Our kind of government above all others cannot tolerate dishonesty among public servants.

Some dishonest people worm themselves into almost every human organization.  It is all the more shocking, however, when they make their way into a Government such as ours, which is based on the principle of justice for all.  Such unworthy public servants must be weeded out.  I intend to see to it that Federal employees who have been guilty of misconduct are punished for it.  I also intend to see to it that the honest and hard-working great majority of our Federal employees are protected against partisan slander and malicious attack.

I have already made some recommendations to the Congress to help accomplish these purposes.  I intend to submit further recommendations to this end.  I will welcome the wholehearted cooperation of the Congress in this effort.

I also think that the Congress can do a great deal to strengthen confidence in our institutions by applying rigorous standards of moral integrity to its own operations, and by finding an effective way to control campaign expenditures, and by protecting the rights of individuals in congressional investigations.

To meet the crisis which now hangs over the world, we need many different kinds of strength—­military, economic, political, and moral.  And of all these, I am convinced that moral strength is the most vital.

When you come right down to it, it is the courage and the character of our Nation—­and of each one of us as individuals-that will really decide how well we meet this challenge.

We are engaged in a great undertaking at home and abroad—­the greatest, in fact, that any nation has ever been privileged to embark upon.  We are working night and day to bring peace to the world and to spread the democratic ideals of justice and self-government to all people.  Our accomplishments are already remarkable.  We ought to be full of pride in what we are doing, and full of confidence and hope in the outcome.  No nation ever had greater resources, or greater energy, or nobler traditions to inspire it.

And yet, day in and day out, we see a long procession of timid and fearful men who wring their hands and cry out that we have lost the way, that we don’t know what we are doing, that we are bound to fail.  Some say we should give up the struggle for peace, and others say we should have a war and get it over with.  That’s a terrible statement.  I had heard it made, but they want us to forget the great objective of preventing another world war—­the objective for which our soldiers have been fighting in the hills of Korea.

If we are to be worthy of all that has been done for us by our soldiers in the field, we must be true to the ideals for which they are fighting.  We must reject the counsels of defeat and despair.  We must have the determination to complete the great work for which our men have laid down their lives.