|
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
JANUARY 3, 1961
Governor Collins, Governor Caldwell, members of the Cabinet,
the Legislature, and the Judiciary, distinguished platform guests,
my fellow Floridians--my friends.
This is for me a moment of deepest humility, and a moment
of greatest pride: humility at the comparison of my limited abilities
with the unlimited opportunities that we share; pride in the knowledge
that as we grasp these opportunities there stand shoulder to shoulder
with me the citizens of the finest state of the greatest nation upon
which the sun has ever shone.
The political campaigning is over. For those of you who
proudly and successfuly proclaimed in May and in Nevember that It's
Time for Bryant" ; shall be forever grateful. But 1960--Spring and
Pa11-- is behind us, and can be seen only if we cast our gaze behind us.
It is no longer time for Bryant--it's time for Florida. It's time to
forget the rivalries of lay and November. It's time to remember that
we are first and foremost citizens of no mean state, charged by the
responsibilities of that citizenship, and by the heritage we share,
to do all in our united power to make living in Florida the rich
material, social, cultural and moral experience that by reason of
our natural endowments it ought to be.
I glow as I drive around this lovely city and see the
hospitable signs: "Welcome, Governor Bryant." How glad I an to
receive your welcome! But if this day sees no more than the
inauguration of a new governor, the sun will set on a day that will
have been empty of meaning. This day, to fulfill its promise, must
-2-
see a new dedication on the part of the people of all Florida to
demand, and then to contribute to a standard of excellence on the
part of all those who labor in this administration never before
achieved, a standard of morality that is not only above reproach but
above suspicion, a standard of achievement that uses the progress of
past administrations as minimums, not as measures.
Let me make it abundantly clear that in demanding so much
I do not for one moment derogate the achievements either of the
administration Just concluded or of those that have gone before. We
take the baton in this administration where it was handed to us by
the last. The blocks we lay are placed upon those that have been
laid, and to expect these new blocks to reach new heights is praise
of the past, not criticism.
If I have seemed to place unusual emphasis upon the part
the citizens of Florida must play in the realization of her vast
potential, it is not because I an unconscious of the responsibilities
of leadership, nor unwilling to assume them. Rather it is because
I conceive that in a highly developed democracy such as we inherit
the true function of political leadership is to stimulate the people
themselves so that their reach exceeds their grasp, and to so direct
their efforts that they work in concert, and not in conflict. In 0
this fashion not only do we more nearly achieve our immediate goals,
but also, and more importantly, we develop our aspiration for--and
our ability to reach~even higher and more significant goals.
A moment ago you heard me take the oath of office. I hope
you took it with me, and that as we swore together we turned our
backs on the political rivalries of the campaign, the frustrations
of the transition period, the personal Jealousies to which men are
-3-
subJect, the misunderstandings that have divided sections and cities
and citizens. with all our great wealth of talent we have none to
spare. The sand, the sunshine, the sparkling waters, the soft breezes,
the rich soil, support us all. The education of every child is a
matter of concern to the parents of every other child. The money spent
on roads in one district is collected, in part, in every other district.
The living conditions, the wage scale, the moral standards, the law
enforcement in one section of our State affect every citizen of the
uttermost section.
I am not blind to political realities, but I am determined
that the government of Florida will, for the next four years, be as
free from political rifts as it is possible to make it. To that end
I pledge my willingness to go the extra mile. I do not plan to
recognize the "Pork Chop Gang" or the "Lamb Chop Bloc." With every
bit of power and influence with which you endow your governor I shall
seek to fight efforts to pit a so-called "majority group" in our
Legislature against a soicalled "minority group." In my Judgment
the greatest deterrent to progressive, all-considerate legislation
is the division of the Legislature, because of their stand on one or
two significant issues, into voting blocs in which its members are
robbed of the power of independent thought on many unrelated but .
equally significant issues.
The Legislature of Florida is composed of men of intelligence
and good will, working toward a common goal: the betterment of Florida.
It is not strange if their respective viewpoints differ. The most
devoted husband and wife sometimes differ. The tragedy occurs when
those differences are frozen by ill will into decisions and commitments
invulnerable to logic and reason.
-4-
The interests of Miami and Madison, of Tampa and Tice, are
not, and cannot be expected to be, identical. There is no compelling
reason why, however, with the help of leadership by the executive,
restraint by the news media, and understanding by the people, the
Legislature cannot achieve a harmonious blending of varying interests
to develop equitable programs, including reapportionment. For too
long we have been blocked by the firest of sectionalism blown out
of control by bitterness and mistrust, fed with fuel from the political
woodshed rather than quenched by a liberal supply of the milk of human
kindness.
