Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, my colleagues in the Congress, our distinguished guests and my fellow Americans: To address a joint session of the Congress in this great Chamber in which I was once privileged to serve is an honor for which I am deeply grateful. The State of the Union Address is traditionally an occasion for a lengthy and detailed account by the President of what he has accomplished in the past, what he wants the Congress to do in the future, and, in an election year, to lay the basis for the political issues which might be decisive in the fall. Occasionally there comes a time when profound and far-reaching events command a break with tradition. This is such a time. I say this not only because 1970 marks the beginning of a new decade in which America will celebrate its 200th birthday. I say it because new knowledge and hard experience argue persuasively that both our programs and our institutions in America need to be reformed. The moment has arrived to harness the vast energies and abundance of this land to the creation of a new American experience, an experience richer and deeper and more truly a reflection of the goodness and grace of the human spirit. The seventies will be a time of new beginnings, a time of exploring both on the earth and in the heavens, a time of discovery. But the time has also come for emphasis on developing better ways of managing what we have and of completing what man's genius has begun but left unfinished. Our land, this land that is ours together, is a great and a good land. It is also an unfinished land, and the challenge of perfecting it is the summons of the seventies. It is in that spirit that I address myself to those great issues facing our Nation which are above partisanship. When we speak of America's priorities the first priority must always be peace for America and the world. The major immediate goal of our foreign policy is to bring an end to the war in Vietnam in a way that our generation will be remembered not so much as the generation that suffered in war, but more for the fact that we had the courage and character to win the kind of a just peace that the next generation was able to keep. We are making progress toward that goal. The prospects for peace are far greater today than they were a year ago. A major part of the credit for this development goes to the Members of this Congress who, despite their differences on the conduct of the war, have overwhelmingly indicated their support of a just peace. By this action, you have completely demolished the enemy's hopes that they can gain in Washington the victory our fighting men have denied them in Vietnam. No goal could be greater than to make the next generation the first in this century in which America was at peace with every nation in the world. I shall discuss in detail the new concepts and programs designed to achieve this goal in a separate report on foreign policy, which I shall submit to the Congress at a later date. Today, let me describe the directions of our new policies. We have based our policies on an evaluation of the world as it is, not as it was 25 years ago at the conclusion of World War II. Many of the policies which were necessary and fight then are obsolete today. Then, because of America's overwhelming military and economic strength, because of the weakness of other major free world powers and the inability of scores of newly independent nations to defend, or even govern, themselves, America had to assume the major burden for the defense of freedom in the world. In two wars, first in Korea and now in Vietnam, we furnished most of the money, most of the arms, most of the men to help other nations defend their freedom. Today the great industrial nations of Europe, as well as Japan, have regained their economic strength; and the nations of Latin America--and many of the nations who acquired their freedom from colonialism after World War II in Asia and Africa--have a new sense of pride and dignity and a determination to assume the responsibility for their own defense. That is the basis of the doctrine I announced at Guam. 
Neither the defense nor the development of other nations can be exclusively or primarily an American undertaking.  See 1969 volume, Item 279. The nations of each part of the world should assume the primary responsibility for their own well-being; and they themselves should determine the terms of that well-being. We shall be faithful to our treaty commitments, but we shall reduce our involvement and our presence in other nations' affairs. To insist that other nations play a role is not a retreat from responsibility; it is a sharing of responsibility. The result of this new policy has been not to weaken our alliances, but to give them new life, new strength, a new sense of common purpose. Relations with our European allies are once again strong and healthy, based on mutual consultation and mutual responsibility. We have initiated a new approach to Latin America in which we deal with those nations as partners rather than patrons. The new partnership concept has been welcomed in Asia. We have developed an historic new basis for Japanese-American friendship and cooperation, which is the linchpin for peace in the Pacific. If we are to have peace in the last third of the century, a major factor will be the development of a new relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. I would not underestimate our differences, but we are moving with precision and purpose from an era of confrontation to an era of negotiation. Our negotiations on strategic arms limitations and in other areas will have far greater chance for success if both sides enter them motivated by mutual self-interest rather than naive sentimentality. It is with this same spirit that we have resumed discussions with Communist China in our talks at Warsaw. Our concern in our relations with both these nations is to avoid a catastrophic collision and to build a solid basis for peaceful settlement of our differences. I would be the last to suggest that the road to peace is not difficult and dangerous, but I believe our new policies have contributed to the prospect that America may have the best chance since World War II to enjoy a generation of uninterrupted peace. And that chance will be enormously increased if we continue to have a relationship between Congress and the Executive in which, despite differences in detail, where the security of America and the peace of mankind are concerned, we act not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans. As we move into the decade of the seventies, we have the greatest opportunity for progress at home of any people in world history. Our gross national product will increase by $500 billion in the next 10 years. This increase alone is greater than the entire growth of the American economy from 1790 to 1950. The critical question is not whether we will grow, but how we will use that growth. The decade of the sixties was also a period of great growth economically. But in that same 10-year period we witnessed the greatest growth of crime, the greatest increase in inflation, the greatest social unrest in America in 100 years. Never has a nation seemed to have had more and enjoyed it less. At heart, the issue is the effectiveness of government. Ours has become--as it continues to be, and should remain--a society of large expectations. Government helped to generate these expectations. It undertook to meet them. Yet, increasingly, it proved unable to do so. As a people, we had too many visions-and too little vision. Now, as we enter the seventies, we should enter also a great age of reform of the institutions of American government. Our purpose in this period should not be simply better management of the programs of the past. The time has come for a new quest--a quest not for a greater quantity of what we have, but for a new quality of life in America. A major part of the substance for an unprecedented advance in this Nation's approach to its problems and opportunities is contained in more than two score legislative proposals which I sent to the Congress last year and which still await enactment. 
I will offer at least a dozen more major programs in the course of this session. At this point I do not intend to through a detailed listing of what I have proposed or will propose, but I would like to mention three areas in which urgent priorities demand that we move and move now: First, we cannot delay longer in accomplishing a total reform of our welfare system. When a system penalizes work, breaks up homes, robs recipients of dignity, there is no alternative to abolishing that system and adopting in its place the program of income support, job training, and work incentives which I recommended to the Congress last year. Second, the time has come to assess and reform all of our institutions of government at the Federal, State, and local level. It is time for a New Federalism, in which, after 190 years of power flowing from the people and local and State governments to Washington, D.C., it will begin to flow from Washington back to the States and to the people of the United States. Third, we must adopt reforms which will expand the range of opportunities for all Americans. We can fulfill the American dream only when each person has a fair chance to fulfill his own dreams. This means equal voting rights, equal employment opportunity, and new opportunities for expanded ownership. Because in order to be secure in their human rights, people need access to property rights. I could give similar examples of the need for reform in our programs for health, education, housing, transportation, as well as other critical areas which directly affect the well-being of millions of Americans. The people of the United States should wait no longer for these reforms that would so deeply enhance the quality of their life. When I speak of actions which would be beneficial to the American people, I can think of none more important than for the Congress to join this administration in the battle to stop the rise in the cost of living. Now, I realize it is tempting to blame someone else for inflation. Some blame business for raising prices. Some blame unions for asking for more wages. But a review of the stark fiscal facts of the 1960's clearly demonstrates where the primary blame for rising prices must be placed. In the decade of the sixties the Federal Government spent $57 billion more than it took in in taxes. In that same decade the American people paid the bill for that deficit in price increases which raised the cost of living for the average family of four by $200 per month in America. Now millions of Americans are forced to go into debt today because the Federal Government decided to go into debt yesterday. We must balance our Federal budget so that American families will have a better chance to balance their family budgets. Only with the cooperation of the Congress can we meet this highest priority objective of responsible government. We are on the right track. 
We had a balanced budget in 1969. This administration cut more than $7 billion out of spending plans in order to produce a surplus in 1970, and in spite of the fact that Congress reduced revenues by $3 billion, I shall recommend a balanced budget for 1971. But I can assure you that not only to present, but to stay within, a balanced budget requires some very hard decisions. It means rejecting spending programs which would benefit some of the people when their net effect would result in price increases for all the people. It is time to quit putting good money into bad programs. Otherwise, we will end up with bad money and bad programs. I recognize the political popularity of spending programs, and particularly in an election year. But unless we stop the rise in prices, the cost of living for millions of American families will become unbearable and government's ability to plan programs for progress for the future will become impossible. In referring to budget cuts, there is one area where I have ordered an increase rather than a cut--and that is the requests of those agencies with the responsibilities for law enforcement. We have heard a great deal of overblown rhetoric during the sixties in which the word "war" has perhaps too often been used--the war on poverty, the war on misery, the war on disease, the war on hunger. But if there is one area where the word "war" is appropriate it is in the fight against crime. We must declare and win the war against the criminal elements which increasingly threaten our cities, our homes, and our lives. We have a tragic example of this problem in the Nation's Capital, for whose safety the Congress and the Executive have the primary responsibility. I doubt if many Members of this Congress who live more than a few blocks from here would dare leave their cars in the Capitol garage and walk home alone tonight. Last year this administration sent to the Congress 13 separate pieces of legislation dealing with organized crime, pornography, street crime, narcotics, crime in the District of Columbia. None of these bills has reached my desk for signature. I am confident that the Congress will act now to adopt the legislation I placed before you last year. We in the Executive have done everything we can under existing law, but new and stronger weapons are needed in that fight. While it is true that State and local law enforcement agencies are the cutting edge in the effort to eliminate street crime, burglaries, murder, my proposals to you have embodied my belief that the Federal Government should play a greater role in working in partnership with these agencies. 
