Finally, the quest for stable peace in the Middle East goes on in many capitals tonight.  America fully supports the unanimous resolution of the U.N.  Security Council which points the way.  There must be a settlement of the armed hostility that exists in that region of the world today.  It is a threat not only to Israel and to all the Arab States, but it is a threat to every one of us and to the entire world as well.

Now, my friends in Congress, I want to conclude with a few very personal words to you.

I rejected and rejected and then finally accepted the congressional leadership’s invitation to come here to speak this farewell to you in person tonight.

I did that for two reasons.  One was philosophical.  I wanted to give you my judgment, as I saw it, on some of the issues before our Nation, as I view them, before I leave.

The other was just pure sentimental.  Most all of my life as a public official has been spent here in this building.  For 38 years—­since I worked on that gallery as a doorkeeper in the House of Representatives—­I have known these halls, and I have known most of the men pretty well who walked them.

I know the questions that you face.  I know the conflicts that you endure.  I know the ideals that you seek to serve.

I left here first to become Vice President, and then to become, in a moment of tragedy, the President of the United States.

My term of office has been marked by a series of challenges, both at home and throughout the world.

In meeting some of these challenges, the Nation has found a new confidence.  In meeting others, it knew turbulence and doubt, and fear and hate.

Throughout this time, I have been sustained by my faith in representative democracy—­a faith that I had learned here in this Capitol Building as an employee and as a Congressman and as a Senator.

I believe deeply in the ultimate purposes of this Nation—­described by the Constitution, tempered by history, embodied in progressive laws, and given life by men and women that have been elected to serve their fellow citizens.

Now for 5 most demanding years in the White House, I have been strengthened by the counsel and the cooperation of two great former Presidents, Harry S. Truman and Dwight David Eisenhower.  I have been guided by the memory of my pleasant and close association with the beloved John F. Kennedy, and with our greatest modern legislator, Speaker Sam Rayburn.

I have been assisted by my friend every step of the way, Vice President Hubert Humphrey.  I am so grateful that I have been supported daily by the loyalty of Speaker McCormack and Majority Leader Albert.

I have benefited from the wisdom of Senator Mike Mansfield, and I am sure that I have avoided many dangerous pitfalls by the good commonsense counsel of the President Pro Tem of the Senate, Senator Richard Brevard Russell.

I have received the most generous cooperation from the leaders of the Republican Party in the Congress of the United States, Senator Dirksen and Congressman Gerald Ford, the Minority Leader.