Florida faces a mighty challenge to maintain and increase
in these years of great growth and sudden change the quality which has
characterized the economic and social gains of which we are so proud.
If there is one thought uppermost in my mind today, it is this:
A Florida divided against itself cannot meet this challenge. In union
alone is there strength.
Just as I yearn for a maximum contribution on the part of the
citizens of Florida to the excellence of their government, and vision
on the part of the members of the Legislature which encompasses all the
needs of all Florida, so I shall seek for a superior effort on the
part of the employees of our government. We shall seek out super.
employees to reward, we shall invite and encourage, yes, and reward,
suggestions for improvement, we shall try to give employees at all
levels a glimpse of the larger goals for which they work, we shall
encourage competition, we shall weed out incompetence, we shall seek
out and punish dishonesty when and if it occurs.
If the collection of taxes is improved, I shall not have
handled one account. If better roads are built, I shall not have
-5-
turned one shovel. If education is improved, I shall not have taught
one child. If these things are to be done, they must be done largely
by employees who are now serving this state, and who will be serving
the state after this administration is gone.
I know the quality of these servants of Florida, and it is
good. We shall immediately and continuously seek to improve the
quality through the normal personnel turnover, but the greatest
Opportunity for improvement lies within the employees themselves.
We shall ask of them extra effort, unstinting loyalty, the dedication
which sees a clock only as a warning that precious time to do the
tasks that need to be done is running out.
The blot on the staff of the State Road Department revealed
by the legislative investigating committee must be rubbed out. Whether
the instances of dereliction brought to light are isolated instances,
or symptoms of a widespread disease, must be determined immediately
by a comprehensive departmental investigation. Corrective measures,
designed to preven a recurrence, to re-establish employee morale, and
to start the road machines rolling, must be immediately taken. And
they will be!
The necessity to which this circumstance gives rise of
re-establishing the confidence of the urea: of Public Roads ego.-
to emphasize that Florida does not operate in a vacuum. We nit part
of a federal complex, and of a changing world order. Within our
state itself there is a constant conflict between levels of government.
It was Woodrow Wilson who said:
'Whe history of liberty is the history of the
limitation of governmental power, not the
increase of it. When we resist concentration
I
-6- ,
of power, we are resisting the powers of death,
because concentration of power is what always
proceeds the destruction f human liberties."
Today these words should be especially meaningful to us, for
government at every level is engaged in increasing its powers and
spreading them to new fields. In some areas this expansion is
proceeding at a barely noticeable snail's pace, in others at a full
Judicial gallop. The federal gbvernment intrudes on the prerogatives
of state government, the state government intrudes onthe rights of
local government, and all intrude on the freedoms that remain to the
individual.
There is no one who can contest the desirability of an
increase in social capital, so that roads, schools, parks, and hundreds
of other community needs can be met. We would all approve the
proposition that in Our affluent society no one should be denied a
dignified minimum subsistence by circumstances over which he has no
control or for which he cannot be blamed. But even these goals,
high as they stand on the yardstick of the "good life," ought not
and need not be bought at the cost of sacrificing those fundamental
liberties of the individual which created the very affluence which
make such goals attainable. The one sure way to destroy those
liberties, in our haste for improvement, is to destroy the up
of powers which more than any other one characteristic of our "'" p
government has kept this nation free and its people independent and
strong.
It will be our aim to confine the activities of the state
government to the conduct of the state's business-~not to the
settlement of local issues best left in the hands of local officials.
Similarly, we will oppose with vigor any efforts by the federal
government to usurp the proper and lawful prerogatives of the state.
-7-
It is needless for me, and s not my purpose as we take
this first step across the threshold 0 a new quadrenium, to
catalog our appointments, to specify our problems, or to prescribe
a course of conduct to be followed in every situation. These are
things apprOpriate for a campaign, and for an address to the
legislature.
Let us rather spend this brief hour in dedication of our-
selves. let us here highly resolve that, by the grace of God, we
will be equal to any challenge--that we will not write the history
of our time in asphalt, nor sing its epic story to the tune of a cash
register. Le us come again to this historic ground as we reach the
end of our appointed time confident in the verdict of history, that we
as a people have highly resolved and nobly striven to do the best of
which we could conceive-~that each failure has been a source of
learning, each success a new inspiration.