That is why 1971 Federal spending for local law enforcement will double that budgeted for 1970. The primary responsibility for crimes that affect individuals is with local and State rather than with Federal Government. But in the field of organized crime, narcotics, pornography, the Federal Government has a special responsibility it should fulfill. And we should make Washington, D.C., where we have the primary responsibility, an example to the Nation and the world of respect for law rather than lawlessness. I now turn to a subject which, next to our desire for peace, may well become the major concern of the American people in the decade of the seventies. In the next 10 years we shall increase our wealth by 50 percent. The profound question is: Does this mean we will be 50 percent richer in a real sense, 50 percent better off, 50 percent happier? Or does it mean that in the year 1980 the President standing in this place will look back on a decade in which 70 percent of our people lived in metropolitan areas choked by traffic, suffocated by smog, poisoned by water, deafened by noise, and terrorized by crime? These are not the great questions that concern world leaders at summit conferences. But people do not live at the summit. They live in the foothills of everyday experience, and it is time for all of us to concern ourselves with the way real people live in real life. The great question of the seventies is, shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water? Restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions. It has become a common cause of all the people of this country. It is a cause of particular concern to young Americans, because they more than we will reap the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later. Clean air, clean water, open spaces-these should once again be the birthright of every American. If we act now, they can be. We still think of air as free. But clean air is not free, and neither is clean water. The price tag on pollution control is high. Through our years of past carelessness we incurred a debt to nature, and now that debt is being called. The program I shall propose to Congress will be the most comprehensive and costly program in this field in America's history. It is not a program for just one year. A year's plan in this field is no plan at all. This is a time to look ahead not a year, but 5 years or 10 years--whatever time is required to do the job. I shall propose to this Congress a $10 billion nationwide clean waters program to put modern municipal waste treatment plants in every place in America where they are needed to make our waters clean again, and do it now. We have the industrial capacity, if we begin now, to build them all within 5 years. This program will get them built within 5 years. As our cities and suburbs relentlessly expand, those priceless open spaces needed for recreation areas accessible to their people are swallowed up--often forever. Unless we preserve these spaces while they are still available, we will have none to preserve. Therefore, I shall propose new financing methods for purchasing open space and parklands now, before they are lost to us. The automobile is our worst polluter of the air. Adequate control requires further advances in engine design and fuel composition. We shall intensify our research, set increasingly strict standards, and strengthen enforcement procedures-and we shall do it now. We can no longer afford to consider air and water common property, free to be abused by anyone without regard to the consequences. Instead, we should begin now to treat them as scarce resources, which we are no more free to contaminate than we are free to throw garbage into our neighbor's yard. This requires comprehensive new regulations. It also requires that, to the extent possible, the price of goods should be made to include the costs of producing and disposing of them without damage to the environment. Now, I realize that the argument is often made that there is a fundamental contradiction between economic growth and the quality of life, so that to have one we must forsake the other. The answer is not to abandon growth, but to redirect it. For example, we should turn toward ending congestion and eliminating smog the same reservoir of inventive genius that created them in the first place. Continued vigorous economic growth provides us with the means to enrich life itself and to enhance our planet as a place hospitable to man. Each individual must enlist in this fight if it is to be won. It has been said that no matter how many national parks and historical monuments we buy and develop, the truly significant environment for each of us is that in which we spend 80 percent of our time--in our homes, in our places of work, the streets over which we travel. Street litter, rundown parking strips and yards, dilapidated fences, broken windows, smoking automobiles, dingy working places, all should be the object of our fresh view. We have been too tolerant of our surroundings and too willing to leave it to others to clean up our environment. It is time for those who make massive demands on society to make some minimal demands on themselves. Each of us must resolve that each day he will leave his home, his property, the public places of the city or town a little cleaner, a little better, a little more pleasant for himself and those around him. With the help of people we can do anything, and without their help, we can do nothing. In this spirit, together, we can reclaim our land for ours and generations to come. Between now and the year 5000, over 100 million children will be born in the United States. Where they grow up--and how will, more than any one thing, measure the quality of American life in these years ahead. 
This should be a warning to us. For the past 30 years our population has also been growing and shifting. The result is exemplified in the vast areas of rural America emptying out of people and of promise--a third of our counties lost population in the sixties. The violent and decayed central cities of our great metropolitan complexes are the most conspicuous area of failure in American life today. 
I propose that before these problems become insoluble, the Nation develop a national growth policy. In the future, government decisions as to where to build highways, locate airports, acquire land, or sell land should be made with a clear objective of aiding a balanced growth for America. In particular, the Federal Government must be in a position to assist in the building of new cities and the rebuilding of old ones. At the same time, we will carry our concern with the quality of life in America to the farm as well as the suburb, to the village as well as to the city. What rural America needs most is a new kind of assistance. It needs to be dealt with, not as a separate nation, but as part of an overall growth policy for America. We must create a new rural environment which will not only stem the migration to urban centers, but reverse it. If we seize our growth as a challenge, we can make the 1970's an historic period when by conscious choice we transformed our land into what we want it to become. America, which has pioneered in the new abundance, and in the new technology, is called upon today to pioneer in meeting the concerns which have followed in their wake--in turning the wonders of science to the service of man. In the majesty of this great Chamber we hear the echoes of America's history, of debates that rocked the Union and those that repaired it, of the summons to war and the search for peace, of the uniting of the people, the building of a nation. Those echoes of history remind us of our roots and our strengths. They remind us also of that special genius of American democracy, which at one critical turning point after another has led us to spot the new road to the future and given us the wisdom and the courage to take it. As I look down that new road which I have tried to map out today, I see a new America as we celebrate our 200th anniversary 6 years from now. I see an America in which we have abolished hunger, provided the means for every family in the Nation to obtain a minimum income, made enormous progress in providing better housing, faster transportation, improved health, and superior education. I see an America in which we have checked inflation, and waged a winning war against crime. I see an America in which we have made great strides in stopping the pollution of our air, cleaning up our water, opening up our parks, continuing to explore in space. Most important, I see an America at peace with all the nations of the world. This is not an impossible dream. These goals are all within our reach. In times past, our forefathers had the vision but not the means to achieve such goals. Let it not be recorded that we were the first American generation that had the means but not the vision to make this dream come true. But let us, above all, recognize a fundamental truth. We can be the best clothed, best fed, best housed people in the world, enjoying clean air, clean water, beautiful parks, but we could still be the unhappiest people in the world without an indefinable spirit--the lift of a driving dream which has made America, from its beginning, the hope of the world. Two hundred years ago this was a new nation of 3 million people, weak militarily, poor economically. But America meant something to the world then which could not be measured in dollars, something far more important than military might. Listen to President Thomas Jefferson in 1802: We act not "for ourselves alone, but for the whole human race." We had a spiritual quality then which caught the imagination of millions of people in the world. Today, when we are the richest and strongest nation in the world, let it not be recorded that we lack the moral and spiritual idealism which made us the hope of the world at the time of our birth. The demands of us in 1976 are even greater than in 1776. It is no longer enough to live and let live. Now we must live and help live. We need a fresh climate in America, one in which a person can breathe freely and breathe in freedom. Our recognition of the truth that wealth and happiness are not the same thing requires us to measure success or failure by new criteria. Even more than the programs I have described today, what this Nation needs is an example from its elected leaders in providing the spiritual and moral leadership which no programs for material progress can satisfy. Above all, let us inspire young Americans with a sense of excitement, a sense of destiny, a sense of involvement, in meeting the challenges we face in this great period of our history. Only then are they going to have any sense of satisfaction in their lives. The greatest privilege an individual can have is to serve in a cause bigger than himself. We have such a cause. How we seize the opportunities I have described today will determine not only our future, but the future of peace and freedom in this world in the last third of the century. May God give us the wisdom, the strength and, above all, the idealism to be worthy of that challenge, so that America can fulfill its destiny of being the world's best hope for liberty, for opportunity, for progress and peace for all peoples.