November 6, 1950
Mr. Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Mayor of Annecy, Mr. Mayor of Independence, my good friends:
This is a great, great day for Independence. You know, I went to Sunday school right across there--the first time in my life, a long, long time ago, and in that Sunday school class I met a little, blue-eyed, goldenhaired girl--my first sweetheart. Her eyes are still blue, but her hair is no longer golden; it's silver--like mine. And she is still my sweetheart.
I was graduated from high school right here on this corner, and the motto of that high school was "Youth, the Hope of the World."
You are still the hope of the world, and will always be.
I am glad to be with you today, and to join in accepting this Liberty Bell.
This bell comes to the people of Independence as a gift from the people of Annecy, France. Annecy is a city in eastern France, near the Alps. It is not far from the Vosges Mountains, where the 129th Field Artillery-in which I had the honor of serving-fought in the First World War, and where a good many American boys fought in the Second World War. In both those wars the people of the United States and the people of France fought on the same side--on the side of freedom and liberty.
Today the people of France and the people of the United States are still on the same side--on the side of freedom and liberty. This freedom we believe is symbolized by this bell.
This bell is an exact replica of the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
When the Liberty Bell rang out in Philadelphia in 1776, the men who heard it had just pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in the cause of freedom. They were willing to fight for the right to live as free men. They were not afraid to stand up to tyrants and say: we are going to govern ourselves.
The spirit of the American Revolution has guided this Nation ever since 1776. We have continued to work--and to fight when necessary--for the revolutionary principles of human freedom and political equality.
Those principles are the hope of the world today. Men all over the world are eagerly striving for freedom and the fight to govern themselves. And we in the United States are strongly supporting them--because that is the best road to peace.
Other nations, too, have fought for freedom. A few years after our own Revolution, the French Revolution was fought to overthrow a tyrant and establish a government of the people.
Today France and many other free nations are joined with us to work for peace based on freedom and justice.
I have been very much interested in the proposal made by the French Foreign Minister, Mr. Schuman, for pooling coal and steel production in Western Europe. I hope very much that this plan can be worked out along the bold lines proposed by that French Foreign Minister, Mr. Schuman.
Today the nations and peoples who believe in freedom face a bitter enemy. We are confronted by Communist imperialism--a reactionary movement that despises liberty and is the mortal foe of personal freedom. The threat of Communist aggression is a continuing menace to world peace.
We are meeting that threat in the only way it can be met--by building up the combined strength of the free world. The free nations must stand together and help one another, if freedom is to survive.
Our objective is to achieve a peace based on agreement among nations. And this is what the United Nations is working for.
The United States stands today, and always has stood, for the settlement of differences among nations by peaceful means. I am convinced that most of the nations and other countries in the world stand for that same thing.
But there are some nations in the world who will not have it that way. The leaders of Communist imperialism have chosen to follow the path of aggression. Through threats and through the use of force, they are seeking to impose their will upon peoples all over the world.
So long as they persist in that course, the free nations have but one choice if they are to remain free. They must oppose strength with strength.
The free nations are doing this. They are joining together to build up common defenses against the menace of Communist aggression. This work is going forward on many fronts.
The determination of the free nations to pool their strength against aggression has been shown in Korea.
Korea is 'proof that freedom can survive if the peoples who cherish it stand together. The common victory against aggression in Korea is evidence that the free nations will not let Communist imperialism swallow up the free peoples one by one.
But the common defense of the free nations is much more than a military matter. It is also a matter of building up economic strength and upholding spiritual values.
This is the true basis of the strength of the free world. Men who know freedom in their daily lives are willing to work for it and are willing to fight for it.
A free country is one in which people control the government in the interest of a better life for everybody. In the words of the Declaration of Independence, it is a country in which the government seeks to secure for its citizens "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Freedom has never been an abstract idea to us here in the United States. It is real and concrete. It means not only political and civil rights; it means much more. It means a society in which man has a fair chance. It means an opportunity to do useful work. It means the fight to an education. It means protection against economic hazards.
We have done a lot in this country in the last few years to give new meaning to this concept of freedom.
We have put our agriculture on a stable basis, so that farm life is no longer a desperate struggle to produce more and more crops for less and less money.
We have brought a new element of democracy into our industrial life through collective bargaining.
We have established a basic security against unemployment and old age.
We have preserved and developed our natural resources for the benefit of all the people.
These things have given meaning--a down-to-earth meaning--to our concept of freedom.
There are some people who will tell you that freedom is endangered by farm programs, or by the public development of natural resources, or by social security, or by health insurance. Those people are wrong. They are just as wrong now as they always have been. Such things bring justice and opportunity into our economic life. They are the reason why our country is stronger and more prosperous today than it has ever been before in our history.
If our people are healthy, well-educated, energetic, and confident of the future, our country will be able to accomplish the great tasks ahead of it. So long as the people of the United States know and understand freedom in their daily lives, our ability to defend it at home and throughout the world will never weaken.
