Remarks at Islip, New York

Thank you very much:

Governor Rockefeller, Congressman [James R.] Grover, my wife and I want to express our very grateful appreciation to our wonderful friends here from Suffolk County, who are completing one of the finest campaign days we have had in 25 years. We thank you very much.

As I went along the fence greeting a few of you, I was thinking back to an appearance in Suffolk in the year 1960. Some of you may remember. But I recall there was a heavy rain that day, and it was a marvelous rally nevertheless.

There was something about this county that struck me then. It had a special spirit. The people would come out, rain or snow for that matter, and, even more important, they voted.
I am aware of the fact that in the year 1968 the county with the biggest majority for our ticket, 90,000, was Suffolk County, New York. Now, at the present time I live in Orange County, California. Orange County is trying to have a majority of 100,000, and I have been promised by the county chairman here that you are going to beat them, beat Orange County, and I wish you well.

May I say, too, that I am proud to be here with the two Congressmen--I mean one present Congressman and one to be, my friend Jim Grover and Joe Boyd,¹ who belongs in the United States Congress. Come up here and take a bow so they can see you. Come on. Here he is. Jim, you are a cinch, but take a bow too. We need you. Can I say that to do the job that we need to do in Washington we need their help. I also have a special reason about Joe Boyd, particularly. I would like to say that I lived in this county and I have some special connections with it. I wrote my 1968 acceptance speech at Montauk Point, so I have a special feeling for it. Also, my daughter, my daughter Tricia, now Tricia Cox, and her husband, have as their voting residence Suffolk County, and they would like to have this fine young man, Joe Boyd, as their Congressman. So, how about voting--giving him one in this respect?

Let me say one final thing: At the great rally we had in Nassau and along the streets of Westchester County we heard many people shouting "Four More Years." I want to tell you in a word what I want for those next 4 years. We have made great progress, great progress particularly in this last year toward a goal that all Americans want, and that is peace in the whole world.

Our trips to Peking and Moscow, the winding down of the war in Vietnam, mean that we can look forward in the next 4 years to, it seems to me, achieving a goal that we have not had in this whole century, the basis for that goal at least--a full generation of peace for all Americans. It will not be easy, but we are dedicated to that goal. We realize that this is a dangerous world because there are differences between governments. The Communist Government of the People's Republic of China, the Communist Government of the Soviet Union, and the Government of the United States have very great differences in interests and differences in philosophies. But with the nuclear danger that hangs over the world, I am determined that we must build a world order in which differences between governments do not make it impossible for people to be friends.

We must continue to have a strong United States to do that. That is why I will oppose any rash cuts in our budget which would make the United States the second strongest nation in the world. I am for that not out of any sense of simply false pride or national ego, because I know that the United States and its people are dedicated to peace and not to conquest, and power in our hands means power for peace.

We also want prosperity, something we have not had since 1955 when President Eisenhower was President, without war and without inflation, and we can have it with your help. We want an era of progress, progress for all Americans, opportunity unlimited by quotas or any other device of that sort, and opportunity for everybody, regardless of his background. Above all, let me tell you something else. This is a year which is an exciting one. For the first time young people between 18 and 21 will have the chance to vote. It will be their first vote. I want them to be able to look back and think that it was one of their best.

In that connection, let me say, when I hear "Four More Years" this is my goal and I hope it is yours: Let's make the next 4 years the best 4 years in America's history.