WORDS OF WISDOM
When they took away the 4th Amendment,
we were quiet, because we didn't deal drugs.
When they took away the 6th Amendment,
we were quiet, because we were innocent.
When they took away the 2nd Amendment,
we were quiet, because we don't own guns.
Now they are taking away the 1st Amendment,
and very soon, if we continue to be quiet,we will
have no choice, but to be continue to be quiet.
Freedom of speech - No Totalitarian Government will allow Freedom of Religion
"When even one American --- who has done nothing wrong ---
is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth,
then all Americans are in peril.." - Harry S. Truman
191 - Address at the Dedication of the New Washington Headquarters of the
American Legion.
August 14, 1951
Mr. Commander, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:
I am happy to be here this afternoon to dedicate the new Washington
headquarters of the American Legion. I wish the Legion every success in its new
home.
I have been thinking back to the early days of the American Legion, right after
World War I. You know, I was very active in Legion affairs in those days. I
helped to establish four different Legion posts in Missouri, and I am still a
member of all four of them.
We didn't start this organization just to look out for our own interests as
veterans or to give us an excuse for reminiscing about what heroes we had been.
We started this organization so we could work together as patriotic citizens
for the good of all Americans.
That is what we have been trying to do for the last 30 years.
Not everything we have done has been perfect, but the record is one to make us
proud. The American Legion has been a powerful and constructive force in
American life.
The Legion has been in the forefront of the fight to establish the best system
of help and care for veterans that any country ever had in the history of the
world.
The Legion has done wonderful work for the welfare of children. It established
a National Child Welfare Division in 1925, and since then it has carried on a
full-fledged program helping to provide home care for needy children.
Another of the Legion's principal objectives has been to help in achieving a
sound national defense. At the first national convention in 1919, the Legion
adopted a resolution urging a policy of universal military training. It has
consistently supported that policy from that day until this. I appreciate that
support very much because I have recommended universal training to the Congress
at least seven times.
I am glad to be able to say that we have finally made some real progress on
this issue. On June 13 I signed into law the Universal Military Training and
Service bill. This is a great step toward a sensible, long-range military
manpower program for this country. And, do you know, that effort was started in
1790 by George Washington himself, and we just now got it done. Think of that.
We work with expedition in matters of that kind!
The Legion's interest in national defense has extended far beyond universal
training-it has extended to all the measures needed for the protection of our
country. In recent years the organization has supported unification of the
armed services. It has supported the North Atlantic Treaty and military aid for
Europe and our own rearmament program.
This participation by the Legion in our national defense activities is a very
healthy thing. The members of the Legion who have served their country as
citizen-soldiers know how important it is to defend our country from its
enemies. And they know that citizens must take an active part in these matters
if we are to maintain our tradition of civilian control over the military.
It is natural for the Legion to be especially concerned with veterans' affairs
and national defense. But I am glad to say that the American Legion has never
considered its responsibilities to be limited to these fields. It has
recognized from the beginning that its members are not only veterans; but, more
important, they are also citizens of a great Republic with all of a citizen's
duties and responsibilities.
In the preamble to the Legion's constitution, its members pledged
themselves-among other things--to "uphold and defend the Constitution of the
United States... to foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism...
to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and
democracy."
At the present time it is especially important for us to understand what these
words mean and to live up to them.
The keystone of our form of government is the liberty of the individual. The
Bill of Rights, which protects our individual liberties, is a fundamental part
of our Constitution.
When the Legion pledged itself to uphold the Constitution, and to foster 100
percent Americanism, it pledged itself to protect the rights and liberties of
all our citizens.
Real Americanism means that we will protect freedom of speech--we will defend
the right of people to say what they think, regardless of how much we may
disagree with them.
Real Americanism means freedom of religion. It means that we will not
discriminate against a man because of his religious faith.
Real Americanism means fair opportunities for all our citizens. It means that
none of our citizens should be held back by unfair discrimination and
prejudice.
Real Americanism means fair play. It means that a man who is accused of a crime
shall be considered innocent until he has been proved guilty. It means that
people are not to be penalized and persecuted for exercising their
constitutional liberties.
Real Americanism means also that liberty is not license. There is no freedom to
injure others. The Constitution does not protect free speech to the extent of
permitting conspiracies to overthrow the Government. Neither does the right of
free speech authorize slander or character assassination. These limitations are
essential to keep us working together in one great community.
