Remarks in Washington Square, San Francisco

Mr. Chairman, Governor Brown, Mr. Ambassador, Senator Salinger, Congressman Burton, Mayor Shelley, ladies and gentlemen:

I have just taken the most memorable Sunday afternoon drive of my whole life.

There are very few cities in the United States where so many citizens come out and wave and shout when their mayor goes by. But the same thing seems to happen every time I ride with Mayor Shelley.

I want to make one thing clear, on behalf of Governor Brown, Senator Salinger, Congressman Burton, and myself: We don't usually enjoy bringing up the rear as much as we did bringing it up today.

This great and gracious city has much of which it can be proud. But the real glory of this city of the Golden Gate is the strength and the unity that is forged here from such rich diversity among your people.

Together we honor a very proud day for America and around the world. All the world could well pause to honor Columbus Day. He found the first real home for the human spirit.

For five centuries the world has been responding to the opportunity opened by the voyage of that honored son of Italy. The pace has not always been swift. The course of human progress has not always been sure. But since the opportunity of this new world became known to man, he has lifted himself up to stand a little taller each year, to walk a little prouder generation by generation. He has become the master and not the slave of his environment.

Because there was a land of opportunity, man has moved bodily, boldly, and confidently toward freedom. Man has moved toward justice, and he has moved toward lasting peace.

Today the great opportunity is peace. This moment began to form 20 years ago here in San Francisco. For so long as there is human life, your city will be remembered and your city will be revered as the birthplace of the United Nations.

This moment found substance 1 year ago yesterday when nations first agreed to limit the testing of nuclear weapons in the earth's atmosphere. The air that we breathe here, the air that free men and their loved ones breathe in other lands, is cleaner, human life is safer, because of the test ban treaty that was proposed and passed by a great leader and accepted by 108 other nations, and that great leader was John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Today, we and all the world are beginning to sail on high seas of new discovery. Man has the capacity to end human life or to end human want. Whether we reach these new shores of promise and opportunity, or whether we turn back and lose this great moment rests upon our unity of purpose, our unity of principle within our own society. We just must now draw ourselves together so that none can pull us apart. The will to heal must always overcome the willingness to hate. In the veins of America there flows the blood of many lands. We should cherish that diversity with pride, but we should jealously guard that diversity against any who seek to exploit it as the basis for our division.

The meaning of America for us all is opportunity. When divisions arise, when suspicions flourish, when hatred flowers, opportunity perishes and passes away. On this day, when we honor our heritage as free men and a peaceful nation, I ask of you, I ask all of you as Americans, that we pledge ourselves to stand up and to be counted for the best in America, because when you do what is best for America, you do what is best for yourselves.

So I hope you will always remember, I pray that you will never forget, that we should stand together for an America that knows no hate, that condones no division, that remembers no north or no south, or no east or no west, but steers its course only by the fixed stars of peace, of freedom, and of justice to all people. A great son of Italy made it possible for us to know about this continent and for us to meet here this afternoon in freedom. We are a nation of almost 200 million people in a world of over 3 billion people, so in the world we are outnumbered 15 to 1. If we choose to demand a decision based on language, we are outvoted; on population, we are a minority; on color we are just a small segment; but we prefer to be judged by one standard, and that is our love of freedom for all people. Congressman Rodino, Congressman Burton, Senator Salinger, and all the others here who serve with me in the Congress know that we are working together so that we can unite families, so that we can make it possible for some of our kinfolks to come here as our forefathers came here, so that we can continue not only to unite families but to unite countries.

Not long ago I was driving down the streets of Naples, and a young priest dashed and threw himself in front of my car. He had 400 young boys in his school. He said: "Please, Mr. Vice President, can I give you a message for America? Please tell the American people that never in all the history of the world has the victor treated the vanquished as America treated Italy. You extended the hand of friendship and helped to rebuild our cities. You look at that beautiful skyline of buildings," and he pointed to buildings like these. "You helped rebuild those buildings. Today our people are a prosperous people, and we honor and we revere and we love America."

Can you think of anything that you would rather hear about your country? Can you think of anything that you would rather have someone say about your land than to say, "We love your people"?

So let's always try to remember, and particularly on the Sabbath Day, that we have much to be thankful for, that we are a blessed people, that we have much to preserve and much to protect; that we have a great obligation, a moral obligation, not just to our 200 million people, but to the 3 billion people of the world, all of which can be met if we only follow the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

You have a wonderful celebration here today. I am happy to see your smiling faces. Never in my life have I seen more people in one day more happy than I have seen in California, and if this were a government day or a political day, I would say I just hope I am as happy November 3d as you are now.

But we have a job to do. We have schools to build, we have our health to improve. We have more teachers to select. We have our poverty people among us. We have our working conditions to improve. We have our standard of living to raise. We have a lot of things to do for our country.

But the first thing we have to do is learn to "love thy neighbor as thyself," and to live in the world with other people.

For 11 months I have tried to help us have peace in the world, and if I can have your help, if I can have your hand, if I can have your heart, if I can have your prayers, if the good Lord is willing, I will continue to try to lead this Nation and this world to peace.