In the world today we are confronted with the danger that the rising demand of people everywhere for freedom and a better life may be corrupted and betrayed by the false promises of communism.  In its ruthless struggle for power, communism seizes upon our imperfections, and takes advantage of the delays and setbacks which the democratic nations experience in their effort to secure a better life for their citizens.  This challenge to us is more than a military challenge.  It is a challenge to the honesty of our profession of the democratic faith; it is a challenge to the efficiency and stability of our economic system; it is a challenge to the willingness to work with other peoples for world peace and for world prosperity.

For my part I welcome that challenge.  I believe that our country, at this crucial point in world history, will meet that challenge successfully.  I believe that, in cooperation with the other free nations of the world, we shall extend the full benefits of the democratic way of life to millions who do not now enjoy them, and preserve mankind from dictatorship and tyranny.

I believe that we shall succeed in our struggle for this peace, because I have seen the success we have had in our own country in following the principles of freedom.  Over the last 50 years, the ideals of liberty and equal opportunity to which this Nation is dedicated have been increasingly realized in the lives of our people.

The ideal of equal opportunity no longer means simply the opportunity which a man has to advance beyond his fellows.  Some of our citizens do achieve greater success than others as a reward for individual merit and effort, and this is as it should be.  At the same time our country must be more than a land of opportunity for a select few.  It must be a land of opportunity for all of us.  In such a land we can grow and prosper together.

The simple truth that we can all go forward together is often questioned by selfish or shortsighted persons.  It is strange that this is so, for this proposition is so clearly demonstrated by our national history.  During the last 50 years, for example, our Nation has grown enormously in material well-being.  This growth has come about, not by concentrating the benefits of our progress in the hands of a few, but by increasing the wealth of the great body of our Nation and our citizens.

In the last 50 years the income of the average family has increased so greatly that its buying power has doubled.  The average hours of work have declined from 60 to 40 a week, the whole hourly production of the average worker has tripled.  Average wages, allowing for price changes, have increased from about 45 cents an hour to $1.40 an hour.

We have accomplished what to earlier ages of mankind would have been a miracle—­we work shorter hours, we produce more, and we live better.

Increasing freedom from poverty and drudgery has given a fuller meaning to American life.  Our people are better educated; we have more opportunities for travel and recreation and enjoyment of the arts.  We enjoy more personal liberty in the United States today than ever before.