Real Americanism includes all these things. And it takes all of them together
to make 100 percent Americanism--the kind the Legion is pledged to support.
I'm glad the Legion has made that pledge. For true Americanism is under
terrible attack today. True Americanism needs defending--here and now. It needs
defending by every decent human being in this country.
Americanism is under attack by communism, at home and abroad. We are defending
it against that attack. And we are protecting our country from spies and
saboteurs. We are breaking up the Communist conspiracy in the United States. We
are building our defenses, and making our country strong, and helping our
allies to help themselves.
If we keep on doing these things--if we put our best into the job--we can
protect ourselves from the attack of communism.
But Americanism is also under another kind of attack. It is being undermined by
some people in this country who are loudly proclaiming that they are its chief
defenders. These people claim to be against communism. But they are chipping
away at our basic freedoms just as insidiously and far more effectively than
the Communists have ever been able to do.
These people have attacked our basic principle of fair play that underlies our
Constitution. They are trying to create fear and suspicion among us by the use
of slander, unproved accusations, and just plain lies.
They are filling the air with the most irresponsible kinds of accusations
against other people. They are trying to get us to believe that our Government
is riddled with communism and corruption--when the fact is that we have the
finest and the most loyal body of civil servants in the whole world. These
slander mongers are trying to get us so hysterical that no one will stand up to
them for fear of being called a Communist.
Now, this is an old Communist trick in reverse. Everybody in Russia lives in
terror of being called an anti-Communist. For once that charge is made against
anybody in Russia--no matter what the facts are--he is on the way out. And what
I mean is, he is on the way out!
In a dictatorship everybody lives in fear and terror of being denounced and
slandered. Nobody dares stand up for his rights.
We must never let such a condition come to pass in this great country of ours.
Yet this is exactly what the scaremongers and the hate mongers are trying to
bring about. Character assassination is their stock in trade. Guilt by
association is their motto. They have created such a wave of fear and
uncertainty that their attacks upon our liberties go almost unchallenged. Many
people are growing frightened--and frightened people don't protest.
Stop and think. Stop and think where this is leading us.
The growing practice of character assassination is already curbing free speech
and it is threatening all our other freedoms. I daresay there are people here
today who have reached the point where they are afraid to explore a new idea.
How many of you are afraid to come right out in public and say what you think
about a controversial issue? How many of you feel that you must "play it safe"
in all things--and on all occasions?
I hope there are not many, but from all that I have seen and heard, I am afraid
of what your answers might be.
For I know you have no way of telling when some unfounded accusation may be
hurled at you, perhaps straight from the Halls of Congress.
Some of you have friends or neighbors who have been singled out for the
pitiless publicity that follows accusations of this kind--accusations that are
made without any regard for the actual guilt or innocence of the victim.
That is not fair play. That is not Americanism. It is not the American way to
slur the loyalty and besmirch the character of the innocent and the guilty
alike. We have always considered it just as important to protect the innocent
as it is to punish the guilty.
We want to protect the country against disloyalty--of course we do. We have
been punishing people for disloyal acts, and we are going to keep on punishing
the guilty whenever we have a case against them. But we don't want to destroy
our whole system of justice in the process. We don't want to injure innocent
people. And yet the scurrilous work of the scandalmongers gravely threatens the
whole idea of protection for the innocent in our country today.
Perhaps the Americans who live outside of Washington are less aware of this
than you and I. If that is so, I want to warn them all. Slander, lies,
character assassination--these things are a threat to every single citizen
everywhere in this country. And when even one American--who has done nothing
wrong--is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth, then all
Americans are in peril.
It is the job of all of us--of every American who loves his country and his
freedom--to rise up and put a stop to this terrible business. This is one of
the greatest challenges we face today. We have got to make a fight for a real
100 percent Americanism.
You legionnaires, living up to your constitution as I know you want to do, can
help lead the way. You can set an example of fair play. You can raise your
voices against hysteria. You can expose the rotten motives of those 'people who
are trying to divide us and confuse us and tear up the Bill of Rights. No
organization ever had the opportunity to do a greater service for America. No
organization was ever better suited or better equipped to do the job.
I know the Legion. I know what a tremendous force for good it can be--and what
a
tremendous force for good it has been. Now go to it. The job is up to you. God
bless you.
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"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to
take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic
purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and
sacrifice for that freedom." - John F. Kennedy
"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of
justice is no virtue." - Barry Goldwater
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