If we act together as I hope we can, I believe we can continue our economic expansion which has already broken all past records.  And I hope that we can continue that expansion in the days ahead.

Each of these questions I have discussed with you tonight is a question of policy for our people.  Therefore, each of them should be—­and doubtless will be—­debated by candidates for public office this year.

I hope those debates will be marked by new proposals and by a seriousness that matches the gravity of the questions themselves.

These are not appropriate subjects for narrow partisan oratory.  They go to the heart of what we Americans are all about—­all of us, Democrats and Republicans.

Tonight I have spoken of some of the goals I should like to see America reach.  Many of them can be achieved this year—­others by the time we celebrate our Nation’s 200th birthday—­the bicentennial of our independence.

Several of these goals are going to be very hard to reach.  But the State of our Union will be much stronger 8 years from now on our 200th birthday if we resolve to reach these goals now.  They are more important—­much more important—­than the identity of the party or the President who will then be in office.

These goals are what the fighting and our alliances are really meant to protect.

Can we achieve these goals?

Of course we can—­if we will.

If ever there was a people who sought more than mere abundance, it is our people.

If ever there was a nation that was capable of solving its problems, it is this Nation.

If ever there were a time to know the pride and the excitement and the hope of being an American—­it is this time.

So this, my friends, is the State of our Union:  seeking, building, tested many times in this past year—­and always equal to the test.

Thank you and good night.

***

State of the Union Address
Lyndon B. Johnson
January 14, 1969

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the Congress and my fellow
Americans: 

For the sixth and the last time, I present to the Congress my assessment of the State of the Union.

I shall speak to you tonight about challenge and opportunity—­and about the commitments that all of us have made together that will, if we carry them out, give America our best chance to achieve the kind of great society that we all want.  Every President lives, not only with what is, but with what has been and what could be.

Most of the great events in his Presidency are part of a larger sequence extending back through several years and extending back through several other administrations.

Urban unrest, poverty, pressures on welfare, education of our people, law enforcement and law and order, the continuing crisis in the Middle East, the conflict in Vietnam, the dangers of nuclear war, the great difficulties of dealing with the Communist powers, all have this much in common:  They and their causes—­the causes that gave rise to them—­all of these have existed with us for many years.  Several Presidents have already sought to try to deal with them.  One or more Presidents will try to resolve them or try to contain them in the years that are ahead of us.