although. still. governor stephenson, senator johnson, mr. butler, senator simonton, senator humphrey, speaker rayburn, fellow

democrat. i want to express my thank the governor stephenson, for his generous and heartwarming introduction. it was my great honor to place his name in nomination at the 1956 democratic convention, and i am delighted to have his support and his counsel and his advice in the coming months ahead. let me say first that i accept the nomination of the democratic party. i accepted without reservation and with only one obligation, the obligation to devote every effort of my mind and spirit to

lead our party back to victory and our nation to greatness. i am grateful to. i am grateful to you that you are providing us with such a strong platform to stand on and to run on. pledges which are made so eloquently. all need to be kept. all right. the man that never ran economic right. i thank you for the human dignity of all men are indeed our goal and are indeed our first principle. this is a platform on which i can run with enthusiasm and with conviction. and i am grateful. finally, that i can rely on the coming months on many others, on existing running mate programs

and strength through our platform and our ticket. lyndon johnson. and one of the most articulate spokesmen of modern times, adlai stevenson. and a great fighter. and a great fighter for our need as a nation. and a people. so it's only. on my traveling in wisconsin. in west virginia, senator hubert humphrey. on paul butler, our devoted and courageous chairman. and on that fighting campaign, whose support i know welcome president harry truman.

i feel a lot safer with all of them on my side. and i'm proud of the contrast with our republican competitors for their rank that both in that not one challenger has dared to put his head up in the last 12 months. i am fully aware of the fact that the democratic party, by nominating someone of my faith as taking on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk, no. at least since 1928, the democratic party has once again placed its confidence in the american people and in their to render a free and fair judgment and in my ability to render a free and fair judgment.

to uphold the constitution and my oath of office, to reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that my directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the presidency in the national interest. my record of 14 years in supporting public education, supporting complete separation of church and state, and resisting pressure from sources of any kind. should be clear by now to everyone. i hope that no american i hope

that no american. considering the really critical issues facing this country will waste this franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me because of my religious affiliation. it is not relevant. i am telling you what, you are entitled to know as i come before you seeking your support for the most powerful office in the free world. i am saying to you that my decisions on every public policy will be my own as an american, as a democrat, and as a free man.

i mention all of that only because this country faces so many serious challenges, so many great opportunities, so many burdensome response abilities. but i hope that those great matters that we can address ourselves in the coming months and if this statement of mine makes it easier to concentrate on our nation's problem, then i'm glad that i have made it. under any circumstances, the victory we seek in november will not be easy. we know that in our hearts. we know that our opponents well invoke the name of abraham lincoln on behalf of their candidate, despite the fact that his political career, as often

seen to show charity toward none. and now for all. we know, it will not be easy to campaign against the man who has spoken and voted on every side of every issue. mr. nixon may feel that it's his turn now after the no deal and a bad deal, but before he deals someone going to cut the card. that someone may be the millions of americans who voted for president eisenhower but weren't bought out, electing his successor. well, just as historians tell us that, richard, the first was not

fit to fill the shoes of the bold henry. the second, and admitted for my all was not fit to wear the mantle of his uncle. they might add in future years that richard nixon did not measure up to the footsteps of dwight d eisenhower. perhaps he could carry on the party policies, the policies of nixon and bentsen and dirksen and goldwater. but this nation cannot afford such a luxury. perhaps we could afford a following. harding. and perhaps we could afford a path following fillmore. but after buchanan, this nation needed lincoln. after taft. we needed and after hoover, we needed franklin roosevelt.

but we're not merely running against mr. nixon. our task is not merely one of itemizing republican failures, nor is that wholly necessary for the family forced from the farm. you do not need us to tell them of their plight. the unemployed miners and textile workers know that the decision is before them in november. the old people without medical care, the families without a decent home. the parents, the children without a decent school. they all know that it's time for a change. we are not here to curse the darkness. we are here to light a candle. as winston churchill said on

taking office. some 20 years ago, if we open a quarrel between the president and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future. today, our concern must be with that future. well, the world is changing. the old era is ending. the old ways will not do abroad. the balance of power is shifting. new and more terrible weapons are coming into use. one third of the world may be, but one third is the victim of a cruel repression, and the other third is rocked by poverty and hunger and disease. communist influence has penetrated into asia. it stands in the middle east and now festers some 90 miles off the coast of florida. ramsey has slipped under the taliban and neutrals have slipped and are still as our keynote or reminded us, the

president, who began his career by going to korea and not by staying away from japan. the world has been close to war before, but no man who survived all threat to his existence has taken into his mortal hands the power to exterminate his species. seven times over. here at home, the future is equally revolutionary. the new deal and the fair deal were bold measures, but a generation. but now this is a new generation in a technological output and explosion on the farm has led to an output explosion and urban population revolution as overcrowded our schools and plundered our city and crowded our slums.