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, my colleagues in the Congress, our distinguished guests and my fellow Americans: To address a joint session of the Congress in this great Chamber in which I was once privileged to serve is an honor for which I am deeply grateful. The State of the Union Address is traditionally an occasion for a lengthy and detailed account by the President of what he has accomplished in the past, what he wants the Congress to do in the future, and, in an election year, to lay the basis for the political issues which might be decisive in the fall. Occasionally there comes a time when profound and far-reaching events command a break with tradition. This is such a time. I say this not only because 1970 marks the beginning of a new decade in which America will celebrate its 200th birthday. I say it because new knowledge and hard experience argue persuasively that both our programs and our institutions in America need to be reformed. The moment has arrived to harness the vast energies and abundance of this land to the creation of a new American experience, an experience richer and deeper and more truly a reflection of the goodness and grace of the human spirit. The seventies will be a time of new beginnings, a time of exploring both on the earth and in the heavens, a time of discovery. But the time has also come for emphasis on developing better ways of managing what we have and of completing what man's genius has begun but left unfinished. Our land, this land that is ours together, is a great and a good land. It is also an unfinished land, and the challenge of perfecting it is the summons of the seventies. It is in that spirit that I address myself to those great issues facing our Nation which are above partisanship. When we speak of America's priorities the first priority must always be peace for America and the world. The major immediate goal of our foreign policy is to bring an end to the war in Vietnam in a way that our generation will be remembered not so much as the generation that suffered in war, but more for the fact that we had the courage and character to win the kind of a just peace that the next generation was able to keep. We are making progress toward that goal. The prospects for peace are far greater today than they were a year ago. A major part of the credit for this development goes to the Members of this Congress who, despite their differences on the conduct of the war, have overwhelmingly indicated their support of a just peace. By this action, you have completely demolished the enemy's hopes that they can gain in Washington the victory our fighting men have denied them in Vietnam. No goal could be greater than to make the next generation the first in this century in which America was at peace with every nation in the world. I shall discuss in detail the new concepts and programs designed to achieve this goal in a separate report on foreign policy, which I shall submit to the Congress at a later date. Today, let me describe the directions of our new policies. We have based our policies on an evaluation of the world as it is, not as it was 25 years ago at the conclusion of World War II. Many of the policies which were necessary and fight then are obsolete today. Then, because of America's overwhelming military and economic strength, because of the weakness of other major free world powers and the inability of scores of newly independent nations to defend, or even govern, themselves, America had to assume the major burden for the defense of freedom in the world. In two wars, first in Korea and now in Vietnam, we furnished most of the money, most of the arms, most of the men to help other nations defend their freedom. Today the great industrial nations of Europe, as well as Japan, have regained their economic strength; and the nations of Latin America--and many of the nations who acquired their freedom from colonialism after World War II in Asia and Africa--have a new sense of pride and dignity and a determination to assume the responsibility for their own defense. That is the basis of the doctrine I announced at Guam. Neither the defense nor the development of other nations can be exclusively or primarily an American undertaking. See 1969 volume, Item 279. The nations of each part of the world should assume the primary responsibility for their own well-being; and they themselves should determine the terms of that well-being. We shall be faithful to our treaty commitments, but we shall reduce our involvement and our presence in other nations' affairs. To insist that other nations play a role is not a retreat from responsibility; it is a sharing of responsibility. The result of this new policy has been not to weaken our alliances, but to give them new life, new strength, a new sense of common purpose. Relations with our European allies are once again strong and healthy, based on mutual consultation and mutual responsibility. We have initiated a new approach to Latin America in which we deal with those nations as partners rather than patrons. The new partnership concept has been welcomed in Asia. We have developed an historic new basis for Japanese-American friendship and cooperation, which is the linchpin for peace in the Pacific. If we are to have peace in the last third of the century, a major factor will be the development of a new relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. I would not underestimate our differences, but we are moving with precision and purpose from an era of confrontation to an era of negotiation. Our negotiations on strategic arms limitations and in other areas will have far greater chance for success if both sides enter them motivated by mutual self-interest rather than naive sentimentality. It is with this same spirit that we have resumed discussions with Communist China in our talks at Warsaw. Our concern in our relations with both these nations is to avoid a catastrophic collision and to build a solid basis for peaceful settlement of our differences. I would be the last to suggest that the road to peace is not difficult and dangerous, but I believe our new policies have contributed to the prospect that America may have the best chance since World War II to enjoy a generation of uninterrupted peace. And that chance will be enormously increased if we continue to have a relationship between Congress and the Executive in which, despite differences in detail, where the security of America and the peace of mankind are concerned, we act not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans. As we move into the decade of the seventies, we have the greatest opportunity for progress at home of any people in world history. Our gross national product will increase by $500 billion in the next 10 years. This increase alone is greater than the entire growth of the American economy from 1790 to 1950. The critical question is not whether we will grow, but how we will use that growth. The decade of the sixties was also a period of great growth economically. But in that same 10-year period we witnessed the greatest growth of crime, the greatest increase in inflation, the greatest social unrest in America in 100 years. Never has a nation seemed to have had more and enjoyed it less. At heart, the issue is the effectiveness of government. Ours has become--as it continues to be, and should remain--a society of large expectations. Government helped to generate these expectations. It undertook to meet them. Yet, increasingly, it proved unable to do so. As a people, we had too many visions-and too little vision. Now, as we enter the seventies, we should enter also a great age of reform of the institutions of American government. Our purpose in this period should not be simply better management of the programs of the past. The time has come for a new quest--a quest not for a greater quantity of what we have, but for a new quality of life in America. A major part of the substance for an unprecedented advance in this Nation's approach to its problems and opportunities is contained in more than two score legislative proposals which I sent to the Congress last year and which still await enactment. I will offer at least a dozen more major programs in the course of this session. At this point I do not intend to through a detailed listing of what I have proposed or will propose, but I would like to mention three areas in which urgent priorities demand that we move and move now: First, we cannot delay longer in accomplishing a total reform of our welfare system. When a system penalizes work, breaks up homes, robs recipients of dignity, there is no alternative to abolishing that system and adopting in its place the program of income support, job training, and work incentives which I recommended to the Congress last year. Second, the time has come to assess and reform all of our institutions of government at the Federal, State, and local level. It is time for a New Federalism, in which, after 190 years of power flowing from the people and local and State governments to Washington, D.C., it will begin to flow from Washington back to the States and to the people of the United States. Third, we must adopt reforms which will expand the range of opportunities for all Americans. We can fulfill the American dream only when each person has a fair chance to fulfill his own dreams. This means equal voting rights, equal employment opportunity, and new opportunities for expanded ownership. Because in order to be secure in their human rights, people need access to property rights. I could give similar examples of the need for reform in our programs for health, education, housing, transportation, as well as other critical areas which directly affect the well-being of millions of Americans. The people of the United States should wait no longer for these reforms that would so deeply enhance the quality of their life. When I speak of actions which would be beneficial to the American people, I can think of none more important than for the Congress to join this administration in the battle to stop the rise in the cost of living. Now, I realize it is tempting to blame someone else for inflation. Some blame business for raising prices. Some blame unions for asking for more wages. But a review of the stark fiscal facts of the 1960's clearly demonstrates where the primary blame for rising prices must be placed. In the decade of the sixties the Federal Government spent $57 billion more than it took in in taxes. In that same decade the American people paid the bill for that deficit in price increases which raised the cost of living for the average family of four by $200 per month in America. Now millions of Americans are forced to go into debt today because the Federal Government decided to go into debt yesterday. We must balance our Federal budget so that American families will have a better chance to balance their family budgets. Only with the cooperation of the Congress can we meet this highest priority objective of responsible government. We are on the right track. We had a balanced budget in 1969. This administration cut more than $7 billion out of spending plans in order to produce a surplus in 1970, and in spite of the fact that Congress reduced revenues by $3 billion, I shall recommend a balanced budget for 1971. But I can assure you that not only to present, but to stay within, a balanced budget requires some very hard decisions. It means rejecting spending programs which would benefit some of the people when their net effect would result in price increases for all the people. It is time to quit putting good money into bad programs. Otherwise, we will end up with bad money and bad programs. I recognize the political popularity of spending programs, and particularly in an election year. But unless we stop the rise in prices, the cost of living for millions of American families will become unbearable and government's ability to plan programs for progress for the future will become impossible. In referring to budget cuts, there is one area where I have ordered an increase rather than a cut--and that is the requests of those agencies with the responsibilities for law enforcement. We have heard a great deal of overblown rhetoric during the sixties in which the word "war" has perhaps too often been used--the war on poverty, the war on misery, the war on disease, the war on hunger. But if there is one area where the word "war" is appropriate it is in the fight against crime. We must declare and win the war against the criminal elements which increasingly threaten our cities, our homes, and our lives. We have a tragic example of this problem in the Nation's Capital, for whose safety the Congress and the Executive have the primary responsibility. I doubt if many Members of this Congress who live more than a few blocks from here would dare leave their cars in the Capitol garage and walk