European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Lost state of the Union message by m not ignore not deny our Here is the text of president Johnson s state of the Union message to Congress for the sixth and last time present to the Congress my assessment of the state of the Union. I shall speak tonight of Challenge and Opportunity and of the commitments we have made together that will if carried out give us our bes Chance to achieve the kind of society we want. Every president lives not Only with what is but with what has been and what could be. Most of the great events in his presidency Are part of a larger sequence extending Back through several decades and administrations. Urban unrest poverty pressures on welfare education and Law enforcement the continuing crisis in the Middle East the conflict in Vietnam the dangers of nuclear War and the difficulties of dealing with communist Powers All have at least this much uncommon. They or the causes that gave Rise to them have existed for Man years. Several presidents have already sought to Deal with them. One or More presidents will try to resolve or contain them in years to come. But if the nation s problems Are continuing so Are its assets the Economy the democratic system our sense of exploration symbolized most recently by the flight of Apollo 8, the Good judgment of our people and their essential love of Justice. We must not ignore our prob lems. But neither should we deny our strengths. Those strengths Are available to sustain a presi Dent of either party to support his progressive efforts it Home and abroad. Unfortunately the departure of an administration also does not mean the end of the problems it has faced. The Effort to meet them must go on year after year if the momentum we have mounted together in this decade is not to be  the struggle for progressive change is continuous there Are times when a watershed is reached when there is if not a break with the past at least the fulfilment of Many of its oldest Hopes and a stepping Forth into new environment to Sefik new  past five years was such a  finished a major part of the old Agenda. Some of the Laws we wrote have already taken on the flesh of reality. Medicare is part of american life today. The voting Booth and the doors to Public service Are open at last to All americans regardless of their color. Schools and school children allover America Are already receiving Federal support. Head Start is a reality. So Arete Federal programs that Are helping a million and a Hal Young people remain in College. Part of the american Earth not Only in a description on a map but in the reality of Shore Sand Parks forests and mountains has been permanently set aside for the Public Benefit. Five million americans have been trained for jobs in new Federal programs. Most important the country is close to full employment not in theory but in  the unemployment rate is Down to 3.3 per cent. The number of jobs has grown by More than 8 1-2 million in thelast five years More than in All the preceding 12 years. These achievements completed the full Cycle from idea to enactment to a place in the lives of citizens All across our coun try. I wish it were possible to say that everything the Congress and the administration achieve during this period had completed that Cycle. But much of what we have committed needs additional funding to become tangible reality. Yet the very existence of those commitments those promises to the american people is a kind of reality in itself. Breaking those Promise would be a tragedy for our country. This much is certain no Oneman or group of men made those commitments alone. Con Gress and the executive Branch with the declaration of Independence they were extended by the thirteenth fourteenth an fifteenth amendments. They have been powerfully strength ened by t h o enactment of three civil rights Laws within the past five years. 6n Jan. 1 of this year the fair housing act of 1968 became applicable to Over Twenty million Bat tents and Homes. The prohibition against racial discrimination in that act the Antipoverty program has had Many achievements and some failures. We must not Grot impatient with it. R the the voting rights another five years. A act for protecting life members will hot be required to also use their salary increase for of essential official business. In 1967 i recommended a Fairand impartial random selection system for the draft. I believe it is an essential Reform. I sub wrote them into Law. They Saveall the moral Force Gulf Olathe american political sys summon when it acts they. Express our determination to acl goals. They imply act Oil this year i am proposing that the Congress provide the full $300 million that h authorized inthe act. This is an essential contribution to Justice and Public order in the United  it is Only a Small part of the total Effort that must remade a chiefly by local govern ments if. We Are to reduce the toll of crime. As i leave office one of the greatest disappointments i carry with me is our failure to secure passage of a licensing and registration act for firearms. In