and energy, but the most important ingredient of all: the idealism and the vision of the young. Of course, specific problems demand specific answers. Programs must take into account the realities of power and circumstance. But all the practicality in the world is useless unless it is informed by conviction, by high purposes, and by standards which are never sacrificed to immediate gains. Unless this is done we will be submerged in the day-to-day problems and, having solved them, find that we have really solved nothing. For only those who dare to fall greatly, can ever achieve much.

So, guided by the great ideals of this country, willing to work and dare to fulfill your dreams, there is really no limit to the expectations of your tomorrow.

If you wish a sheltered and uneventful life, then you are living in the wrong generation. No one can promise you calm, or ease, or undisturbed comfort. But we can promise you this. We can promise enormous challenge and arduous struggle, hard labor and great danger. And with them we can promise you, finally, triumph--triumph over all the enemies of mankind.