President Makes First State Of The Union Speech President Kennedy Addresses The Nation In Appeal For National Strength Footage

PRESIDENT MAKES FIRST STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH President Kennedy addresses the nation in appeal for national strength
This clip is not available for streaming at this time. Please contact WPA.	Tape Master:	8759
	Catalog #:	155655
	Clip Number:	155655-1
	Orginal Film:	UN 3449 B
	Timecode:
	Location:	Washington DC
	Year Shot:	1961 (Actual Year)
	Audio:	Yes
	Color:	No
	Headings:	GOVERNMENT: Address to Congress, State of the Union
	Description:	PRESIDENT MAKES FIRST STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH President Kennedy addresses the nation in appeal for national strength Washington DC, United States of America Title. Various shots, as President Kennedy makes his way to dais in the House Chamber, amidst applause from standing members of the Senate and House. He shakes hands with Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn, who are seated behind him. Kennedy speaks, "I speak today in an hour of national peril and national opportunity. Before my term has ended, we shall have to test anew whether a nation organized and governed such as ours can endure. ... I will propose to the Congress within the next 14 days measures to improve unemployment compensation through temporary increases in duration on a self-supporting basis - to provide more food for the families of the unemployed, and to aid their needy children - to redevelop our areas of chronic labor surplus - to expand the services of the US Employment Offices - to stimulate housing and construction - to secure more purchasing power for our lowest paid workers by raising and expanding the minimum wage - to offer tax incentives for sound plant investment - to increase the development of our natural resources - to encourage price stability - and to take other steps aimed at insuring a prompt recovery and paving the way for increased long-range growth. This is not a partisan program concentrating on our weaknesses - it is, I hope, a national program to realize our national strength. ... To our sister republics to the south, we have pledged a new alliance for progress - alianza para progreso. Our goal is a free and prosperous Latin America, realizing for all its states and all its citizens a degree of economic and social progress that matches their historic contributions of culture, intellect and liberty. ... We must increase our support of the United Nations as an instrument to end the Cold War instead of an arena in which to fight it. In recognition of its increasing importance and the doubling of its membership. We are enlarging and strengthening our own mission to the UN. We shall help insure that it is properly financed. We shall work to see that the integrity of the office of the Secretary General is maintained. ... Life in 1961 will not be easy. Wishing it, predicting it, even asking for it, will not make it so. There will be further setbacks before the tide is turned. But turn it we must." Elevated GV pan over heads as the House stands and applauds.