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It is one of the paradoxes of history that at this
: want, when man has more reason to believe that he can
overcome nature and rout most if not all of his ancient
enemies, hunger and disease, we are plagued with doubts
about ourselves, about our nation, about our heritage of
faith, about our future.
I never engage for long in the most casual conversa-
tion before my companion, from whatever walk or station
of life; turns to the social and economic troubles which
dominate the public media.
The Gallup poll published last rhursday reflected the
uncertainty so common among us. In spite o: the limitless-
and pitiless -- information about the national candidates,
a larger percentage of the people of America are "undecided"
than ever before at this stage of an election.'
We are a people who need to learn humility. For so
long we have been protected by our oceans that we have
grown proud in our strength. We have been given a good
land, full of milk and honey. and have come to put our faith
in material things. relying upon our gross national products
more than upon our great spiritual heritage.
I spent an evening. recently. thumbing through Vol.
6 of The Integpggters gable.listening to the cries of the
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net first compose the Mngne Carta and then seek their free-
dom. They first decided to free themselves rom tyranny.
and then created the Megne Certa to secure their goal.
Our £orezethers did not first drew a Constitution
and then adopt its goal. They first committed themselves
to higher political goals and then formed a Constitution
to secure them.
The American people are going through a period in
which they are setting new goals ... goals which go beyond
anything the world has ever envisioned ... goals of both
freedom, and justice at new and higher levels.
t is not strange that we should make mistakes.
They on the heights are not the souls
Who never erred nor went astray.
Who trod unnworving toward their goals
Along a smooth, roeeabordered way;
Nay: Those who stand where first comes
dawn
Are thoee who stumbled but went on.
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prophets in Lamentations, and 3053a, and Amos. A great
deal of the Bible is the story of God's repeated insistence
that the higher nan climb the more time they must spend on
their knees.
A few months ago a young Senator who aspired to the
leadership of this nation was assassinated. He was probably
not greatly popular in this audience nor with me -- but
all of us would agree that his death is every Americans
loss. The course or our history has been changed: the
nature of our open democracy has been altered. One can. by
his act of violence, has begun to erect a barrier between
us and those who would lead us, and such a barrier is not
compatible with democracy.
Arthur Schlesinger. Jr.. the historian. places the
guilt for this deed upon.every American. He conceives that
we, as a nation, live under some primal curse that springs
from our dark past.
Spokesman for the Arab world would place the blame on the
American nation as accessory to the murder of their Pales:inian
homeland.
James Reston. one of my favorite commentators, senses
Something in the air...a kind of moral delinquency.
The editor of a Jacksonville newspaper, nevsr before
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given to strong opinion, reasoned that Robert xennedy's death
was a harvest of hate -- that our souls are overdue for a
thorough cleansing.
Colleges are full of discontent. rofessors are coun-
selling rebellion. Police are using force on campuses where
reason has always prevailed.
Riots and sit-ins have become common vehicles of social
and political expression. The convention of a great political
party survived only by the use of force.
Obviously we have made serious mistakes. Desperately
we lisnen for an Amos. who can show us the plumbline God
holds for us -- who can cry out
Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Yet I would suggest that while we need to be called to
account for our sins -- while we need to drive the pigs into
the sea -- we can make the very great mistake of driving the
wrong goat into the wilderness.
Like the God-fearing persecutors of the inquisition.
or the devout judges who condemned witches to the stake
in Salem, we can do great harm by talse judgments against
ourselves or others.
This is not an evil nation. nor, I believe, a cursed
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one. It falls far short of Utopia, or of heaven -- but in
the long history of mankinds 3;:uggle from sLime towards
the sublime, it has inched ahead.
Our greatest miscalculation -- and I do not count it
a sin -- is that we have let our reach exceed our grasp. An
with our eyes on the stars, we have stumbled.
we have raised our children to be unsatisfied with the
moral and spiritual levels on which we live, yet been unable
to teach them a better way.
We have dreamed the American dream, yet not made it a
possibility for all.
But to say that ista far different thing from judging
that the murder of John Kennedy by a warped American schooled
in Russia and Cuba. and of Robert Kennedy by an immigrant
Arab, and of Martin Luther Xing by an escaped convict,
damn: this nation with a birthright t violence.'
WhateVe: this nation contributed to the blighted youth
of Oswald, its greatest mistake was to grant him free-
dom after he rejected freedom.
The greatest mistake we made with sirhan sirhan was
that, out of compassion for his uprooted people, we gave
him a freedom to which he was not equal.
The greatest mistake we made with the reputed assassin
oi aartin Luther King was that we let him escape to a trcedom
that he had forfeited.
Yet all of our spiritual heritage calls us to freedom,
from Eden to Cape canaveral, and we have no greater duty, no
more pressing business. than to learn to live with both free-
dom and justice.
There is a limit to freedom. There is a point beyond
which it cannot be expanded without destroying itself.
When the concept of freedom is expanded to include
not only the power but also the right to violate the social
compact which is the fabric of freedom. it destroys that
fabric -- and freedom.
when the exercise of freedom is permitted to such a
point that it ignores both self-restraint and social res-
traint, both civil laws and moral laws, it is not freedom,
but anarchy.
And when society, in the pursuit of greater freedom
establishes a policy which condonea license and anarchy. it
cannot long remain tree.
But thank God we live in a country where the problem
ie not too little freedom, but too much.
Justice. toor.haa its limitations. Perfect_£reedom and
complete justice are not compatible as long as man is subject
to error. To be free is to have the right to be wrong. God
gave Adam that right.