ap for revolution for human rights demanding an end to racial discrimination in all part of our community life has been that the least used imposed by a timid executive leadership. it is time, in short. it is time and show up for a new generation of leadership all over the world, particularly in the new nations. young men are coming to power. man one not bound by the traditions of the past. man or not blinded by the old fears and hate and rivalry. young man who can cast off the old slogan and the old delusions. the republican nominee you pass is a young man. but his approach is as old as mckinley.

is 40 as the party of the past. the party of memory. his features are generalities from poor richard's almanac. their platform. their platform made up of all left over democratic plank, has the courage of our own convictions. their pledge is to the status quo. and today there is no status quo for us. i stand here tonight facing. west on what was once the last frontier from the lands that stretch 3000 miles behind us. the pioneers gave up their safety, their comfort, and sometimes our lives to build our new west. they were not the captives of their own doubt, nor the prisoners of their own price that they were determined make

the new world strong and free and example to the world to overcome its hazards and its hardships. the part of the enemies that threatened from within, in and out. some would say that those struggles are all over, but all the horizons have been explored. but all the battles have been won that there is no longer an american frontier. but i trust that no one in this network would agree with that sentiment. well, the problems are not all solved. and the battles are not our one. and we stand today on the edge of a new frontier. the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier here of unknown opportunities and peril. the frontier of unfilled hope and unfilled threats. woodrow wilson's new freedom

promised our nation a new political and economic framework. franklin roosevelt's new deal promised security and succor to those in need. but the new frontier of which i speak was not a set of promises. it is a set of challenges. it sums up not what i intend to offer to the american people, but what i intend to ask of them. it appeals to their pride. it appeals to our pride, not our security. it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security. a new frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. beyond that frontier, our uncharted areas of science and space on the problems of peace

and war. on conquered province of ignorance and prejudice. unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. it would be easier to shrink from that new frontier. to look to the mediocrity of the past. to be lowered by good intentions and high rhetoric. and those who prefer that post should not vote for me or the democratic party. but i believe that the times require imagination and courage and perseverance. i'm asking each of you to be pioneers towards that new frontier. my call is to the young at heart. regardless of age, to the story in spirit, regardless of party, to all who respond to the sensible call. be strong enough.

courage. be not afraid. neither being dismayed for courage, not complacency is our need today. leadership, not salesmanship. and the only valid path of leadership is the ability to lead and lead vigorously. a tired nation. a tired nation, said david lloyd. george is a tory nation and the united states today. canada thought to be either tired or tory. there may be those who wish to hear more, more promises to this group or that more harsh rhetoric about the men in the kremlin as a substitute for policy. more assurances of a golden future where taxes are always

low. and the subsidies are always high. what my promises are in the platform that you have adopted are and will not be won by rhetoric. and we can have faith in the future only if we have faith in ourselves. for while the harsh facts of the matter of that, we stand at this frontier, at a turning point of history. we must prove all over again. you are watching as we sit on a most conspicuous stage, whether this nation conceived as it is, whether its freedom of choice, its breadth of opportunity, its range of alternatives can compete with a single minded advance of the communist system. can a nation organized and

governed such as ours and do? that is the real question. have we the nerve and the will? can we carry through in an age where we will witness not only new breakthroughs in weapons of destruction, but also a race for mastery of the sky. in the rain, the ocean and the tides, the far side of space and the inside of men's minds. that is the question of the new frontier. that is the choice that our nation must make a choice that lies not merely between human. or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort, between national greatness and national decline. they bring a fresh air of progress and a stale decade in the fear of normalcy between dedication and mediocrity. all mankind waits to find our decision. a whole world looks to see what

we shall do. and we cannot fail. that thrust. and we cannot fail to try. it has been a long road. on the first snowy day in new hampshire many months ago to this crowded convention city now begins another long journey taking me into your city and home. across the united states. give me your help and your hand and your boy. great record with me. the words of say, say that there that wait upon lord shall renew their strength. they shall mount up with wings as eagles. they shall run and not be weary

as face the coming. great challenge. we shall wait upon the lord and ask that he renew our strength. then, shall we be equal to the task? then we shall not be wearing. then we shall prevail.

and.