If we are to enjoy and defend our freedom at home, we must exercise our right to vote. No democracy will long remain effective if its citizens do not take an active part in the government. And our country is no exception.
And yet, in the last 50 years, there has been a steady drop in the percentage of eligible voters in the United States who go to the polls and vote on election day. It is a disturbing thing that only about one out of three eligible voters took the trouble to vote in the last midterm election in 1946.
Our friends who sent us the Liberty Bell today, the people of France, know how important it is to vote. In the last general election in France, nearly 80 percent of the eligible voters of France went to the polls.
Voting is not only a right; it is a duty--a serious patriotic duty. And I hope that every eligible voter in the United States will go to the polls tomorrow, and make certain that his family and his neighbors go to the polls, too.
We in our generation must not slip backward in our devotion to liberty.
Written around the crown of this bell are the words, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof." Those words are 2,500 years old. I learned the first line over there in that Presbyterian Church. They come from the Bible. They reflect a deep belief in freedom under God and justice among men--a belief which is at the heart of what the Bible teaches us.
Our concept of freedom has deep religious roots. We come under a divine command to be concerned about the welfare of our neighbors, and to help one another. For all men are the servants of God, and no one has the right to mistreat his fellow men.
This concept of freedom is enshrined in our own Revolution and in our Government. We are trying to live up to it today, at home and in all our dealings with other nations.
We have given of our resources and of our aid, in this time of stress and peril, to other nations who believe in freedom as we do. This aid is given to help these nations grow strong in freedom and to advance our common ideals. Some of this aid has gone to France--and to the people of Annecy, who made this bell.
And they, the people of Annecy, have given this Liberty Bell to us as a symbol of the great fellowship of freedom.
The fellowship of freedom is growing. It stands firm against the false prophets of communism, who represent not brotherhood, but dictatorship--not progress, but reaction.
The fellowship of freedom will prevail against tyranny, and bring peace and justice to the world. For freedom is the true destiny of man.
NOTE: The President spoke at 2:47 p.m. from a stand in front of the Memorial Building in Independence, Mo. In his opening words he referred to John W. Snyder, Secretary of the Treasury, Georges Volland, Mayor of Annecy-le-Vieux, France, and Robert P. Weatherford, Jr., Mayor of Independence. The address was broadcast.
Fifty-three bells were cast and presented to each of the 48 States, the Territories, and the District of Columbia. They were used as the symbols of the United States Savings Bonds Independence Drive held May 15-July 4, 1950. The bells were cast in Annecy-le-Vieux, France, a small village located miles from the city of Annecy.
See also Item 280.
Mr. Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Mayor of Annecy, Mr. Mayor of Independence, my good friends:
This is a great, great day for Independence. You know, I went to Sunday school right across there--the first time in my life, a long, long time ago, and in that Sunday school class I met a little, blue-eyed, goldenhaired girl--my first sweetheart. Her eyes are still blue, but her hair is no longer golden; it's silver--like mine. And she is still my sweetheart.
I was graduated from high school right here on this corner, and the motto of that high school was "Youth, the Hope of the World."
You are still the hope of the world, and will always be.
I am glad to be with you today, and to join in accepting this Liberty Bell.
This bell comes to the people of Independence as a gift from the people of Annecy, France. Annecy is a city in eastern France, near the Alps. It is not far from the Vosges Mountains, where the 129th Field Artillery-in which I had the honor of serving-fought in the First World War, and where a good many American boys fought in the Second World War. In both those wars the people of the United States and the people of France fought on the same side--on the side of freedom and liberty.
Today the people of France and the people of the United States are still on the same side--on the side of freedom and liberty. This freedom we believe is symbolized by this bell.
This bell is an exact replica of the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
When the Liberty Bell rang out in Philadelphia in 1776, the men who heard it had just pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in the cause of freedom. They were willing to fight for the right to live as free men. They were not afraid to stand up to tyrants and say: we are going to govern ourselves.
The spirit of the American Revolution has guided this Nation ever since 1776. We have continued to work--and to fight when necessary--for the revolutionary principles of human freedom and political equality.
Those principles are the hope of the world today. Men all over the world are eagerly striving for freedom and the fight to govern themselves. And we in the United States are strongly supporting them--because that is the best road to peace.
Other nations, too, have fought for freedom. A few years after our own Revolution, the French Revolution was fought to overthrow a tyrant and establish a government of the people.
Today France and many other free nations are joined with us to work for peace based on freedom and justice.
I have been very much interested in the proposal made by the French Foreign Minister, Mr. Schuman, for pooling coal and steel production in Western Europe. I hope very much that this plan can be worked out along the bold lines proposed by that French Foreign Minister, Mr. Schuman.
Today the nations and peoples who believe in freedom face a bitter enemy. We are confronted by Communist imperialism--a reactionary movement that despises liberty and is the mortal foe of personal freedom. The threat of Communist aggression is a continuing menace to world peace.
We are meeting that threat in the only way it can be met--by building up the combined strength of the free world. The free nations must stand together and help one another, if freedom is to survive.
