My fellow Americans:
On November 22 four decades ago I left you, and for those of you who think of me, let me ask a personal favor: reflect for a moment on the world we lived in, the things we believed in, the deeds we did, and the Nation we left in trust for you.
I was the younger generation, within the great generation. I was never comfortable with that term, great generation, because what makes America America, is that every generation can be great. Some are, some aren't. It was up to us. Now it is up to you.
When I was a young man, we faced and we defeated the challenge of fascism. When I was President in middle age, we met the challenge of communism. Had I lived long enough, I would have been with you, when the last brick was torn down from the Berlin Wall, where I once stood as the leader of America and the leader of the free world.
On that day, I was with you in spirit, there were
tears of joy and cheers of triumph from every
corner in heaven.
To those of you who are young in 2006, now
it is your world, now it is your time, now it is your day to dream and
your world to build. On on those days you are surrounded by cynicism
and war, by anger and chaos, do not let anyone
tell you otherwise. It is your day to dream. It is
your world do build. We did it. You can do it.
Make us proud.
When I was a young man and fascism was
on the march, my entire family, my entire
country, my entire generation answered the call. It was not easy. It
was hard. But the
magic of our moment and the reason for
our victory was clear: we were in it together.
My brothers and I signed for the war. My
sisters signed up to do their part, in their
way, in Europe and America. Even Dad
finally got into the spirit, a little bit late, as
I told him at the time.
When I was fighting in the South Pacific we not only won great victories
but made friends that lasted for life. When my brother Joe flew that
last mission over the English Channel, we mourned when we lost him, but
we were proud and we knew the price for freedom was high.
My message is this: every American belongs to
a proud and great family. Do not let anyone
tell you otherwise. Do not let anyone divide
you from each other. We are all in the family
of America. We are all in this together. So
long as you remember this, you can climb
any mountain on earth, and when you stand
together and share the view from the summit,
you will know that it was worth the effort.
Years later I stood at the gates of the Berlin
Wall, and looked out to hundreds of thousands
of Berliners with hopes in their hearts and stars
in their eyes.
Think back on those days: the foot of Soviet communism on the neck of
Eastern Europe. The danger of nuclear extermination in the air.
Little children in America were taught to hide under their desks in
school, as though they would not be incinerated if the radioactive bombs
fell. Little children under communism
grew up to fear the knock on the door, in the
dark of their night, when Mom and Dad could
disappear.
But we triumphed; America triumphed; freedom
triumphed. The world became a much better
place. The young children in America no longer
had to hide under their desks. The children in Europe no longer had to
fear the knock on the door in the middle of the night.
And I ask you: how many countries did America
invade to achieve these great goals? Sure, we
threatened war over Berlin. Yes, we built the
greatest military arsenal in the history of the
world. But it was the Russians who invaded
Eastern Europe, not us. It was the Russians
who blockaded Berlin, not us. It was the Russians who built that Wall
not to keep
people out, but to keep people in.
My message is this: you have allowed the
military to deteriorate with some very badly
chosen decisions, and you will have to rebuild
it. Life is unfair. You made your mistakes.
Now fix them.
But: always remember that our great weapon is not the power of our shock
and awe bombing, or our preemptive wars. It is the great truth of the
power of our ideas. We must always be militarily strong, but the force
of our ideas is always more powerful than the reckless use
of force.
Remember: sometimes it takes more courage
to champion the cause of peace than to bang
the drums of war, and always America is
strongest when we align ourselves with the
highest aspirations of those who's hearts and
minds should be joined with ours.
For the last six years, for the first time since
1948, the United States Of America has been
totally absent from leadership in the search for
Middle East peace. Totally absent from the
courage and vision to dare to offer a generation of young people
throughout the Middle East a true hope for a better life. Those who
have taken such reckless risks for war, have not even initiated the
smallest steps for peace.
This is unprecedented. This is wrong. We
must never surrender diplomacy to those
who wish us ill. We must never surrender
the streets to the suicide bombers and those
who pray on anguish, humiliation and poverty.
We must always offer a better way and take
the same risks for peace, we take for war.
Remember: we negotiated with our enemies
from strength, and offered the world the hope
of a nuclear test ban treaty and the freedom from fear of nuclear
extermination. We built
the Alliance for Progress to promote opportunity
throughout our hemisphere. We championed
the Peace Corps to create goodwill and hope
throughout our world. We worked through the
problems of the United Nations and made it
work for our country, and our values.
We created the NATO alliance for security. We
valued the Nuremberg rules and the Geneva
Convention. We trusted the Organization of
American States. We understood that
international institutions and international
agreements serve our interests and form
a major bedrock of global security.
We were strong, and never negotiated out of
fear. We were smart, and never feared to
negotiate. We were tough, and stood behind
our troops. We were wise, and sent our great
leaders to represent our country in the world's
institutions. John Bolton can point his finger
at a map, but can never imitate the greatness
of Adlai Stevenson staring down the Russians
at the United Nations when the fate of the world
hung in the balance over Cuba.
We were not perfect, but we never defined America's greatness by how
much torture we could commit, how much fear we could create, or how much
we could spy on each other.
We used the bully pulpit to win the battle of ideas, not to act like a
bully and alienate the world.
We made our mistakes, you bet we did. But
we stepped up to the plate, and admitted them.
We learned from our mistakes, and did better the next time. We screwed
up the Bay of Pigs,
but saved the world from nuclear war when we
were wise, as well as strong, to remove those missiles from Cuba.
We believed in social justice, civil rights, a
rising tide that would lift all boats. We knew
that in America, everyone should lift their
eyes to the sky with hope and nobody should
be excluded, embittered or left behind. We
knew that in America, we were all in this together politically,
economically and morally.
We knew that this spirit gave America our
truest power in the world.
To those of you who are young in America in
2006 do not believe the dividers, the haters,
the pessimists. To those of you who are young
around the world, always remember that we
Americans make our share of mistakes, but
we truly believe we are a beacon of hope, and
when things go wrong, we set them right.
When you look around the world in 2006 you
see problems, dangers and challenges from
many directions but they are no greater than
the problems, dangers and challenges we faced in our day.
War, chaos, instability, hunger, death, fear, environmental degradation,
poverty, disease exist in every generation and always will.
Hope, courage, strength, vision, wisdom, truth, valor, daring,
generosity and boldness exist in every generation, too, and will always
triumph so long as we remain true to ourselves.
I cannot give you a five point program for
every problem you face. That is your job.
But I will tell you this: if you always remember the things that make
America a special place, you will always rise to the challenge, and the
world will stand with you.
In the meantime we are up here, Franklin,
Eleanor, Bobby, Martin, Abraham, my brother
Joe, the guys who landed at Normandy, the
dreamers who started the Marshall Plan and
left footprints of the Peace Corps, the early
test pilots who gave their lives for the dream
of touching the moon and cheered when we
got there, the heroes who wrote our great
Declarations and Emancipations and the
words that were born in blood but lived to
move the world.
We are all up here together, rooting for you,
cheering for you, hoping in some way to lift
you, inspire you, and help you have your
triumphs, as we had ours. I never promised
it would be easy, I promised it would be hard,
but I know you can do it, and I am with you,
always.