Ever insurgent let us be,
Make us more daring then devout,
From sleek contentment keep us free,
Pill us with a bouyant doubt.
Open our eyes to visions, girt with
Beaut and with wonder lit;
But ways let us see the dirt
And all that spawn and die in it.
Open our eyes to music, and let us
Thrill with spring's first flutes and drums.
But never let us dare forget
The bitter ballads of the slums.
From compromise and things half done,
Keep us with stern and stubborn pride.
And when at last the fight is won
God keep us still unsatisfied.
PAGE 1
JAARY 3, 196 IheLei-l-r, nd -h j-d -lr, ditinuihe p -t.r get., TIS D. fOr ..-OnD D f DdOpE t huFly, nd S oht ofgretepride: Iuiiya he --maro of my 11-te a"Ilitibs AitA the D.SREd EpASIDEniiDSD t-A REAShD. pRd .inO-U.E RED -ha -s -9-1s thebe opotnti btee -tn hude t. -hlder .ith IT the --h.en of hefinet -tt bf 1et-s -1..o upo. Th. P.1itic-1maig-n 1. ovr o hs f yo h. p Dly A AEfDly pRElED AAn D My -n An DED r aO I F bl-bhidu, an a e enoly If we 9...r ae ein It I SD lE tbA fOR BRyAnt--it'A ED. -R FlidA. It'. tIm tD rb Dh P r A.DD ... .. dO .ES..DDIt DDDI D t -,"D tt we ar irbt nd --ems --..en -f n -men1t, ch-rg by -h rp .n.ibilitie bf 1-a -iienhip, ad by the ..itg e harb, t. do -l i. .., unid p-1e t. -ak livin tn F1.1-d th. 1.1h material, -oil ut.-a ad .or.l 1-pe1b... that by Ie o .....f b --naua nomnsIt -uht t. be Igow -s I dl-v --un t-i lo-11y cIty .nd ... the hopittble .,-ns "Veom, Governor ryant" H-w 9-a 1 t. -ec-teyou. elb-me -u if thib -a .... n-o -ha h. inuuraIon -f a ... g-venor the -u .1l1 ..t .n a day h il haeb-e emty of --in. This d-y t. N-lil -t p--is, mus
PAGE 2
-e a -e d -ito -n Ihe patf -h Pople of .ll -t-id t. demdd, nd -h ntr. t -Il f .. r 111 thos b1r1 n thi. -dyinst-rai ntbefbre -yhie yyd, d ymrty -y Ib -ly --h ut rfbvedry'pibb yy rrtandiro heeen that. Brsey the proges .emk i bnatly .lartai d-mnIn~g ouh IAdbno AATr hynely byen pdlelrybt the yhbybymnt ether Ab the ~yA A t. T h A bA .e ay ar y..d b p-b tyoy t -.ab .. b If I h..e .-1m t. plac ... ua ...ph..I. uP.ntepr he of Fl--d P yI. te b--t-n f b tf leaderhip, nruwligt suete.Rte ti eas I Abybblye that i. b higly d. d y AyyAeybh-y thtru -t f p tIa eadrip I tobimlabe I. peo them-l-e Iot t --.i rah .....ed thei g-a, an _diet theeff.rts t -hY -oki ocradnti oflitt. .In thls fathi.n n-nly d. wemr eryaheeorImmdiat -.l, A Ioet -g yI.rdtk the -ath of tffi-e I hp y I~to it wIth e, -jd t-t -sw wr t.gether .. -une I-.k .. the politcl-il..e f the I.pag, h fruttion ofth trnitIon perio, the P---na j-1lo...et. .-ih -e ar
PAGE 3
pbjeGt, the tiudetpdig th-t he d Bi tid W ithnd Wtinl.With .l u t1eth f -Int ...t.n t. .d u t P-k1ig W-I., th .It I theric silsupor u al. heh hdcain Whhi eie tihii -Itoad i. -n district I -11-ctd, In p-rt, In .ve.y l Ilr district T -1n dtit., he g .calti the tr ina, --d the W hi t i .I it nthnof -r st hi vy ft. n t, ttt the gvnm tof Florida -1l o tenx f er, b. a 1.e11o plt-ca 11-t a. It 1. p ...Ible t. naeIt. T. that -nd Sp de y ilnge t. g. the -xtr -.l. I d. o p-a t. c n Izethe .