alternatehistory.com
Missouri’s Favorite Son
November 4th, 1987
“Where there are civil rights laws, the duty of a President is to enforce them vigorously, not to look for ways to deprive blacks and minorities and the majority who are women of equal justice and equal opportunity.”
“When a treaty, which is the law of the land, says that we cannot test or deploy weapons in outer space, the duty of a President is to obey, not to send lawyers searching for loopholes.”
“And if Congress outlaws military aid to the Contras, the duty of the Executive Branch is to carry out the law, not to figure out how to bend and break it covertly.”
“From the White House to Wall Street, we must get rid of the dangerous idea that the proper standard of conduct is whatever someone can get away with. Let us insist that the government which makes the laws has no right to break the law.”
“Often in recent weeks, I thought again of my years growing up here in St. Louis, where my mom was a secretary and my dad was a milktruck driver. His youthful hopes had been shattered by the Great Depression. He was raised on a farm. But be had to quit high school and move to the city when he was forced off the land.”
“Yet he still saw hope. He still saw opportunity. My folks worked and saved so my brother and I could get the education they never had. I remember it well - sitting with them on our front porch - a little brick bungalow on Reber Place - on those warm summer nights. They talked with us about working hard, being honest, doing good, aiming high. The air was hot and muggy but it was full of dreams. America was on the move.”
“I want the next generation to dream those dreams. I want to see America on the move again.”
“There are some who say we are aiming too high in this campaign, and for our country. But that's not the lesson I learned from my folks, from my life, from our long history as a people. I reject the view that the challenges are too hard-and that Americans have grown too soft. The pessimists do not understand the meaning and the magic of freedom-what the daughters and sons of secretaries and milkmen, farmers and machinists, businessmen and women can do for their country when they are put to the test.”
“Now we have a campaign to win and a nation to lead. So let me ask all of you: Are we ready to do it? Together, let's make America first again!”
-A speech by Dick Gephardt in St. Louis, Missouri.
“Where there are civil rights laws, the duty of a President is to enforce them vigorously, not to look for ways to deprive blacks and minorities and the majority who are women of equal justice and equal opportunity.”
“When a treaty, which is the law of the land, says that we cannot test or deploy weapons in outer space, the duty of a President is to obey, not to send lawyers searching for loopholes.”
“And if Congress outlaws military aid to the Contras, the duty of the Executive Branch is to carry out the law, not to figure out how to bend and break it covertly.”
“From the White House to Wall Street, we must get rid of the dangerous idea that the proper standard of conduct is whatever someone can get away with. Let us insist that the government which makes the laws has no right to break the law.”
“Often in recent weeks, I thought again of my years growing up here in St. Louis, where my mom was a secretary and my dad was a milktruck driver. His youthful hopes had been shattered by the Great Depression. He was raised on a farm. But be had to quit high school and move to the city when he was forced off the land.”
“Yet he still saw hope. He still saw opportunity. My folks worked and saved so my brother and I could get the education they never had. I remember it well - sitting with them on our front porch - a little brick bungalow on Reber Place - on those warm summer nights. They talked with us about working hard, being honest, doing good, aiming high. The air was hot and muggy but it was full of dreams. America was on the move.”
“I want the next generation to dream those dreams. I want to see America on the move again.”
“There are some who say we are aiming too high in this campaign, and for our country. But that's not the lesson I learned from my folks, from my life, from our long history as a people. I reject the view that the challenges are too hard-and that Americans have grown too soft. The pessimists do not understand the meaning and the magic of freedom-what the daughters and sons of secretaries and milkmen, farmers and machinists, businessmen and women can do for their country when they are put to the test.”
“Now we have a campaign to win and a nation to lead. So let me ask all of you: Are we ready to do it? Together, let's make America first again!”
-A speech by Dick Gephardt in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Meyer London
- Word Count: 450