For the black American, the Indian, the Mexican-American, and for those others in our land who have not had an equal chance, the Nation at last has begun to confront the need to press open the door of full and equal opportunity, and of human dignity.

For all Americans, with these changes I have proposed tonight we can open the door to a new era of opportunity.  We can open the door to full and effective participation in the decisions that affect their lives.  We can open the door to a new partnership among governments at all levels, between those governments and the people themselves.  And by so doing, we can open wide the doors of human fulfillment for millions of people here in America now and in the years to come.

In the next few weeks I will spell out in greater detail the way I propose that we achieve these six great goals.  I ask this Congress to be responsive.  If it is, then the 92d Congress, your Congress, our Congress, at the end of its term, will be able to look back on a record more splendid than any in our history.

This can be the Congress that helped us end the longest war in the Nation’s history, and end it in a way that will give us at last a genuine chance to enjoy what we have not had in this century:  a full generation of peace.

This can be the Congress that helped achieve an expanding economy, with full employment and without inflation—­and without the deadly stimulus of war.

This can be the Congress that reformed a welfare system that has robbed recipients of their dignity and robbed States and cities of their resources.

This can be the Congress that pressed forward the rescue of our environment, and established for the next generation an enduring legacy of parks for the people.

This can be the Congress that launched a new era in American medicine, in which the quality of medical care was enhanced while the costs were made less burdensome.

But above all, what this Congress can be remembered for is opening the way to a new American revolution—­a peaceful revolution in which power was turned back to the people—­in which government at all levels was refreshed and renewed and made truly responsive.  This can be a revolution as profound, as far-reaching, as exciting as that first revolution almost 200 years ago—­and it can mean that just 5 years from now America will enter its third century as a young nation new in spirit, with all the vigor and the freshness with which it began its first century.

My colleagues in the Congress, these are great goals.  They can make the sessions of this Congress a great moment for America.  So let us pledge together to go forward together—­by achieving these goals to give America the foundation today for a new greatness tomorrow and in all the years to come, and in so doing to make this the greatest Congress in the history of this great and good country.

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State of the Union Address
Richard Nixon
January 20, 1972