Address at the International Airport, Miami, Florida

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Hiser, my West Point classmate, General James Van Fleet--My Fellow Citizens:

I have been advised that it is a waste of time for me to visit the South this year. And of course I was told that four years ago. But I have been told that Florida's decision in 1952 was a sheer political accident--never to be repeated. But even if that opinion were right--and I don't believe it for a minute--I can still thank you for your support in 1952. And I do, with all my heart.

Likewise, I am delighted that the First Florida District sent William C. Kramer to our Congress. I hope they re-elect him, and I hope that by that re-election they recognize his good work.

I commend to you of this District Mr. Leland Hiser. In other Districts, G. M. Nelson, Arnold Lund and Mrs. Dorothy Smith. All of them are present here today. And I assure you, I can use their support in Washington.

But let me make one thing clear, whatever your decision this year--whatever it may be--Florida continues to be every bit as important to me as any other State as long as I am President.

And this gives me an opportunity to ask you, for these last few days of the campaign, to work just a little bit harder to make certain that everybody votes. Let them vote for us if we can possibly get them to do so--but by all means vote, even if they have to vote in a mistaken way. What we must do, my friends, is to make certain that America makes the decision, not just a small minority.

Now the sight of Miami from the air--as I saw it a few minutes ago--always amazes me. There seems to be no limit to your capacity to grow. You get bigger and bigger.

And so for the political pessimists who think Americans can accomplish nothing unless government bureaucracy does it for them, I have a prescription. This is it:

"Go to Miami. Just spend a few hours there. See what the people of that area have done on their own, for themselves and for the good of our whole country."

Now, of course, this prescription is not going to cure the dismay of those politicians who deal in pessimism and gloom. They would be out of business, if they had to drop prophesying misfortune and disaster.

You know, whatever happened to that 1952 battle cry of theirs, "Don't let them take it away"? The fact is that this year they have become desperate in their failure to make you think that prosperity is poverty, that progress is really stagnation, that high employment is an illusion, that every social and economic gain of the past four years is just a myth.

And so, my friends, as these political alarmists come into the final innings of this contest, we find them swinging wildly, knocking a lot of foul balls--and striking out.

I, for one, have never been pessimistic about America--present or future. And you people, clearly, have never suffered from such pessimism either. That is why you get things done.

Florida today is typical of what is best in America.

You have dreams--visions about the future. But you don't just think and talk about them. You get going on them.

You have a wealth of natural and human resources here. But you just don't brag about them. You use them.

The consequence is a diversified economy, a widely shared prosperity that--great as it is today--merely forecasts the advances you will make in the years ahead.

Now, I should like to show you, my friends, that the entire State of Florida and its progress today is vindication of this Administration's policy that the American people, first:

Given freedom from war and uneasiness about their defenses against war, can use the new knowledge of modern science and its new tools, to build a prosperity unparalleled in our history.

The American people, given freedom from punitive taxation and from extravagance in the use of their taxes, can use the money thereby saved to invest in more comfortable homes, and in better schools--in all the enterprises that make America a good place to live in.

The American people, given freedom from bureaucratic controls and usurpation of responsibility, can achieve any material objective they set themselves. They can do it without the slightest diminution of their freedom, their initiative, or their spirit.

The policy of this Administration--foreign and domestic--is the concrete and factual expression of the pledges I made to you four years ago:

I pledged, first: That we would build a sound security system for America and would work tirelessly for freedom among men and for peace with justice in the world. This we have done, and we continue so to work.

I promised to give you an Executive Branch of your government of integrity and dignity, made up of people of unimpeachable character and ability and we have done so.

I pledged: That we would fight waste in government, balance the budget, cut taxes and do a better job at the same time. And we have.

By fighting waste in government, we cut 10 billion dollars from the budget that was handed to us by the prior administration. We gave to the American people the largest tax cut in our whole history--7 billion dollars and more. And we have balanced the budget, and even made a small payment on our national debt.

And, my friends, I pledged this: That we would make the Federal Government once again what the Founding Fathers intended it to be and what a majority of Americans have always wanted it to be: a partner of the States and a servant of the people. And we have. And we are still doing so.

Four years ago I pledged as President of all the people, I would use every proper influence of my office to promote for all citizens that equality before the law and of opportunity visualized by our Founding Fathers. I promised further to do this with the conviction that progress toward equality had to be achieved finally in the hearts of men rather than in legislative halls. I urged then, as I urge now, the handling of this question, to the greatest possible extent, on a state and local basis. I believed then, as I believe now, that there must be intelligent understanding of the human factors and emotions involved, if we are to make steady progress in the matter, rather than simply to make political promises never intended to be kept.

In this whole question, my friends, we have tried to bring reason, good sense and good judgment to the performance of clear duty. We have earnestly tried to keep it from becoming a partisan matter, for we are talking here, not about a political issue, but about justice for Americans. The very great progress we have made these past four years has been based on these simple, sensible principles.

Now, all these things we in Washington have done. And you here in Miami, men and women like you all across the United States, have done the rest. Our prosperity is the product of your confidence and energy and ability.

