The President is due to arrive in the chamber
of the House of Representatives momentarily.
The doorkeeper of the House, William M. Miller,
will announce the President's arrival.
Members of the Congress are now seated.
Here is Mr. Miller.
Members of the House of Representatives and the
Senate stand as Chief Justice Warren and
associate members of the High Tribunal enter
the chamber of the House of Representatives.
The galleries are packed.
Mrs. Johnson is seated in an area to the left
of the Speaker's platform.
Those on the floor of the House are standing
until the Chief Justice of the United States
and the associate justices are seated.
The gavel is pounded.
Members of the Congress are seated again.
With Mrs. Johnson as a large party of persons,
she's invited to be with her, including White
House Assistant Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Mayors
Robert Wagner of New York and Richard Daly
of Chicago.
Members of the Congress stand as the
President's cabinet enters, led by Secretary of State
Dean Rusk, Robert McNamara, Secretary of
Defense, Attorney General Robert Kennedy,
Luther Hodges,
Secretary of Commerce Orval Freeman, Secretary
of Agriculture.
Members of the Congress remain standing and
continue applauding.
Mr. Johnson has spoken formally twice before
since assuming the presidency when he returned
to Washington from Dallas last Friday and
yesterday after a meeting in the White House
on the Alliance for Progress, but this is the
first major speech to be made by the President.
the President of the United States.
Standing ovation for President Lyndon Johnson.
Moves around the platform, shakes hands with
the Speaker of the House, John McCormick.
Other congressmen on the rostrum.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the President of
the United States.
The President was about to begin speaking.
Numbers continue to plot in.
While they are still standing, the President
acknowledges their applause.
He is still unsmiling.
Members of the Congress, I have the high
privilege and personal honor of presenting to you
our former colleague, the President of the
United States.
The President was introduced by the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, John McCormick,
who is next in line for the presidency, if
anything should happen to the President.
As the President looks behind him.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, members of the
House, members of the Senate, my fellow Americans,
all I have, I would have given gladly not to be
standing here today.
The greatest leader of our time has been struck
down by the foulest deed of our time.
Today, John Fitzgerald Kennedy lives on in the
immortal words and works that he left behind.
He lives on in the mind and memories of mankind.
He lives on in the hearts of his countrymen.
No words are sad enough to express our sense of loss.
No words are strong enough to express our
determination to continue the forward thrust
of America that he began.
The dream of conquering the vastness of space.
The dream of partnership across the Atlantic
and across the Pacific as well.
The dream of a Peace Corps in less developed nations.
The dream of education for all of our children.
The dream of jobs for all who seek them and
need them.
The dream of care for our elderly.
The dream of an all-out attack on mental illness.
And above all, the dream of equal rights for
all Americans, whatever their race or color.
These and other American dreams have been
vitalized by his drive and by his dedication.
And now the ideas and the ideals, which he so
nobly represented, must and will be translated
into effective action.
Under John Kennedy's leadership, this Nation
has demonstrated that it has the courage to
seek peace, and it has the fortitude to risk war.
We have proved that we are a good and reliable
friend to those who seek peace and freedom.
We have shown that we can also be a vulnerable
foe to those who reject the path of peace
and those who seek to impose upon us or our
allies the yoke of tyranny.
This Nation will keep its commitments from
South Vietnam to West Berlin.
We will be unceasing in the search for peace,
resourceful in our pursuit of areas of agreement,
even with those with whom we differ, and
generous and loyal to those who join with us in common
In this age when there can be no losers in
peace and no victors in war, we must recognize
the obligation to match national strength with
national restraint.
We must be prepared at one and the same time
for both the confrontation of power and the
limitation of power.
We must be ready to defend the national
interest and to negotiate the common interest.
This is the path that we shall continue to pursue.
Those who test our courage will find it strong,
and those who seek our friendship will find
it honorable.
We will demonstrate anew that the strong can be
just in the use of strength, and the just
can be strong in the defense of justice.
And let all know we will extend no special
privilege and impose no persecution.
We will carry on the fight against poverty and
misery and disease and ignorance in other
lands and in our own.
We will serve all the nation, not one sector or
one group, but all Americans.
These are the United States, a united people
with a united purpose.
Our American unity does not depend upon unanimity.
We have differences, but now, as in the past,
we can derive from those differences strength,
not weakness, wisdom, not despair.
Both as a people and a government, we can unite
upon a program, a program which is wise
and just, enlightened and constructive.
For 32 years, Capitol Hill has been my home.
I have shared many moments of pride with you,
pride in the ability of the Congress of the
United States to act, to meet any crisis, to
distill from our differences strong programs
of national action.
An assassin's bullet has thrust upon me the
awesome burden of the presidency.
I am here today to say I need your help.
I cannot bear this burden alone.
I need the help of all Americans in all America.
This nation has experienced a profound shock.