home alone tonight. Last year this administration sent to the Congress 13 separate pieces of legislation dealing with organized crime, pornography, street crime, narcotics, crime in the District of Columbia. None of these bills has reached my desk for signature. I am confident that the Congress will act now to adopt the legislation I placed before you last year. We in the Executive have done everything we can under existing law, but new and stronger weapons are needed in that fight. While it is true that State and local law enforcement agencies are the cutting edge in the effort to eliminate street crime, burglaries, murder, my proposals to you have embodied my belief that the Federal Government should play a greater role in working in partnership with these agencies. That is why 1971 Federal spending for local law enforcement will double that budgeted for 1970. The primary responsibility for crimes that affect individuals is with local and State rather than with Federal Government. But in the field of organized crime, narcotics, pornography, the Federal Government has a special responsibility it should fulfill. And we should make Washington, D.C., where we have the primary responsibility, an example to the Nation and the world of respect for law rather than lawlessness. I now turn to a subject which, next to our desire for peace, may well become the major concern of the American people in the decade of the seventies. In the next 10 years we shall increase our wealth by 50 percent. The profound question is: Does this mean we will be 50 percent richer in a real sense, 50 percent better off, 50 percent happier? Or does it mean that in the year 1980 the President standing in this place will look back on a decade in which 70 percent of our people lived in metropolitan areas choked by traffic, suffocated by smog, poisoned by water, deafened by noise, and terrorized by crime? These are not the great questions that concern world leaders at summit conferences. But people do not live at the summit. They live in the foothills of everyday experience, and it is time for all of us to concern ourselves with the way real people live in real life. The great question of the seventies is, shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water? Restoring nature to its natural state is a because beyond party and beyond factions. It has become a common because of all the people of this country. It is a because of particular concern to young Americans, because they more than we will reap the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later. Clean air, clean water, open spaces-these should once again be the birthright of every American. If we act now, they can be. We still think of air as free. But clean air is not free, and neither is clean water. The price tag on pollution control is high. Through our years of past carelessness we incurred a debt to nature, and now that debt is being called. The program I shall propose to Congress will be the most comprehensive and costly program in this field in America's history. It is not a program for just one year. A year's plan in this field is no plan at all. This is a time to look ahead not a year, but 5 years or 10 years--whatever time is required to do the job. I shall propose to this Congress a $10 billion nationwide clean waters program to put modern municipal waste treatment plants in every place in America where they are needed to make our waters clean again, and do it now. We have the industrial capacity, if we begin now, to build them all within 5 years. This program will get them built within 5 years. As our cities and suburbs relentlessly expand, those priceless open spaces needed for recreation areas accessible to their people are swallowed up--often forever. Unless we preserve these spaces while they are still available, we will have none to preserve. Therefore, I shall propose new financing methods for purchasing open space and parklands now, before they are lost to us. The automobile is our worst polluter of the air. Adequate control requires further advances in engine design and fuel composition. We shall intensify our research, set increasingly strict standards, and strengthen enforcement procedures-and we shall do it now. We can no longer afford to consider air and water common property, free to be abused by anyone without regard to the consequences. Instead, we should begin now to treat them as scarce resources, which we are no more free to contaminate than we are free to throw garbage into our neighbor's yard. This requires comprehensive new regulations. It also requires that, to the extent possible, the price of goods should be made to include the costs of producing and disposing of them without damage to the environment. Now, I realize that the argument is often made that there is a fundamental contradiction between economic growth and the quality of life, so that to have one we must forsake the other. The answer is not to abandon growth, but to redirect it. For example, we should turn toward ending congestion and eliminating smog the same reservoir of inventive genius that created them in the first place. Continued vigorous economic growth provides us with the means to enrich life itself and to enhance our planet as a place hospitable to man. Each individual must enlist in this fight if it is to be won. It has been said that no matter how many national parks and historical monuments we buy and develop, the truly significant environment for each of us is that in which we spend 80 percent of our time--in our homes, in our places of work, the streets over which we travel. Street litter, rundown parking strips and yards, dilapidated fences, broken windows, smoking automobiles, dingy working places, all should be the object of our fresh view. We have been too tolerant of our surroundings and too willing to leave it to others to clean up our environment. It is time for those who make massive demands on society to make some minimal demands on themselves. Each of us must resolve that each day he will leave his home, his property, the public places of the city or town a little cleaner, a little better, a little more pleasant for himself and those around him. With the help of people we can do anything, and without their help, we can do nothing. In this spirit, together, we can reclaim our land for ours and generations to come. Between now and the year 5000, over 100 million children will be born in the United States. Where they grow up--and how will, more than any one thing, measure the quality of American life in these years ahead. This should be a warning to us. For the past 30 years our population has also been growing and shifting. The result is exemplified in the vast areas of rural America emptying out of people and of promise--a third of our counties lost population in the sixties. The violent and decayed central cities of our great metropolitan complexes are the most conspicuous area of failure in American life today. I propose that before these problems become insoluble, the Nation develop a national growth policy. In the future, government decisions as to where to build highways, locate airports, acquire land, or sell land should be made with a clear objective of aiding a balanced growth for America. In particular, the Federal Government must be in a position to assist in the building of new cities and the rebuilding of old ones. At the same time, we will carry our concern with the quality of life in America to the farm as well as the suburb, to the village as well as to the city. What rural America needs most is a new kind of assistance. It needs to be dealt with, not as a separate nation, but as part of an overall growth policy for America. We must create a new rural environment which will not only stem the migration to urban centers, but reverse it. If we seize our growth as a challenge, we can make the 1970's an historic period when by conscious choice we transformed our land into what we want it to become. America, which has pioneered in the new abundance, and in the new technology, is called upon today to pioneer in meeting the concerns which have followed in their wake--in turning the wonders of science to the service of man. In the majesty of this great Chamber we hear the echoes of America's history, of debates that rocked the Union and those that repaired it, of the summons to war and the search for peace, of the uniting of the people, the building of a nation. Those echoes of history remind us of our roots and our strengths. They remind us also of that special genius of American democracy, which at one critical turning point after another has led us to spot the new road to the future and given us the wisdom and the courage to take it. As I look down that new road which I have tried to map out today, I see a new America as we celebrate our 200th anniversary 6 years from now. I see an America in which we have abolished hunger, provided the means for every family in the Nation to obtain a minimum income, made enormous progress in providing better housing, faster transportation, improved health, and superior education. I see an America in which we have checked inflation, and waged a winning war against crime. I see an America in which we have made great strides in stopping the pollution of our air, cleaning up our water, opening up our parks, continuing to explore in space. Most important, I see an America at peace with all the nations of the world. This is not an impossible dream. These goals are all within our reach. In times past, our forefathers had the vision but not the means to achieve such goals. Let it not be recorded that we were the first American generation that had the means but not the vision to make this dream come true. But let us, above all, recognize a fundamental truth. We can be the best clothed, best fed, best housed people in the world, enjoying clean air, clean water, beautiful parks, but we could still be the unhappiest people in the world without an indefinable spirit--the lift of a driving dream which has made America, from its beginning, the hope of the world. Two hundred years ago this was a new nation of 3 million people, weak militarily, poor economically. But America meant something to the world then which could not be measured in dollars, something far more important than military might. Listen to President Thomas Jefferson in 1802: We act not "for ourselves alone, but for the whole human race." We had a spiritual quality then which caught the imagination of millions of people in the world. Today, when we are the richest and strongest nation in the world, let it not be recorded that we lack the moral and spiritual idealism which made us the hope of the world at the time of our birth. The demands of us in 1976 are even greater than in 1776. It is no longer enough to live and let live. Now we must live and help live. We need a fresh climate in America, one in which a person can breathe freely and breathe in freedom. Our recognition of the truth that wealth and happiness are not the same thing requires us to measure success or failure by new criteria. Even more than the programs I have described today, what this Nation needs is an example from its elected leaders in providing the spiritual and moral leadership which no programs for material progress can satisfy. Above all, let us inspire young Americans with a sense of excitement, a sense of destiny, a sense of involvement, in meeting the challenges we face in this great period of our history. Only then are they going to have any sense of satisfaction in their lives. The greatest privilege an individual can have is to serve in a because bigger than himself. We have such a because. How we seize the opportunities I have described today will determine not only our future, but the future of peace and freedom in this world in the last third of the century. May God give us the wisdom, the strength and, above all, the idealism to be worthy of that challenge, so that America can fulfill its destiny of being the world's best hope for liberty, for opportunity, for progress and peace for all peoples.
