The Most Fateful Decision Since 1860
The United States and her allies have incomparable power. But the manner in which that power will be wielded depends largely upon the next President.
The next Presidential election will be the most fateful election held in the United States since 1860. Upon the nation’s choice of President may hang the fate of the world.
It is inevitable that this should be so.
Presently, two giant antagonists occupy the center of the world stage. A third force - as yet uncommitted - stirs restlessly in the shadows. The United States with its friends and allies have incomparable power. But the manner in which that power will be wielded depends largely upon the next President. And this, too, is inevitable under out political and constitutional system. For the defined powers of the Presidency are enormous; the potential powers, beyond calculation. This is borne out by the records of some of our great Presidents: Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, and two Roosevelts.
The Founding Fathers did not precisely define the presidential powers. The President, in a large sense, impress the stamp of his own personality and peculiar talents upon the Presidency. He is at once an instrument of history and a molder of history; if, that is, he has the strength of character, the imagination, and the courage to make hard decisions.
Stupendous questions will confront the next President. He may surround himself with able men. But essentially he must be the leader, and he must - for that is the nature of the office - wrestle with the nation’s problems in terrible loneliness. It would be well for him, then to possess and intrepid spirit, a high heart and a calm mind. Nor does this close the catalog of his needed qualities.
Recently, Robert Frost, when asked what kind of President he would like to see next in the White House, replied: “A literate President.”
This means, first, one who does not become strangled in his own phrases, who is not smothered by his own ghost writers and public relations experts. But it means more than this. It means one who knows much and desires to know more about the complex, terrifying world we inhabit. It means one who can directly communicate with the people as teacher and leader.
In our times, we have dropped some magnificent phrases from our usage. One of them is a “man of character.” By a man of character, I mean, among other things, a President who is able to say “yes” and to say “no,” and to make them stick when says them.
I would like to see a passionate man in the White House. By passionate, I do not mean such a silly thing as hot tempered or loud voice. But, rather, a calm man with a compassionate heart and a clear mind. One, moreover, whose belief in what we stand for is so incandescent as to be flaming. Damp homilies have never yet caught fire.
As St. Paul put it in his letter to the people of Corinth: “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to battle.”
We must have a President who has faith in the people. I am aware that this has become a namby-pamby phrase. By faith in the people, I mean something stern. I mean one believes that better are the wounds of a friend than the kisses of an enemy. A President, that is, who believes that the people can bear to hear from his lips the bleak truth about our position in the world; about the total struggle in which they are now engaged and will be engaged for years to come. I mean a President who believes that the American people are not a sick people from whom the truth must be kept, nor a spoiled people who will whine when they are asked to give often instead of getting all the time; one who will tell them that no President, no Congress, no armed forces, can save them unless they, each and every one, understands that his fate and the fate of the nation lies in his own hands because in a democracy each man is both the shepherd and the flock.
By faith in the people, moreover, I mean a President who believes that there is little Americans cannot do when the need for doing is explained to them and they are asked to act; one who believes that their potential greatness has scarcely been tapped; that indeed, the American people would respond with a great shout of relief and joy if they were called to greatness; if they were inspired to move out, a determined and purposeful people, on the stage of the world - free, at last, of the enervating swamplands of apathy and indifference. The American people are yearning for a leader who, instead of worrying continuously about what Khruschchev will do next, concentrates - with a passion - on what we can do next.
Fortunately for the nation, the qualities that I have described resident in each of the Democratic who is a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. One of them will be in the White House next year, and I believe that under his leadership the American people will experience on of their finest hours.
That new President might very well be Senator Kennedy. I know of no man who better fulfills the qualities of presidential leadership which I have described.
Jack Kennedy is a literate man - a brilliant author who has probed deeply our historical past to sharpen his perception of the gigantic forces no convulsing the globe.
He is a man of character who fought powerful extremists in both industry and labor to save the American labor movement from destruction at the hand of reckless racketeers - Hoffa and Beck.
Jack Kennedy is a man of deep passion whose love for this great country led him to the point of death in wartime and to the pinnacle of statesmanship in peace time.
Jack Kennedy is a man of deep faith in the people - faith enough to believe that the American people are too honorable to penalize a man because of his chose place of worship. Faith enough to believe that the farmers of America will respect a Senator from Boston who frankly tells them that he was wrong several years ago when voted lower price supports.
I don’t know where Vice President Nixon stands on agriculture - even Mr. Rockefeller doesn’t know where Mr. Nixon stands.
But I know where Jack Kennedy has stood and stood consistently for four years. There is no one who is more devout than a true convert, and Senator Kennedy is a 100% convert to the farmer’s longtime struggle to achieve parity with the rest of the nation.
I believe with all my heart that if Jack Kennedy becomes our next President, the American farmer will have not only a dependable friend, but a clear sighted champion.
It is one of the highest privileges of my life to present to my fellow South Dakotans a treasured personal friend and a leader who calls us to greatness - Senator Jack Kennedy.
Remarks of Congressman George McGovern
At Senator Kennedy Dinner
Aberdeen, South Dakota, June 18, 1960