In this critical moment it is our duty, yours
and mine, as the Government of the United
States, to do away with uncertainty, doubt, and
delay, and to show that we are capable
of decisive action, that from the brutal loss
of our leader we will derive not weakness
but strength, that we can and will act, and act now.
From this Chamber of Representative Government,
let all the world know and none misunderstand
that I rededicate this government to the
unswerving support of the United Nations, to
the honorable
and determined execution of our commitments to
our allies, to the maintenance of military
strength 2nd to none, to the defense of the
strength and the stability of the dollar,
to the expansion of our foreign trade, to the
reinforcement of our programs of mutual
assistance and cooperation in Asia and Africa,
and to our alliance for progress in this hemisphere.
On the 20th day of January in 1961, John F.
Kennedy told his countrymen that our national
work would not be finished in the first
thousand days, nor in the life of this administration,
nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet.
But he said, Let us begin.
Today in this moment of new resolve, I would
say to all my fellow Americans, Let us continue.
This is our challenge, not to hesitate, not to
pause, not to turn about and linger over
this evil moment, but to continue on our course
so that we may fulfill the destiny that history
has set for us.
Our most immediate tasks are here on this hill.
First, no memorial oration or eulogy could more
eloquently honor President Kennedy's
memory than the earliest possible passage of
the Civil Rights Bill for which he fought
so long.
We have talked long enough in this country.
We have talked for a hundred years or more.
It is time now to write the next chapter, and
to write it in the books of law.
I urge you again, as I did in 1957, and again
in 1960, to enact a civil rights law so that
we can move forward to eliminate from this
Nation every trace of discrimination and oppression
that is based upon race or color.
There could be no greater source of strength to
this Nation both at home and abroad.
And second, no act of ours could more fittingly
continue the work of President Kennedy than
the early passage of the tax bill for which he
fought all these long years.
This is a bill designed to increase our
national income and federal revenue, and to provide
insurance against recession.
That bill, if passed without delay, means more
security for those now working, more
jobs for those now without them, and more
incentive for our economy.
In short, this is no time for delay.
It is a time for action.
Strong forward-looking action on the pending
education bills to help bring the light of
learning to every home and hamlet in America.
Strong forward-looking action on youth
employment opportunities.
Strong forward-looking action on the pending
foreign aid bill, making clear that we are
not forfeiting our responsibilities to this
hemisphere or to the world, nor erasing executive
flexibility in the conduct of our foreign affairs.
And strong, prompt, and forward-looking action
on the remaining appropriation bills.
In this new spirit of action that Congress can
expect the full cooperation and support
of the Executive Branch, and in particular, I
pledge that the expenditures of your government
will be administered with the utmost thrift and frugality.
I will insist that the government get a
dollar's value for a dollar spent.
The government will set an example of prudence
and economy.
This does not mean that we will not meet our
unfilled needs or that we will not honor our
commitments-we will do both.
As one who has long served in both houses of
the Congress, I firmly believe in the independence
and the integrity of the Legislative Branch.
And I promise you that I shall always respect this.
It is deep in the marrow of my bones.
With equal firmness, I believe in the capacity
and I believe in the ability of the Congress,
despite the divisions of opinions which
characterize our Nation, to act-to act wisely,
to act vigorously,
to act speedily when the need arises.
The need is here.
The need is now.
I ask your help.
We meet in grief, but let us also meet in
renewed dedication and renewed vigor.
Let us meet in action, in tolerance, and in
mutual understanding.
John Kennedy's death commands what his life
conveyed-that America must move forward.
The time has come for Americans of all races
and creeds and political beliefs to understand
and to respect one another.
So let us put an end to the teaching and the
preaching of hate and evil and violence.
Let us turn away from the fanatics of the far
left and the far right, from the apostles
of bitterness and bigotry, from those defiant
of law and those who pour venom into our Nation's
I profoundly hope that the tragedy and the
torment of these terrible days will bind us
together in new fellowship, making us one
people in our hour of sorrow.
So let us hear, highly resolved, that John
Fitzgerald Kennedy did not live or die in
the past.
On this Thanksgiving eve, as we gather together
to ask the Lord's blessing and give Him our
thanks, let us unite in those familiar and
cherished words, America, America, God shed
His grace on thee and crown thy good with
brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
The President receives a standing ovation from
the members of the Congress.
Immediately behind him, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, John McCormick,
is now shaking hands and talking with Mr. McCormick.
Now the President shakes the hand of Senator
Carl Hayden of Arizona, President Pro Tem
of the Senate.
President nods.
The members of the Senate and the distinguished
guests continue their applause.
There was an emotion-charged speech during
which time he was interrupted 30 times with (applause)
We now turn our attention to Senate Minority
Leader Everett Dirksen, Charles Halleck, Minority
Leader in the House of Representatives.
The President now moving toward the center
aisle, nodding to his former colleagues.
We just heard an address by the President of
the United States before a joint session
of Congress.
This is Robert Gerelsky, NBC News, Washington.