order to reduce the incidence of crime believe Congress should adopt such a Law. Improving government to meet our Long standing commitment to make govern ment As efficient As possible 1believe we should reorganize our postal system along the lines of the Kappel report. Public service should no impose an unreasonable Finan Cial sacrifice on Able men an women. I believe the recommendations of the commission on executive legislative and Judi Cial salaries Are generally sound. Later this week i shall submit salary proposals that have been reduced and Modi fied on the recommendation of the congressional leadership. For members of Congress will recommend Basic compensation of $42,500. And i will suggest that Congress appropriate an adequate allowance for official expenses so that its Means to meet commitments most of what we must do tour commitments will Cost Money and if we maintain the Strong rate of growth we have had in this country for the past , we shall generate the Ife sources we need to meet these commitments. We have already been Able to increase our support for major social programs such As health and education from $30 billion in 1964 to $68 billion in thei coming fiscal year. Nevertheless we must also budget our resources responsibly in a Way that helps Usi preserve our Prosperity and i strengthen the Dollar. Greater revenues and reduced Federal spending have changed the budgetary picture dramatically since last january when we estimated a deficit of $8billion. I am glad to say that in the fiscal year ending june 30, 1969, we Are going to have not a deficit but a $2.4 billion sur plus. The budget for the next fiscal year will provide a $3.4 billion surplus. This budget anticipates the Extension of the surtax con Gress approved last year. I have communicated with president elect Nixon on the surtax. Bothof us want to see it removed As soon As circumstances will permit. In my opinion Circum stances which include today record interest rates do not now permit it. The president elect has concluded that until every president lives not Only with what is but with what has and what could be.9 Pofi 12 average rate of the past ten years. Our cities and towns repressed for funds to meet the needs of their growing populations. I believe an Urban development Bank should be chartered by Congress. The Bank could obtain resource through the issuance of taxable Bonds and lend them a reduced rates to communities for schools hospitals Parks and other Public facilities. Insuring o life of dignity since the enactment of the social Security act in 1935, Congress has recognized the necessity to make More adequate provision for agedpersons.,.maternal and child  Public  time has come i believe to increase social Security Bene fits. There should be an Over All the stars and stripes his administration and the Congress can ascertain that the facts justify permitting the surtax to expire or be reduced he will support my recommendation that it be continued. Americans Are United in the bring an Early peace to Vietnam. And if our Hopes for an Early settlement of the warfare realized our military expenditures can be reduced and substantial savings can be made. In any event it is imperative that we do All we responsibly can do to resist inflation while maintaining our Prosperity. This is our number one economic Challenge today. Americans know that our Prosperity is Broad and deep that if has brought record profits and wages and that it has enabled millions to escape from poverty in the last few  will be glad to hear that the Treasury informs me that in 1968 we achieved a surplus balance of payments. It appear that we have in fact done better than in any year since1957. This is Good news for All americans. The quest for peace As i leave the presidency. Know that the overriding concern of the american Peoples peace. The quest for a durable peace has absorbed every administration since the end of world War ii. It has required us to seek limitation of arms races not Only among the super Powers but among smaller nations. We have joined in the test ban treaty of 1963, the outer space treaty and the treaty against the spread of nuclear weapons. This latter agreement thenon proliferation treaty has for six months. In my opinion delay in ratifying it will not be Johnson i tint add i to a joint Itu Ion of Cong new Wai on nov. 27, 1963. To undo Jan ciry 16, 1969 helpful to the cause of peace. We took the Lead in negotiating this treaty. We should approve it promptly. Until a Way is found to scale Down the level of arms among the superpowers Mankind can not View the future without apprehension. We should resume talks with the soviet Union about limiting offensive and defensive missile systems Twenty years ago we embarked on a program of Aid to the developing countries. We knew we could not live in Good conscience As a Rich enclave Onan Earth Seething in misery. During these years there have been great advances in the race against want and hunger. Outlast year our Aid program was Cut below the level of safety for ourselves and humane regard for our fellow men. This