One thing we must of course remember: The United States cannot exist as an island of prosperity in a world of poverty.

For that reason, the growing economic strength of other free nations, and particularly of those countries bound in common purpose with us within the friendly framework of NATO, is a matter of deep satisfaction. That we have had a part in bringing it to pass makes this economic progress even more gratifying.

Nothing has been more heartening than the recent announcement of two new proposals that would advance further the economic integration of Europe.

The first is the concept that six Western European countries might establish a common market in which all internal barriers to trade would be completely eliminated, just as they are within the United States. The second is the challenging idea that, thereafter, Great Britain, in association with other countries on the European Continent might gradually, over a period of years, establish a free trade area around the common market.

We shall watch these exciting new developments with the keenest interest. Because, my friends, as Europe grows stronger economically, we gain in every way. And Florida, facing this great market for its products, will particularly profit.

Developments such as these have a far more enduring effect than scarehead forebodings publicized in political campaigns.

Our world of friends is far larger than Europe, of course. To the south of us lies a vast continent with tens of millions of peoples, our physical and spiritual neighbors.

From the first days of this Administration, we have been devoted to strengthening our ties with them; to opening up new avenues of trade between us and them; to establishing a true partnership based on mutual understanding and genuine friendship. Such a partnership between North America and Latin America can be mutually profitable beyond any similar one in the world.

In building this partnership, much has been done in the past four years. Naturally, our opponents deny that. But they cannot seem to keep straight even such simple things as names and dates and places and loans--particularly to whom and by whom loans are made.

It was right here in Miami, my friends, that a candidate for the Presidency charged that this Administration had loaned a lot of money to another country, and that the money was used to swell the personal fortunes of a dictator later deposed.

The candidate was eloquent in his expression of his sense of resentment--astonishment--chagrin--and shock.

But what happened when he found that it was the preceding administration and not mine--that made this loan?

Suddenly this sense of shock, astonishment, chagrin, disappeared, because we haven't heard another word about it.

Now, my friends, you know the opponents, here, are paying a compliment--deserved, I think--to this Administration. It was shocking to them that we should do anything like this--is the point I want to make.

There have been new standards of political and personal morality established in Washington.

The meeting of the Presidents at Panama last summer was not the culmination of our effort to make better friends with our neighbors to the southward. Rather, it was a milestone on the road of accomplishment. There with the Presidents or Presidents-elect of almost all other American Republics, I discussed mutual problems and mutual purposes in frank and friendly terms. All of us there recognized that every increase in hemispheric solidarity helps increase hemispheric security and prosperity.

Your Administration intends to continue and to amplify the search for better ways to expand trade and travel between the Americas. We shall also increase the exchange of students and of cultural knowledge, and strengthen all the ties that join us together as a single family.

Now you of the Miami area have already done much to develop recognition of our mutual hemispheric interests and to promote a friendly solidarity. For one thing, the first impression of the United States that the visitor from Latin America gets, here in Miami, is the finest possible introduction to the energy, the vision and the spirit of our entire country.

And so now, at this natural gateway to the islands of the Caribbean and the nations of South America, you envision a great Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center.

You have set for yourselves, indeed, a most worthy objective: to help promote an American continental neighborhood.

And the American hemisphere must be a neighborhood that is safe and prosperous and happy--at peace, for in a world of peace we can pool our creative intellects, our natural resources, our human energies to the betterment of all who live in both Americas.

Now, my fellow citizens, for one moment let me speak most seriously about something that can have no possible partisan connotations.

Even as we speak this day of our hopes and strivings for peace and justice in the world, we know that there persists real and present danger to that peace. This danger rises in various places; none more critical at this moment than at the ancient crossroads of the world, the Middle East, where whole civilizations meet. Ancient animosities flare anew. Fears and hatreds deeply divide nations--with all of whom America would be, hopes and seeks to be, a friend.

In such a critical situation, we cannot expect to erase suddenly the bitter heritage of the ages. We can--we must--and we shall--go on striving to do all in our power to heal old wounds, rather than to let them re-open--in bloodshed.

We can--and we do--use the full moral power of America to direct the purposes of all nations away from conflict--and toward concord. And we are able to do this because all the world knows that we have no national ambition adversely affecting any other. We covet no land no authority over others. We want only to serve the cause of a just and lasting peace for all people.

You--you in this throng--in all Miami--and Florida--and throughout America--everybody--are dedicated to this kind of universal peace. To that dedication I pledge the resources of your government for as long as you choose to continue me in my present duties.

We shall press our search for peace from a position of strength-spiritual, intellectual, economic, military strength. We shall take no step for the winning of a transitory acclaim that might reduce by one iota the security of this Republic.

But we shall never hesitate to take any step that is constructive and prudent, that will advance the cause of a just, lasting, international peace. In this quest--in this greatest quest of mankind--in this great crusade, I seek your help--the help of every single American in the land.

My friends, my thanks for your courteous attention and for coming out to this place to see me.

Thank you.