Our objective is to achieve a peace based on agreement among nations. And this is what the United Nations is working for.
The United States stands today, and always has stood, for the settlement of differences among nations by peaceful means. I am convinced that most of the nations and other countries in the world stand for that same thing.
But there are some nations in the world who will not have it that way. The leaders of Communist imperialism have chosen to follow the path of aggression. Through threats and through the use of force, they are seeking to impose their will upon peoples all over the world.
So long as they persist in that course, the free nations have but one choice if they are to remain free. They must oppose strength with strength.
The free nations are doing this. They are joining together to build up common defenses against the menace of Communist aggression. This work is going forward on many fronts.
The determination of the free nations to pool their strength against aggression has been shown in Korea.
Korea is 'proof that freedom can survive if the peoples who cherish it stand together. The common victory against aggression in Korea is evidence that the free nations will not let Communist imperialism swallow up the free peoples one by one.
But the common defense of the free nations is much more than a military matter. It is also a matter of building up economic strength and upholding spiritual values.
This is the true basis of the strength of the free world. Men who know freedom in their daily lives are willing to work for it and are willing to fight for it.
A free country is one in which people control the government in the interest of a better life for everybody. In the words of the Declaration of Independence, it is a country in which the government seeks to secure for its citizens "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Freedom has never been an abstract idea to us here in the United States. It is real and concrete. It means not only political and civil rights; it means much more. It means a society in which man has a fair chance. It means an opportunity to do useful work. It means the fight to an education. It means protection against economic hazards.
We have done a lot in this country in the last few years to give new meaning to this concept of freedom.
We have put our agriculture on a stable basis, so that farm life is no longer a desperate struggle to produce more and more crops for less and less money.
We have brought a new element of democracy into our industrial life through collective bargaining.
We have established a basic security against unemployment and old age.
We have preserved and developed our natural resources for the benefit of all the people.
These things have given meaning--a down-to-earth meaning--to our concept of freedom.
There are some people who will tell you that freedom is endangered by farm programs, or by the public development of natural resources, or by social security, or by health insurance. Those people are wrong. They are just as wrong now as they always have been. Such things bring justice and opportunity into our economic life. They are the reason why our country is stronger and more prosperous today than it has ever been before in our history.
If our people are healthy, well-educated, energetic, and confident of the future, our country will be able to accomplish the great tasks ahead of it. So long as the people of the United States know and understand freedom in their daily lives, our ability to defend it at home and throughout the world will never weaken.
If we are to enjoy and defend our freedom at home, we must exercise our right to vote. No democracy will long remain effective if its citizens do not take an active part in the government. And our country is no exception.
And yet, in the last 50 years, there has been a steady drop in the percentage of eligible voters in the United States who go to the polls and vote on election day. It is a disturbing thing that only about one out of three eligible voters took the trouble to vote in the last midterm election in 1946.
Our friends who sent us the Liberty Bell today, the people of France, know how important it is to vote. In the last general election in France, nearly 80 percent of the eligible voters of France went to the polls.
Voting is not only a right; it is a duty--a serious patriotic duty. And I hope that every eligible voter in the United States will go to the polls tomorrow, and make certain that his family and his neighbors go to the polls, too.
We in our generation must not slip backward in our devotion to liberty.
Written around the crown of this bell are the words, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof." Those words are 2,500 years old. I learned the first line over there in that Presbyterian Church. They come from the Bible. They reflect a deep belief in freedom under God and justice among men--a belief which is at the heart of what the Bible teaches us.
Our concept of freedom has deep religious roots. We come under a divine command to be concerned about the welfare of our neighbors, and to help one another. For all men are the servants of God, and no one has the right to mistreat his fellow men.
This concept of freedom is enshrined in our own Revolution and in our Government. We are trying to live up to it today, at home and in all our dealings with other nations.
We have given of our resources and of our aid, in this time of stress and peril, to other nations who believe in freedom as we do. This aid is given to help these nations grow strong in freedom and to advance our common ideals. Some of this aid has gone to France--and to the people of Annecy, who made this bell.
And they, the people of Annecy, have given this Liberty Bell to us as a symbol of the great fellowship of freedom.
The fellowship of freedom is growing. It stands firm against the false prophets of communism, who represent not brotherhood, but dictatorship--not progress, but reaction.
The fellowship of freedom will prevail against tyranny, and bring peace and justice to the world. For freedom is the true destiny of man.
NOTE: The President spoke at 2:47 p.m. from a stand in front of the Memorial Building in Independence, Mo. In his opening words he referred to John W. Snyder, Secretary of the Treasury, Georges Volland, Mayor of Annecy-le-Vieux, France, and Robert P. Weatherford, Jr., Mayor of Independence. The address was broadcast.
Fifty-three bells were cast and presented to each of the 48 States, the Territories, and the District of Columbia. They were used as the symbols of the United States Savings Bonds Independence Drive held May 15-July 4, 1950. The bells were cast in Annecy-le-Vieux, France, a small village located miles from the city of Annecy.
See also Item 280.