speaker president my colleagues in the congress our distinguished guests and my fellow americans to address a joint session of the congress in this great chamber in which i was once privileged to serve is an honor for which i am deeply grateful the state of the union address is traditionally an occasion for a lengthy and detailed account by the president of what he has accomplished in the past what he wants the congress to do in the future and in an election year to lay the basis for the political issues which might be decisive in the fall occasionally there comes a time when profound and events command a break with tradition this is such a time i say this not only because 1970 marks the beginning of a new decade in which america will celebrate its 200th birthday i say it because new knowledge and hard experience argue persuasively that both our programs and our institutions in america need to be reformed the moment has arrived to harness the vast energies and abundance of this land to the creation of a new american experience an experience richer and deeper and more truly a reflection of the goodness and grace of the human spirit the seventies will be a time of new beginnings a time of exploring both on the earth and in the heavens a time of discovery but the time has also come for emphasis on developing better ways of managing what we have and of completing what man genius has begun but left unfinished our land this land that is ours together is a great and a good land it is also an unfinished land and the challenge of perfecting it is the summons of the seventies it is in that spirit that i address myself to those great issues facing our nation which are above partisanship when we speak of america priorities the first priority must always be peace for america and the world the major immediate goal of our foreign policy is to bring an end to the war in vietnam in a way that our generation will be remembered not so much as the generation that suffered in war but more for the fact that we had the courage and character to win the kind of a just peace that the next generation was able to keep we are making progress toward that goal the prospects for peace are far greater today than they were a year ago a major part of the credit for this development goes to the members of this congress who despite their differences on the conduct of the war have overwhelmingly indicated their support of a just peace by this action you have completely demolished the enemy hopes that they can gain in washington the victory our fighting men have denied them in vietnam no goal could be greater than to make the next generation the first in this century in which america was at peace with every nation in the world i shall discuss in detail the new concepts and programs designed to achieve this goal in a separate report on foreign policy which i shall submit to the congress at a later date today let me describe the directions of our new policies we have based our policies on an evaluation of the world as it is not as it was 25 years ago at the conclusion of world war ii many of the policies which were necessary and fight then are obsolete today then because of america overwhelming military and economic strength because of the weakness of other major free world powers and the inability of scores of newly independent nations to defend or even govern themselves america had to assume the major burden for the defense of freedom in the world in two wars first in korea and now in vietnam we furnished most of the money most of the arms most of the men to help other nations defend their freedom today the great industrial nations of europe as well as japan have regained their economic strength and the nations of latin america and many of the nations who acquired their freedom from colonialism after world war ii in asia and africa have a new sense of pride and dignity and a determination to assume the responsibility for their own defense that is the basis of the doctrine i announced at guam neither the defense nor the development of other nations can be exclusively or primarily an american undertaking see 1969 volume item 279 the nations of each part of the world should assume the primary responsibility for their own and they themselves should determine the terms of that we shall be faithful to our treaty commitments but we shall reduce our involvement and our presence in other nations affairs to insist that other nations play a role is not a retreat from responsibility it is a sharing of responsibility the result of this new policy has been not to weaken our alliances but to give them new life new strength a new sense of common purpose relations with our european allies are once again strong and healthy based on mutual consultation and mutual responsibility we have initiated a new approach to latin america in which we deal with those nations as partners rather than patrons the new partnership concept has been welcomed in asia we have developed an historic new basis for friendship and cooperation which is the linchpin for peace in the pacific if we are to have peace in the last third of the century a major factor will be the development of a new relationship between the united states and the soviet union i would not underestimate our differences but we are moving with precision and purpose from an era of confrontation to an era of negotiation our negotiations on strategic arms limitations and in other areas will have far greater chance for success if both sides enter them motivated by mutual rather than naive sentimentality it is with this same spirit that we have resumed discussions with communist china in our talks at warsaw our concern in our relations with both these nations is to avoid a catastrophic collision and to build a solid basis for peaceful settlement of our differences i would be the last to suggest that the road to peace is not difficult and dangerous but i believe our new policies have contributed to the prospect that america may have the best chance since world war ii to enjoy a generation of uninterrupted peace and that chance will be enormously increased if we continue to have a relationship between congress and the executive in which despite differences in detail where the security of america and the peace of mankind are concerned we act not as republicans not as democrats but as americans as we move into the decade of the seventies we have the greatest opportunity for progress at home of any people in world history our gross national product will increase by 500 billion in the next 10 years this increase alone is greater than the entire growth of the american economy from 1790 to 1950 the critical question is not whether we will grow but how we will use that growth the decade of the sixties was also a period of great growth economically but in that same period we witnessed the greatest growth of crime the greatest increase in inflation the greatest social unrest in america in 100 years never has a nation seemed to have had more and enjoyed it less at heart the issue is the effectiveness of government ours has become as it continues to be and should remain a society of large expectations government helped to generate these expectations it undertook to meet them yet increasingly it proved unable to do so as a people we had too many too little vision now as we enter the seventies we should enter also a great age of reform of the institutions of american government our purpose in this period should not be simply better management of the programs of the past the time has come for a new quest a quest not for a greater quantity of what we have but for a new quality of life in america a major part of the substance for an unprecedented advance in this nation approach to its problems and opportunities is contained in more than two score legislative proposals which i sent to the congress last year and which still await enactment i will offer at least a dozen more major programs in the course of this session at this point i do not intend to through a detailed listing of what i have proposed or will propose but i would like to mention three areas in which urgent priorities demand that we move and move now first we can not delay longer in accomplishing a total reform of our welfare system when a system penalizes work breaks up homes robs recipients of dignity there is no alternative to abolishing that system and adopting in its place the program of income support job training and work incentives which i recommended to the congress last year second the time has come to assess and reform all of our institutions of government at the federal state and local level it is time for a new federalism in which after 190 years of power flowing from the people and local and state governments to washington it will begin to flow from washington back to the states and to the people of the united states third we must adopt reforms which will expand the range of opportunities for all americans we can fulfill the american dream only when each person has a fair chance to fulfill his own dreams this means equal voting rights equal employment opportunity and new opportunities for expanded ownership because in order to be secure in their human rights people need access to property rights i could give similar examples of the need for reform in our programs for health education housing transportation as well as other critical areas which directly affect the of millions of americans the people of the united states should wait no longer for these reforms that would so deeply enhance the quality of their life when i speak of actions which would be beneficial to the american people i can think of none more important than for the congress to join this administration in the battle to stop the rise in the cost of living now i realize it is tempting to blame someone else for inflation some blame business for raising prices some blame unions for asking for more wages but a review of the stark fiscal facts of the 1960 clearly demonstrates where the primary blame for rising prices must be placed in the decade of the sixties the federal government spent 57 billion more than it took in in taxes in that same decade the american people paid the bill for that deficit in price increases which raised the cost of living for the average family of four by 200 per month in america now millions of americans are forced to go into debt today because the federal government decided to go into debt yesterday we must balance our federal budget so that american families will have a better chance to balance their family budgets only with the cooperation of the congress can we meet this highest priority objective of responsible government we are on the right track we had a balanced budget in 1969 this administration cut more than 7 billion out of spending plans in order to produce a surplus in 1970 and in spite of the fact that congress reduced revenues by 3 billion i shall recommend a balanced budget for 1971 but i can assure you that not only to present but to stay within a balanced budget requires some very hard decisions it means rejecting spending programs which would benefit some of the people when their net effect would result in price increases for all the people it is time to quit putting good money into bad programs otherwise we will end up with bad money and bad programs i recognize the political popularity of spending programs and particularly in an election year but unless we stop the rise in prices the cost of living for millions of american families will become unbearable and government ability to plan programs for progress for the future will become impossible in referring to budget cuts there is one area where i have ordered an increase rather than a cut and that is the requests of those agencies with the responsibilities for law enforcement we have heard a great deal of overblown rhetoric during the sixties in which the word war has perhaps too often been used the war on poverty the war on misery the war on disease the war on hunger but if there is one area where the word war is appropriate it is in the fight against crime we must declare and win the war against the criminal elements which increasingly threaten our cities our homes and our lives we have a tragic example of this problem in the nation capital for whose safety the congress and the executive have the primary responsibility i doubt if many members of this congress who live more than a few blocks from here would dare leave their cars in the capitol garage and walk home alone tonight last year this administration sent to the congress 13 separate pieces of legislation dealing with organized crime pornography street crime narcotics crime in the district of columbia none of these bills has reached my desk for signature i am confident that the congress will act now to adopt the legislation i placed before you last year we in the executive have done everything we can under existing law but new and stronger weapons are needed in that fight while it is true that state and local law enforcement agencies are the cutting edge in the effort to eliminate street crime burglaries murder my proposals to you have embodied my belief that the federal government should play a greater role in working in partnership with these agencies that is why 1971 federal spending for local law enforcement will double that budgeted for 1970 the primary responsibility for crimes that affect individuals is with local and state rather than with federal government but in the field of organized crime narcotics pornography the federal government has a special responsibility it should fulfill and we should make washington where we have the primary responsibility an example to the nation and the world of respect for law rather than lawlessness