The people of Hawaii are ready for statehood.  I renew my request for this legislation in order that Hawaii may elect its State officials and its representatives in Washington along with the rest of the country this fall.

For years our citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 have, in time of peril, been summoned to fight for America.  They should participate in the political process that produces this fateful summons.  I urge Congress to propose to the States a constitutional amendment permitting citizens to vote when they reach the age of 18.

CONCLUSION

I want to add one final word about the general purport of these many recommendations.

Our government’s powers are wisely limited by the Constitution; but quite apart from those limitations, there are things which no government can do or should try to do.

A government can strive, as ours is striving, to maintain an economic system whose doors are open to enterprise and ambition—­those personal qualities on which economic growth largely depends.  But enterprise and ambition are qualities which no government can supply.  Fortunately no American government need concern itself on this score; our people have these qualities in good measure.

A government can sincerely strive for peace, as ours is striving, and ask its people to make sacrifices for the sake of peace.  But no government can place peace in the hearts of foreign rulers.  It is our duty then to ourselves and to freedom itself to remain strong in all those ways—­spiritual, economic, military—­that will give us maximum safety against the possibility of aggressive action by others.

No government can inoculate its people against the fatal materialism that plagues our age.  Happily, our people, though blessed with more material goods than any people in history, have always reserved their first allegiance to the kingdom of the spirit, which is the true source of that freedom we value above all material things.

But a government can try, as ours tries, to sense the deepest aspirations of the people, and to express them in political action at home and abroad.  So long as action and aspiration humbly and earnestly seek favor in the sight of the Almighty, there is no end to America’s forward road; there is no obstacle on it she will not surmount in her march toward a lasting peace in a free and prosperous world.

The Address as reported from the floor appears in the Congressional Record (vol. 100, p. 62).

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State of the Union Address
Dwight D. Eisenhower
January 6, 1955

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress: 

First, I extend cordial greetings to the 84th Congress.  We shall have much to do together; I am sure that we shall get it done—­and, that we shall do it in harmony and good will.

At the outset, I believe it would be well to remind ourselves of this great fundamental in our national life:  our common belief that every human being is divinely endowed with dignity and worth and inalienable rights.  This faith, with its corollary—­that to grow and flourish people must be free—­shapes the interests and aspirations of every American.