I ask the American people for a mandate--not to preside over a finished program--not just to keep things going, I ask the American people for a manda… - Lyndon B. Johnson
" "I ask the American people for a mandate--not to preside over a finished program--not just to keep things going, I ask the American people for a mandate to begin. This Nation--this generation--in this hour, has man's first chance to build the Great Society--a place where the meaning of man's life matches the marvels of man's labor. We seek a nation where every man can find reward in work and satisfaction in the use of his talents. We seek a nation where every man can seek knowledge, and touch beauty, and rejoice in the closeness of family and community. We seek a nation where every man can, in the words of our oldest promise, follow the pursuit of happiness--not just security-but achievements and excellence and fulfillment of the spirit. So let us join together in this great task. Will you join me tonight in rebuilding our cities to make them a decent place for our children to live in? Will you join me tonight in starting a program that will protect the beauty of our land and the air that we breathe? Won't you join me tonight in starting a program that will give every child education of the highest quality that he can take?
About Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (27 August 1908 – 22 January 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician. After a long career in U.S. legislatures, Johnson became the vice president of the United States of America under John F. Kennedy, from 1961 to 1963. A Democrat, Johnson became the 36th U.S. president in 1963, after Kennedy's assassination. He served in the role until 1969.
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Additional quotes by Lyndon B. Johnson
Let me frankly state that I see two great difficulties with this proposal. In view of your public position, such action on our part would inevitably produce worldwide speculation that discussions were under way and would impair the privacy and secrecy of those discussions. Secondly, there would inevitably be grave concern on our part whether your government would make use of such action by us to improve its military position.
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All of us who live today are also a race to be envied. These next decades can set the course of the world for a thousand years or more. There is much danger. But there is also the joy of great expectations. We are not in the grip of history. We are the makers of history. We have the power and the faith to forge on the anvil of the world an age tempered to the hopes of man. How fortunate we are to live at such a time, with such a belief, in such a young and resistless land. So come with me into that uncertain day already touched with dawn.