i now turn to a subject which next to our desire for peace may well become the major concern of the american people in the decade of the seventies in the next 10 years we shall increase our wealth by 50 percent the profound question is does this mean we will be 50 percent richer in a real sense 50 percent better off 50 percent happier or does it mean that in the year 1980 the president standing in this place will look back on a decade in which 70 percent of our people lived in metropolitan areas choked by traffic suffocated by smog poisoned by water deafened by noise and terrorized by crime these are not the great questions that concern world leaders at summit conferences but people do not live at the summit they live in the foothills of everyday experience and it is time for all of us to concern ourselves with the way real people live in real life the great question of the seventies is shall we surrender to our surroundings or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air to our land and to our water restoring nature to its natural state is a because beyond party and beyond factions it has become a common because of all the people of this country it is a because of particular concern to young americans because they more than we will reap the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later clean air clean water open should once again be the birthright of every american if we act now they can be we still think of air as free but clean air is not free and neither is clean water the price tag on pollution control is high through our years of past carelessness we incurred a debt to nature and now that debt is being called the program i shall propose to congress will be the most comprehensive and costly program in this field in america history it is not a program for just one year a year plan in this field is no plan at all this is a time to look ahead not a year but 5 years or 10 years whatever time is required to do the job i shall propose to this congress a 10 billion nationwide clean waters program to put modern municipal waste treatment plants in every place in america where they are needed to make our waters clean again and do it now we have the industrial capacity if we begin now to build them all within 5 years this program will get them built within 5 years as our cities and suburbs relentlessly expand those priceless open spaces needed for recreation areas accessible to their people are swallowed up often forever unless we preserve these spaces while they are still available we will have none to preserve therefore i shall propose new financing methods for purchasing open space and parklands now before they are lost to us the automobile is our worst polluter of the air adequate control requires further advances in engine design and fuel composition we shall intensify our research set increasingly strict standards and strengthen enforcement we shall do it now we can no longer afford to consider air and water common property free to be abused by anyone without regard to the consequences instead we should begin now to treat them as scarce resources which we are no more free to contaminate than we are free to throw garbage into our neighbor yard this requires comprehensive new regulations it also requires that to the extent possible the price of goods should be made to include the costs of producing and disposing of them without damage to the environment now i realize that the argument is often made that there is a fundamental contradiction between economic growth and the quality of life so that to have one we must forsake the other the answer is not to abandon growth but to redirect it for example we should turn toward ending congestion and eliminating smog the same reservoir of inventive genius that created them in the first place continued vigorous economic growth provides us with the means to enrich life itself and to enhance our planet as a place hospitable to man each individual must enlist in this fight if it is to be won it has been said that no matter how many national parks and historical monuments we buy and develop the truly significant environment for each of us is that in which we spend 80 percent of our time in our homes in our places of work the streets over which we travel street litter rundown parking strips and yards dilapidated fences broken windows smoking automobiles dingy working places all should be the object of our fresh view we have been too tolerant of our surroundings and too willing to leave it to others to clean up our environment it is time for those who make massive demands on society to make some minimal demands on themselves each of us must resolve that each day he will leave his home his property the public places of the city or town a little cleaner a little better a little more pleasant for himself and those around him with the help of people we can do anything and without their help we can do nothing in this spirit together we can reclaim our land for ours and generations to come between now and the year 5000 over 100 million children will be born in the united states where they grow up and how will more than any one thing measure the quality of american life in these years ahead this should be a warning to us for the past 30 years our population has also been growing and shifting the result is exemplified in the vast areas of rural america emptying out of people and of promise a third of our counties lost population in the sixties the violent and decayed central cities of our great metropolitan complexes are the most conspicuous area of failure in american life today i propose that before these problems become insoluble the nation develop a national growth policy in the future government decisions as to where to build highways locate airports acquire land or sell land should be made with a clear objective of aiding a balanced growth for america in particular the federal government must be in a position to assist in the building of new cities and the rebuilding of old ones at the same time we will carry our concern with the quality of life in america to the farm as well as the suburb to the village as well as to the city what rural america needs most is a new kind of assistance it needs to be dealt with not as a separate nation but as part of an overall growth policy for america we must create a new rural environment which will not only stem the migration to urban centers but reverse it if we seize our growth as a challenge we can make the 1970 an historic period when by conscious choice we transformed our land into what we want it to become america which has pioneered in the new abundance and in the new technology is called upon today to pioneer in meeting the concerns which have followed in their wake in turning the wonders of science to the service of man in the majesty of this great chamber we hear the echoes of america history of debates that rocked the union and those that repaired it of the summons to war and the search for peace of the uniting of the people the building of a nation those echoes of history remind us of our roots and our strengths they remind us also of that special genius of american democracy which at one critical turning point after another has led us to spot the new road to the future and given us the wisdom and the courage to take it as i look down that new road which i have tried to map out today i see a new america as we celebrate our 200th anniversary 6 years from now i see an america in which we have abolished hunger provided the means for every family in the nation to obtain a minimum income made enormous progress in providing better housing faster transportation improved health and superior education i see an america in which we have checked inflation and waged a winning war against crime i see an america in which we have made great strides in stopping the pollution of our air cleaning up our water opening up our parks continuing to explore in space most important i see an america at peace with all the nations of the world this is not an impossible dream these goals are all within our reach in times past our forefathers had the vision but not the means to achieve such goals let it not be recorded that we were the first american generation that had the means but not the vision to make this dream come true but let us above all recognize a fundamental truth we can be the best clothed best fed best housed people in the world enjoying clean air clean water beautiful parks but we could still be the unhappiest people in the world without an indefinable spirit the lift of a driving dream which has made america from its beginning the hope of the world two hundred years ago this was a new nation of 3 million people weak militarily poor economically but america meant something to the world then which could not be measured in dollars something far more important than military might listen to president thomas jefferson in 1802 we act not for ourselves alone but for the whole human race we had a spiritual quality then which caught the imagination of millions of people in the world today when we are the richest and strongest nation in the world let it not be recorded that we lack the moral and spiritual idealism which made us the hope of the world at the time of our birth the demands of us in 1976 are even greater than in 1776 it is no longer enough to live and let live now we must live and help live we need a fresh climate in america one in which a person can breathe freely and breathe in freedom our recognition of the truth that wealth and happiness are not the same thing requires us to measure success or failure by new criteria even more than the programs i have described today what this nation needs is an example from its elected leaders in providing the spiritual and moral leadership which no programs for material progress can satisfy above all let us inspire young americans with a sense of excitement a sense of destiny a sense of involvement in meeting the challenges we face in this great period of our history only then are they going to have any sense of satisfaction in their lives the greatest privilege an individual can have is to serve in a because bigger than himself we have such a because how we seize the opportunities i have described today will determine not only our future but the future of peace and freedom in this world in the last third of the century may god give us the wisdom the strength and above all the idealism to be worthy of that challenge so that america can fulfill its destiny of being the world best hope for liberty for opportunity for progress and peace for all peoples
speaker president colleagues congress distinguished guests fellow americans address joint session congress great chamber privileged serve honor deeply grateful state union address traditionally occasion lengthy detailed account president accomplished past wants congress future election year lay basis political issues might decisive fall occasionally comes time profound events command break tradition time say 1970 marks beginning new decade america celebrate 200th birthday say new knowledge hard experience argue persuasively programs institutions america need reformed moment arrived harness vast energies abundance land creation new american experience experience richer deeper truly reflection goodness grace human spirit seventies time new beginnings time exploring earth heavens time discovery time also come emphasis developing better ways managing completing man genius begun left unfinished land land together great good land also unfinished land challenge perfecting summons seventies spirit address great issues facing nation partisanship speak america priorities first priority must always peace america world major immediate goal foreign policy bring end war vietnam way generation remembered much generation suffered war fact courage character win kind peace next generation able keep making progress toward goal prospects peace far greater today year ago major part credit development goes members congress despite differences conduct war overwhelmingly indicated support peace action completely demolished enemy hopes gain washington victory fighting men denied vietnam goal could greater make next generation first century america peace every nation world shall discuss detail new concepts programs designed achieve goal separate report foreign policy shall submit congress later date today let describe directions new policies based policies evaluation world 25 years ago conclusion world war ii many policies necessary fight obsolete today america overwhelming military economic strength weakness major free world powers inability scores newly independent nations defend even govern america assume major burden defense freedom world two wars first korea vietnam furnished money arms men help nations defend freedom today great industrial nations europe well japan regained economic strength nations latin america many nations acquired freedom colonialism world war ii asia africa new sense pride dignity determination assume responsibility defense basis doctrine announced guam neither defense development nations exclusively primarily american undertaking see 1969 volume item 279 nations part world assume primary responsibility determine terms shall faithful treaty commitments shall reduce involvement presence nations affairs insist nations play role retreat responsibility sharing responsibility result new policy weaken alliances give new life new strength new sense common purpose relations european allies strong healthy based mutual consultation mutual responsibility initiated new approach latin america deal nations partners rather patrons new partnership concept welcomed asia developed historic new basis friendship cooperation linchpin peace