year Iam asking for adequate funds for economic assistance. We must continue to support efforts in regional cooperation. Among those efforts that of Western Europe has a special place in our concern. The Only course that will permit Europe to play the great world role us resources permit is to go Forward to Unity. America remains read to work regret it has not yet been possible to restore peace in South  i have been sustained by Faith in representative democracy been possible to restore peace to South Vietnam. The prospects for peace Are better today than at any time since North Vietnam began it invasion with its regular forces More than four years ago. The free nations of Asia knowhow what they were not sure of at that time that Amer Cacares about their Freedom and its own vital interests in Asi and the Pacific. The North vietnamese know that they cannot achieve their aggressive purposes by Force. There May be hard fighting be fore a settlement is reached but it will yield no Victory to the communists. I cannot speak of Vietnam without paying a personal tribute to the men who have carried the Battle for us there. I have been honoured to be their commander in chief. The nation owes them its unstinting sup port while the Battle continues and its enduring gratitude when their service is done. Finally the quest for stable peace in the Middle East goes on in Many capitals. We fully support the unanimous Resolution of the . Security Council which Points the  must be a settlement of the armed hostility that exist sin the Region today. It is a threat not Only to Israel and the with a United Europe As partner on the basis of  the future the quest for peace requires that we maintain the Liberal Trade policies that have helped make us the leading nation i world Trade that we strengthen the International monetary system As an instrument of world Prosperity and that we seek areas of agreement with the soviet Union where the interests of both nations and of world peace Are  strained relationship be tween us and the world leading communist Power has not ended especially in the Light of its brutal invasion of Czechoslovakia. Totalitarianism is no less odious to us because we Are Able to reach som accommodation that reduces the danger of world catastrophe. What we do we do in the interests of world peace. We Hope that time will bring a Russia less afraid of diversity and individual Freedom. Vietnam and the Middle East the quest for peace continue today in Vietnam and in the purls talks.1 regret that it has not yet the stars and stripes Arab states but to the entire world. A message to Congress my friends in Congress conclude with a few personal words to you. I accepted the congressional leadership s invitation to address you for two reasons one was philosophical wanted to give you my judgment on some of the Issue before our nation As i see them. The other was  of my life As a Public official was spent in this building. For thirty  since i worked Here As doorkeeper in the House of representatives i have know nits Halls and most of those who walk them. I know the question they face the conflicts they endure the ideals they seek to serve. I left Here to become first vice president and then president of the United  term of office has been marked by a series of challenges at Home and abroad. In meeting some of these challenges the nation found a new Confidence. In meeting others it knew turbulence and doubt. Throughout this time i have been sustained by my Faith in representative democracy Afaith i had Learned in the Capitol building As a Congress Man and senator. I believe in the ultimate Pur poses of our nation described by the Constitution tempered by history embodied in progressive Laws Given life by men an women elected to serve their fellow citizens. For five demanding years inthe White House i have been strengthened by the counsel an cooperation of two former presidents president Truman and president Eisenhower. I have been guided by the memory of my association with the beloved John f. Kennedy and with our greatest modern legislator speaker Sam Ray Burn. I have been assisted by my Friend vice president Hubert Humphrey. I have been supported daily by the loyalty of speaker Mccormack and major Ity Leader Albert. I have benefited from the Wisdom of senator Mike Mansfield and have received the most Gen Erous cooperation from the leaders of the Republican party senator Dirksen an congressman Ford. No president could ask forbore. Few have been blessed with so much. President elect Nixon will need your understanding just As i did. He is entitled to Haveit. The burdens he will Bear will be borne for All of us. Each of us should try not to increase them for the Sake of narrow personal or partisan advantage i Hope it May be said Hundred years from now that together we helped to make our country More just for All its i eople As Well As to insure the blessings of Liberty for our posterity. 1 believe it will be said that we tried. Thank you. One of the greatest disappointments., is. Failure to secure passage of a licensing and registration act for  Page 13