-or ChpG -r the"b. Co lo."Wt vr lit of p..r -n -1n...... wIth .hiy1 no orgvro hl -ek t,, flght ef-ot. I. P1t ..o-ald "majorty 9-op" 1. yLeit lature -,-nta oca d "-iorty groP. "I yjdmn 1. the di-iso of th eiltrb.-.s of thir lln o ne tosniiatI-~es Into -oin bl... in -hi.h -t .-bes ro -1e of th owrof .dPendet thbuht -n .-y -n--atd but egal infic-n is-e .nd good -1l, w-rin towr .. cl mo g-1: the ,ett-ret of Foi-d.. it is -o -t-ng if t-ei repe-tiv ve-nt differ, rem devotd iutbn nd -i .set-n difter. TIe tr-gdy b..r we th..e dIIIer.... -r froby ill .il1 int. decI.I.n nd. mite intuner1t. -oicadresn
PAGE 4
IS
PAGE 5
-urned one byve. I--aIbn prod 1 sh-ht.e b.ug b, bhl .Ibbhe t hnl ret be done, yhey -ust b d Ilknowythe quality yf thes servyntyofb bloi,adits gyid. Wb byyyll idiay adcntnyilyek oiprv h ypyrtnitybrimprvemnt i s titin thy yyyplyeeyy bbhemyylyey. We sall sk o thm exra efor ,yntinting lyyliy, th ddb ato bIey ly ck inly a bg thyt .-e ti dthy t-.k i tht .-I y b. d-nef ninyty blt .n the -y f Itthb iibbdbiptbntibeal by ithgityynd gnyy tt ---bbe rubedbb o.Whthe the intne f deeicin ruht to Ilght -1re ---te ntacs .r .ymt-m of .--depre.d dIst .... u..t be deemndimdiately by tityireheibbe depyrtientbiinbityiin. yiyryyieyyeyuyb, to tryythyyyoad tatbiney rolling, bitt by yymydityyyyken And thy byll tyyyibyyI.yP--btii-yy --ibbibby Tenesi y twichbthiylbtrcumtngi es yy s r-tblhigthe .-nid.n.. of the Bru f ulI.-oas d to mhsieta Florlda dI.nt oP-rt. In aum W, a, pa't .f --eerlcope, ..d of chngn b r rdr Wlthi -u .tate itself t-er Is 9-o-atcnlitbtenlveso oenet. It -a --drw Wlo h ad history of libert 1. th istor of the litatin 'fgvrnetlpw ,no h -n1rea. .1 It. hnw eit ocnrto
PAGE 6
prt ed .... s i n f u nipprtie dp" Today the-ord -1ul b. espe-ialy --nngu t. s o piniiitit --edy pev ii i piii .n i crain. it p -an .p.i.. ddd idiPii P'''PP.Pi th.dP. t-dt idpr phdiiidt pimppppppidi sm irei is Pidpnsin iis P ppiipihididiinga pa rl dntieal i pippei in tdr p t pip l judi 1. .i.diid i pTed -t .t p pisud oerdinte ttegvr~an dnppudes on iieiriihti d indiiiidal. ~ ppppppp 1nres -in --ilcaia, .. that I-dscl, p-rk, .n1 unrd .f -ther -omnt need -a be m -.Ww d .ll app.... the proposiio t-a i. -u 1-flet --iey n .o on .-1.l1e eie -ot-o .r -o -hih 1. -ant t. bl-me. Bu vntheoa htgh a they -tan .the y-rd... k f -h "g-d 11fe, -uhl o In n -e no b -gt t the -ot of -acriicin thos Itn-et Ilbrtie of 1 --dviul .-ih --ete the -er aflu.... wh-c -ak -,c goaatanal .T --n -ne t. d-1.ro th..e liberti in .r at. -o i 1.veet, t. d-ra the d, S.. -nen t. the .-dut of ....t..bsies--o t. the Simlarywe illaposew-h vI-o .ny e--rt by the -ederaI gPe-nett supte pond 1-1fu P----ate of the tae
PAGE 7
-7.t ll .-~ I. P-11d t 111Th. 1 I t-, n...s .o ..., .n o yproea etk -1tab, qupp t mett pcf u r ea rt rsrb tal It urs If dt to be llftllowed n tvely sItutiont lThe are 1 i lti tlPyh l l ie e histry Oernng -c t. -1., new t inp ttn Evr nuret letusbe p-l u. iihabuatdu t. ea t -nd with odrlI; B., altay let ursetedigr e. And Illth t lh' fn"de n t pn u eysti i -d-u
|
