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1、-范文最新推荐- Dwight D. Eisenhower: Farewell dwight d. eisenhower: farewell addressgood evening, my fellow americans. first, i should like to express my gratitude to the radio and television networks for the opportunities they have given me over the years to bring reports and messages to our nation. my s
2、pecial thanks go to them for the opportunity of addressing you this evening. three days from now, after a half century in the service of our country, i shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the presidency is vested in my successor. thi
3、s evening i come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen. like every other citizen, i wish the new president, and all who will labor with him, godspeed. i pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for al
4、l. our people expect their president and the congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the nation. my own relations with the congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the senate a
5、ppointed me to west point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and finally to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years. in this final relationship, the congress and the administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve t
6、he nation good, rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the nation should go forward. so, my official relationship with congress ends in a feeling - on my part - of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together. we now stand ten years past the midpoint of a
7、century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. three of these involved our own country. despite these holocausts, america is today the strongest, the most influential, and most productive nation in the world. understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that americas le
8、adership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment. throughout americas adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace, to foster p
9、rogress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among peoples and among nations. to strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. any failure traceable to arrogance or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous h
10、urt, both at home and abroad. progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. it commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. we face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in meth
11、od. unhappily, the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration. to meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged
12、and complex struggle with liberty the stake. only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment. crises there will continue to be. in meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to fee
13、l that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. a huge increase in newer elements of our defenses; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research - these and many oth
14、er possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel. but each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs, balance between the private and the public econ
15、omy, balance between the cost and hoped for advantages, balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable, balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual, balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare
16、 of the future. good judgment seeks balance and progress. lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration. the record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of threat and stres
17、s. but threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. of these, i mention two only. a vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. our military organi
18、zation today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or, indeed, by the fighting men of world war ii or korea. until the latest of our world conflicts, the united states had no armaments industry. american makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, mak
19、e swords as well. but now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. we annually spend
20、 on military security alone more than the net income of all united states corporations. now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the american experience. the total influence - economic, political, even spiritual -is felt in every city, every state
21、house, every office of the federal government. we recognize the imperative need for this development. yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. so is the very structure of our society. in the councils of government, we must guard
22、 against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. we must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. we sho
23、uld take nothing for granted. only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping cha
24、nges in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. in this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. a steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the federal governmen
25、t. today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. in the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct o
26、f research. partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. for every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. the prospect of domination of the nations scholars by federal employment, project alloc
27、ations, and the power of money is ever present - and is gravely to be regarded. yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite. i
28、t is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system c ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society. another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. as we peer into soc
29、ietys future, we - you and i, and our government - must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. we cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual
30、 heritage. we want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow. during the long lane of the history yet to be written, america knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be,
31、 instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. such a confederation must be one of equals. the weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. that table, though scarred by many past frustra
32、tions, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield. disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. because this need is so sharp and apparent, i confe
33、ss that i lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. as one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war, as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over tho
34、usands of years, i wish i could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight. happily, i can say that war has been avoided. steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. but so much remains to be done. as a private citizen, i shall never cease to do what little i can to help the world adva
35、nce along that road. so, in this my last good night to you as your president, i thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and in peace. i trust that in that service you find some things worthy. as for the rest of it, i know you will find ways to improve perform
36、ance in the future. you and i, my fellow citizens, need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under god, will reach the goal of peace with justice. may we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the nations great goals. to all the pe
37、oples of the world, i once more give expression to americas prayerful and continuing aspiration: we pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedo
38、m may experience its few spiritual blessings. those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; and that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth; and that,
39、in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love. now, on friday noon, i am to become a private citizen. i am proud to do so. i look forward to it. thank you, and good night. lyndon baines johnson: renunciation spee
40、chgood evening, my fellow americans:tonight i want to speak to you of peace in vietnam and southeast asia. no other question so preoccupies our people. no other dream so absorbs the 250 million human beings who live in that part of the world. no other goal motivates american policy in southeast asia
41、.for years, representatives of our governments and others have traveled the world seeking to find a basis for peace talks. since last september they have carried the offer that i made public at san antonio. and that offer was this:that the united states would stop its bombardment of north vietnam wh
42、en that would lead promptly to productive discussions - and that we would assume that north vietnam would not take military advantage of our restraint.hanoi denounced this offer, both privately and publicly. even while the search for peace was going on, north vietnam rushed their preparations for a
43、savage assault on the people, the government, and the allies of south vietnam. their attack - during the tet holidays - failed to achieve its principal objectives. it did not collapse the elected government of south vietnam or shatter its army - as the communists had hoped. it did not produce a “gen
44、eral uprising” among the people of the cities, as they had predicted. the communists were unable to maintain control of any of the more than 30 cities that they attacked. and they took very heavy casualties. but they did compel the south vietnamese and their allies to move certain forces from the co
45、untryside into the cities. they caused widespread disruption and suffering. their attacks, and the battles that followed, made refugees of half a million human beings.the communists may renew their attack any day. they are, it appears, trying to make 1968 the year of decision in south vietnam - the
46、year that brings, if not final victory or defeat, at least a turning point in the struggle.this much is clear: if they do mount another round of heavy attacks, they will not succeed in destroying the fighting power of south vietnam and its allies. but tragically, this is also clear: many men - on bo
47、th sides of the struggle - will be lost. a nation that has already suffered 20 years of warfare will suffer once again. armies on both sides will take new casualties. and the war will go on. there is no need for this to be so. there is no need to delay the talks that could bring an end to this long
48、and this bloody war.tonight, i renew the offer i made last august: to stop the bombardment of north vietnam. we ask that talks begin promptly, that they be serious talks on the substance of peace. we assume that during those talks hanoi will not take advantage of our restraint. we are prepared to mo
49、ve immediately toward peace through negotiations. so tonight, in the hope that this action will lead to early talks, i am taking the first step to de-escalate the conflict. we are reducing - substantially reducing - the present level of hostilities, and we are doing so unilaterally and at once.tonight, i have ordered our aircra