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In 1963, in addressing the Commerce Committee of the
United States Senate I made these remarks:
In our eagerness to make all things right with
the world. let us not forget that inherent in and
inseparable from freedom is the right to make
errors. If this government were all wise, and
all powerful. it could prohibit all error. In
such event this might be a tter nation. But
it would not be a free or And the state would
have taken the place of God."
To some extent the rebellion in our streets is a
demand in the name of justice for economic and social equality
to equal our political equality. There are vastly dittorent
concepts. To be free is to he unequal. Freedom by its very
nature guarantees unequal economic and social condition.
Those who demand equality in the name of justice may
secure equality, but it will be at the price of freedom.
That is the choice Communism has made and their freedom is
part of the price they have paid.
Still, just as in another century the cry was for liberty,
today its many forms are basically a cry for justice. All
across the earth, among all nations and races. men have caught
a vision of a world in which every man receives his due, and
every child is freed from the prison of adverse circumstances.
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and that vision. or mirage, is turning the world up-side dawn.
Castro persuaded hineel: and the people of Cuba that
they Dyed under an unjust system, and that he would create
one in which the farmer owned his land, the wage earner
received a fair wage, and every child could walk through
education's door to unlinited opportunity. Never mind that
the vision and reality are far apart -- it is the vision
they saw and served.
Out of the 38 nations of the world where annual per
capita income is less than $100, 32 have been involved in
significant conflicts in the last 10 years. Indeed, they
have suffered an average 0: two major outbreaks or violence
per country in that period.
These are governments many or whose peOple were not
convinced they were receiving justice from the economic
system.
But what is justice?
To a ball player it is an honest umpire with good
eyesight.
To a migrant laborer - it is a fair wage and decent
living conditions.
To a Negro -- it is some yet ill-defined equality.
To a rebellious college student it is a voice in the
affairs of the world of which he has lntely become aware.
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To a husband or father -- it is the safety of his wife
or daughter wherever in this land they may be.
For a child - it is health and education.
For an older citizen, it is security in dignity.
The demand for justice takes a thousand forms. Like
beauty. it lies in the eyes or the beholder.
Sometimes demands for justice clash with each other;
sometimes they clash with concepts of freedom and private
property: sometimes they clash with the sovereignty of
the law.
Somehow this nation must achieve a workable and accept-
able accommodation between all these conflicting demands. To
fail is either to forcibly repress the minority or overthrow
the majority. In America, neither of those results is
tolerable.
Somehow this Ration must achieve a balance between the
social and economic justice to which we are increasingly
committed, and the bedrock freedoms upon which the whole
fabric of our democratic society depends.
We have decided as a nation to bring the advantage of
medical science to all who are diseased and disabled. In
a nation which began with a commitment that no American
should be imprisoned for debt, nor without due process,
there has gradually formed a commitment that no American
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shall be imprisoned because of disease it it is in the
power of his countrymen to free him.
We have decided to clean up our cities ... to make
them attractive and safe. How can we prevent public abuses
without destroying private rights?
How can we police our streets with the vigor and
effectiveness that will insure the safety or our people
without destroying the hardearned liberties ot the indi-
vidual?
We have decided to give every child the opportunity to
learn -- how can we achieve that kind of equality and not
be bound by the lowest common denoudnater?
These are goals with.which none can quarrel because they
do but seek for everyone what everyone seeks to: himself.
Somehow we must take the pragmatism o! the new social
and economic demands and fit it into the idealism of our
spiritual and political heritage.
It is neither surprising nor alarming that we have
set our hearts on higher goale before we know how to achieve
them. Those who gathered around King John at Runynede did
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as to arrag opinion reason ......... .r xend-
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one. It 2-~~5 Sur short o~ Utopia, or ci haavan -bur in he long history oz c.aakind's arraggle fece stima scuards -ahe sub~ina, it has inched ahead. Our grea-aast miscalculatto-and I do act ecar.t it a sia -is that we have let our reach exceed our grasp. And with our cyes or, the scars, we have stambled. we have raised air children to be unsatisited with the moral and spiritual levels on which we live, you been unable to teach them a better way. We have dreanad the American dream, yet not made ia possibility for all. But to say that is a far different Ching fram Judgang that the mu-der of John xenaedy by a warped American schoolod a Russia aza Cuba, and of Robert Kerinedy by an imalgrant Arab, and of Martin Luther XL-g by an escaped convic-, dzans this r.ation wi"h a "birmarighof violence." Whatever this nation contribute to the blighted youth ooswald, its greatest mistake was to grant him freedem after he rejected freedom, The greatest mistake we -ade with Sirhan Sirhan was hat, out of compassion for his sproo'iod people, we gave him a freedom to which he was not ecual. The greacost mistake we made with the reputed assassin of martin Luthor King was that we let hLm escape to a frendam
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.5_ hat he had forfeiced. yet a~.2 o cur spiritsa~~ harisage calls as zo freeder.t ras Ed-za ma Cape Canaveral, and we have no grearer duty, no Gee proaGir^3 business, than to leara zo live with both freedom and "ustice. T~.tere is a Limit to freedom. There is a point heyaad which icannot be expanded without destroying i-self. When -ha concept of freedam is expanded to include not only the pawer but also 013 right to violate the social compact which is the fabric of freedom, it destroys -hafabric -and freedom, when the exercise of freedor. is perni~cted to such a point that it ignores both self-restraint and social resuraint, both civil laws and moral lkws, it is aos freedas, buL anarchy. And when society, in the pursuit af greaber freedox, establishes a policy which coadones license and anarchy, it canaor. lo:aj remain free, But thaat G-.d we live in a country where she prdblem a not too ~_iutie freedom, but too much. Justice, toon has its Limizations. Perfoet.freedar.. and capplete justice are not compatible as long Es man is sub-ect c error, To be free is to have the right to be wror.g, God ave Adam shut righa.
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