pacific peace last third century major factor development new relationship united states soviet union would underestimate differences moving precision purpose era confrontation era negotiation negotiations strategic arms limitations areas far greater chance success sides enter motivated mutual rather naive sentimentality spirit resumed discussions communist china talks warsaw concern relations nations avoid catastrophic collision build solid basis peaceful settlement differences would last suggest road peace difficult dangerous believe new policies contributed prospect america may best chance since world war ii enjoy generation uninterrupted peace chance enormously increased continue relationship congress executive despite differences detail security america peace mankind concerned act republicans democrats americans move decade seventies greatest opportunity progress home people world history gross national product increase 500 billion next 10 years increase alone greater entire growth american economy 1790 1950 critical question whether grow use growth decade sixties also period great growth economically period witnessed greatest growth crime greatest increase inflation greatest social unrest america 100 years never nation seemed enjoyed less heart issue effectiveness government become continues remain society large expectations government helped generate expectations undertook meet yet increasingly proved unable people many little vision enter seventies enter also great age reform institutions american government purpose period simply better management programs past time come new quest quest greater quantity new quality life america major part substance unprecedented advance nation approach problems opportunities contained two score legislative proposals sent congress last year still await enactment offer least dozen major programs course session point intend detailed listing proposed propose would like mention three areas urgent priorities demand move move first delay longer accomplishing total reform welfare system system penalizes work breaks homes robs recipients dignity alternative abolishing system adopting place program income support job training work incentives recommended congress last year second time come assess reform institutions government federal state local level time new federalism 190 years power flowing people local state governments washington begin flow washington back states people united states third must adopt reforms expand range opportunities americans fulfill american dream person fair chance fulfill dreams means equal voting rights equal employment opportunity new opportunities expanded ownership order secure human rights people need access property rights could give similar examples need reform programs health education housing transportation well critical areas directly affect millions americans people united states wait longer reforms would deeply enhance quality life speak actions would beneficial american people think none important congress join administration battle stop rise cost living realize tempting blame someone else inflation blame business raising prices blame unions asking wages review stark fiscal facts 1960 clearly demonstrates primary blame rising prices must placed decade sixties federal government spent 57 billion took taxes decade american people paid bill deficit price increases raised cost living average family four 200 per month america millions americans forced go debt today federal government decided go debt yesterday must balance federal budget american families better chance balance family budgets cooperation congress meet highest priority objective responsible government right track balanced budget 1969 administration cut 7 billion spending plans order produce surplus 1970 spite fact congress reduced revenues 3 billion shall recommend balanced budget 1971 assure present stay within balanced budget requires hard decisions means rejecting spending programs would benefit people net effect would result price increases people time quit putting good money bad programs otherwise end bad money bad programs recognize political popularity spending programs particularly election year unless stop rise prices cost living millions american families become unbearable government ability plan programs progress future become impossible referring budget cuts one area ordered increase rather cut requests agencies responsibilities law enforcement heard great deal overblown rhetoric sixties word war perhaps often used war poverty war misery war disease war hunger one area word war appropriate fight crime must declare win war criminal elements increasingly threaten cities homes lives tragic example problem nation capital whose safety congress executive primary responsibility doubt many members congress live blocks would dare leave cars capitol garage walk home alone tonight last year administration sent congress 13 separate pieces legislation dealing organized crime pornography street crime narcotics crime district columbia none bills reached desk signature confident congress act adopt legislation placed last year executive done everything existing law new stronger weapons needed fight true state local law enforcement agencies cutting edge effort eliminate street crime burglaries murder proposals embodied belief federal government play greater role working partnership agencies 1971 federal spending local law enforcement double budgeted 1970 primary responsibility crimes affect individuals local state rather federal government field organized crime narcotics pornography federal government special responsibility fulfill make washington primary responsibility example nation world respect law rather lawlessness turn subject next desire peace may well become major concern american people decade seventies next 10 years shall increase wealth 50 percent profound question mean 50 percent richer real sense 50 percent better 50 percent happier mean year 1980 president standing place look back decade 70 percent people lived metropolitan areas choked traffic suffocated smog poisoned water deafened noise terrorized crime great questions concern world leaders summit conferences people live summit live foothills everyday experience time us concern way real people live real life great question seventies shall surrender surroundings shall make peace nature begin make reparations damage done air land water restoring nature natural state beyond party beyond factions become common people country particular concern young americans reap grim consequences failure act programs needed prevent disaster later clean air clean water open birthright every american act still think air free clean air free neither clean water price tag pollution control high years past carelessness incurred debt nature debt called program shall propose congress comprehensive costly program field america history program one year year plan field plan time look ahead year 5 years 10 years whatever time required job shall propose congress 10 billion nationwide clean waters program put modern municipal waste treatment plants every place america needed make waters clean industrial capacity begin build within 5 years program get built within 5 years cities suburbs relentlessly expand priceless open spaces needed recreation areas accessible people swallowed often forever unless preserve spaces still available none preserve therefore shall propose new financing methods purchasing open space parklands lost us automobile worst polluter air adequate control requires advances engine design fuel composition shall intensify research set increasingly strict standards strengthen enforcement shall longer afford consider air water common property free abused anyone without regard consequences instead begin treat scarce resources free contaminate free throw garbage neighbor yard requires comprehensive new regulations also requires extent possible price goods made include costs producing disposing without damage environment realize argument often made fundamental contradiction economic growth quality life one must forsake answer abandon growth redirect example turn toward ending congestion eliminating smog reservoir inventive genius created first place continued vigorous economic growth provides us means enrich life enhance planet place hospitable man individual must enlist fight said matter many national parks historical monuments buy develop truly significant environment us spend 80 percent time homes places work streets travel street litter rundown parking strips yards dilapidated fences broken windows smoking automobiles dingy working places object fresh view tolerant surroundings willing leave others clean environment time make massive demands society make minimal demands us must resolve day leave home property public places city town little cleaner little better little pleasant around help people anything without help nothing spirit together reclaim land generations come year 5000 100 million children born united states grow one thing measure quality american life years ahead warning us past 30 years population also growing shifting result exemplified vast areas rural america emptying people promise third counties lost population sixties violent decayed central cities great metropolitan complexes conspicuous area failure american life today propose problems become insoluble nation develop national growth policy future government decisions build highways locate airports acquire land sell land made clear objective aiding balanced growth america particular federal government must position assist building new cities rebuilding old ones time carry concern quality life america farm well suburb village well city rural america needs new kind assistance needs dealt separate nation part overall growth policy america must create new rural environment stem migration urban centers reverse seize growth challenge make 1970 historic period conscious choice transformed land want become america pioneered new abundance new technology called upon today pioneer meeting concerns followed wake turning wonders science service man majesty great chamber hear echoes america history debates rocked union repaired summons war search peace uniting people building nation echoes history remind us roots strengths remind us also special genius american democracy one critical turning point another led us spot new road future given us wisdom courage take look new road tried map today see new america celebrate 200th anniversary 6 years see america abolished hunger provided means every family nation obtain minimum income made enormous progress providing better housing faster transportation improved health superior education see america checked inflation waged winning war crime see america made great strides stopping pollution air cleaning water opening parks continuing explore space important see america peace nations world impossible dream goals within reach times past forefathers vision means achieve goals let recorded first american generation means vision make dream come true let us recognize fundamental truth best clothed best fed best housed people world enjoying clean air clean water beautiful parks could still unhappiest people world without indefinable spirit lift driving dream made america beginning hope world two hundred years ago new nation 3 million people weak militarily poor economically america meant something world could measured dollars something far important military might listen president thomas jefferson 1802 act alone whole human race spiritual quality caught imagination millions people world today richest strongest nation world let recorded lack moral spiritual idealism made us hope world time birth demands us 1976 even greater 1776 longer enough live let live must live help live need fresh climate america one person breathe freely breathe freedom recognition truth wealth happiness thing requires us measure success failure new criteria even programs described today nation needs example elected leaders providing spiritual moral leadership programs material progress satisfy let us inspire young americans sense excitement sense destiny sense involvement meeting challenges face great period history going sense satisfaction lives greatest privilege individual serve bigger seize opportunities described today determine future future peace freedom world last third century may god give us wisdom strength idealism worthy challenge america fulfill destiny world best hope liberty opportunity progress peace peoples
speaker president colleague congress distinguished guest fellow american address joint session congress great chamber privilege serve honor deeply grateful state union address traditionally occasion lengthy detailed account president accomplish past want congress future election year lay basis political issue might decisive fall occasionally come time profound event command break tradition time say 1970 mark begin new decade america celebrate 200th birthday say new knowledge hard experience argue persuasively program institution america need reform moment arrive harness vast energy abundance land creation new american experience experience rich deep truly reflection goodness grace human spirit seventy time new beginning time explore earth heaven time discovery time also come emphasis develop good way manage complete man genius begin leave unfinished land land together great good land also unfinished land challenge perfect summons seventy spirit address great issue face nation partisanship speak america priority first priority must always peace america world major immediate goal foreign policy bring end war vietnam way generation remember much generation suffer war fact courage character win kind peace next generation able keep make progress toward goal prospect peace far great today year ago major part credit development go member congress despite difference conduct war overwhelmingly indicate support peace action completely demolish enemy hope gain washington victory fight men deny vietnam goal could great make next generation first century america peace every nation world shall discuss detail new concept program design achieve goal separate report foreign policy shall submit congress later date today let describe direction new policy base policy evaluation world 25 year ago conclusion world war ii many policy necessary fight obsolete today america overwhelm military economic strength weakness major free world power inability score newly independent nation defend even govern america assume major burden defense freedom world two war first korea vietnam furnished money arm men help nation defend freedom today great industrial nation europe well japan regain economic strength nation latin america many nation acquire freedom colonialism world war ii asia africa new sense pride dignity determination assume responsibility defense basis doctrine announce guam neither defense development nation exclusively primarily american undertake see 1969 volume item 279 nation part world assume primary responsibility determine term shall faithful treaty commitment shall reduce involvement presence nation affair insist nation play role retreat responsibility share responsibility result new policy weaken alliance give new life new strength new sense common purpose relation european ally strong healthy base mutual consultation mutual responsibility initiate new approach latin america deal nation partner rather patron new partnership concept welcome asia develop historic new basis friendship cooperation linchpin peace pacific peace last third century major factor development new relationship united state soviet union would underestimate difference move precision purpose era confrontation era negotiation negotiation strategic arm limitation area far great chance success side enter motivate mutual rather naive sentimentality spirit resume discussion communist china talk warsaw concern relation nation avoid catastrophic collision build solid basis peaceful settlement difference would last suggest road peace difficult dangerous believe new policy contribute prospect america may best chance since world war ii enjoy generation uninterrupted peace chance enormously increase continue relationship congress executive despite difference detail security america peace mankind concern act republicans democrat american move decade seventy greatest opportunity progress home people world history gross national product increase 500 billion next 10 year increase alone great entire growth american economy 1790 1950 critical question whether grow use growth decade sixty also period great growth economically period witness great growth crime great increase inflation great social unrest america 100 year never nation seem enjoyed less heart issue effectiveness government become continue remain society large expectation government help generate expectation undertook meet yet increasingly prove unable people many little vision enter seventy enter also great age reform institution american government purpose period simply well management program past time come new quest quest great quantity new quality life america major part substance unprecedented advance nation approach problem opportunity contain two score legislative proposal send congress last year still await enactment offer least dozen major program course session point intend detail listing propose propose would like mention three area urgent priority demand move move first delay longer accomplish total reform welfare system system penalize work break home rob recipient dignity alternative abolish system adopt place program income support job training work incentive recommend congress last year second time come assess reform institution government federal state local level time new federalism 190 year power flow people local state government washington begin flow washington back states people united state third must adopt reform expand range opportunity americans fulfill american dream person fair chance fulfill dream mean equal voting right equal employment opportunity new opportunity expand ownership order secure human right people need access property right could give similar example need reform program health education housing transportation well critical area directly affect million american people united state wait long reform would deeply enhance quality life speak action would beneficial american people think none important congress join administration battle stop rise cost living realize tempting blame someone else inflation blame business raise price blame union ask wage review stark fiscal fact 1960 clearly demonstrate primary blame rise price must place decade sixty federal government spend 57 billion take tax decade american people pay bill deficit price increase raise cost living average family four 200 per month america million american force go debt today federal government decide go debt yesterday must balance federal budget american family well chance balance family budget cooperation congress meet high priority objective responsible government right track balance budget 1969 administration cut 7 billion spending plan order produce surplus 1970 spite fact congress reduce revenue 3 billion shall recommend balance budget 1971 assure present stay within balanced budget require hard decision mean reject spending program would benefit people net effect would result price increase people time quit put good money bad program otherwise end bad money bad program recognize political popularity spending program particularly election year unless stop rise price cost living million american family become unbearable government ability plan program progress future become impossible refer budget cut one area order increase rather cut request agency responsibility law enforcement heard great deal overblown rhetoric sixty word war perhaps often used war poverty war misery war disease war hunger one area word war appropriate fight crime must declare win war criminal element increasingly threaten city home live tragic example problem nation capital whose safety congress executive primary responsibility doubt many member congress live block would dare leave car capitol garage walk home alone tonight last year administration send congress 13 separate piece legislation deal organize crime pornography street crime narcotic crime district columbia none bill reach desk signature confident congress act adopt legislation place last year executive do everything exist law new strong weapon need fight true state local law enforcement agency cut edge effort eliminate street crime burglary murder proposal embody belief federal government play great role work partnership agency 1971 federal spending local law enforcement double budgeted 1970 primary responsibility crime affect individual local state rather federal government field organize crime narcotic pornography federal government special responsibility fulfill make washington primary responsibility example nation world respect law rather lawlessness turn subject next desire peace may well become major concern american people decade seventy next 10 year shall increase wealth 50 percent profound question mean 50 percent rich real sense 50 percent well 50 percent happier mean year 1980 president stand place look back decade 70 percent people live metropolitan area choke traffic suffocate smog poisoned water deafen noise terrorize crime great question concern world leader summit conference people live summit live foothill everyday experience time u concern way real people live real life great question seventy shall surrender surroundings shall make peace nature begin make reparation damage do air land water restore nature natural state beyond party beyond faction become common people country particular concern young american reap grim consequence failure act program need prevent disaster later clean air clean water open birthright every american act still think air free clean air free neither clean water price tag pollution control high year past carelessness incur debt nature debt call program shall propose congress comprehensive costly program field america history program one year year plan field plan time look ahead year 5 year 10 year whatever time require job shall propose congress 10 billion nationwide clean water program put modern municipal waste treatment plant every place america need make water clean industrial capacity begin build within 5 year program get build within 5 year city suburbs relentlessly expand priceless open space need recreation area accessible people swallow often forever unless preserve space still available none preserve therefore shall propose new financing method purchase open space parklands lose u automobile bad polluter air adequate control require advance engine design fuel composition shall intensify research set increasingly strict standard strengthen enforcement shall longer afford consider air water common property free abuse anyone without regard consequence instead begin treat scarce resource free contaminate free throw garbage neighbor yard require comprehensive new regulation also require extent possible price good make include cost produce dispose without damage environment realize argument often make fundamental contradiction economic growth quality life one must forsake answer abandon growth redirect example turn toward end congestion eliminate smog reservoir inventive genius create first place continue vigorous economic growth provide u mean enrich life enhance planet place hospitable man individual must enlist fight say matter many national park historical monument buy develop truly significant environment u spend 80 percent time home place work street travel street litter rundown park strip yard dilapidate fence broken window smoke automobile dingy work place object fresh view tolerant surroundings willing leave others clean environment time make massive demand society make minimal demand u must resolve day leave home property public place city town little clean little well little pleasant around help people anything without help nothing spirit together reclaim land generation come year 5000 100 million child bear united state grow one thing measure quality american life year ahead warn u past 30 year population also grow shift result exemplify vast area rural america empty people promise third county lose population sixty violent decayed central city great metropolitan complex conspicuous area failure american life today propose problem become insoluble nation develop national growth policy future government decision build highway locate airport acquire land sell land make clear objective aid balanced growth america particular federal government must position assist build new city rebuild old one time carry concern quality life america farm well suburb village well city rural america need new kind assistance need dealt separate nation part overall growth policy america must create new rural environment stem migration urban center reverse seize growth challenge make 1970 historic period conscious choice transform land want become america pioneered new abundance new technology call upon today pioneer meeting concern follow wake turning wonder science service man majesty great chamber hear echo america history debate rock union repair summons war search peace unite people build nation echo history remind u roots strength remind u also special genius american democracy one critical turning point another lead u spot new road future give u wisdom courage take look new road try map today see new america celebrate 200th anniversary 6 year see america abolish hunger provide mean every family nation obtain minimum income make enormous progress provide well housing faster transportation improve health superior education see america check inflation wag win war crime see america make great stride stop pollution air clean water open park continue explore space important see america peace nation world impossible dream goal within reach time past forefather vision mean achieve goal let record first american generation mean vision make dream come true let u recognize fundamental truth best clothe best fed best house people world enjoy clean air clean water beautiful park could still unhappiest people world without indefinable spirit lift drive dream make america begin hope world two hundred year ago new nation 3 million people weak militarily poor economically america meant something world could measure dollar something far important military might listen president thomas jefferson 1802 act alone whole human race spiritual quality catch imagination million people world today richest strong nation world let record lack moral spiritual idealism make u hope world time birth demand u 1976 even great 1776 long enough live let live must live help live need fresh climate america one person breathe freely breathe freedom recognition truth wealth happiness thing require u measure success failure new criterion even program describe today nation need example elect leader provide spiritual moral leadership program material progress satisfy let u inspire young american sense excitement sense destiny sense involvement meeting challenge face great period history go sense satisfaction live great privilege individual serve big seize opportunity describe today determine future future peace freedom world last third century may god give u wisdom strength idealism worthy challenge america fulfill destiny world best hope liberty opportunity progress peace people