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4,455 DRAFT No. 3 1/20/70 STATE OF THE UNION Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the Congress, our distinguished guests and my fellow Americans. To address a joint session of the Congress in this great chamber where I was once privileged to serve is an honor for which I am deeply grateful. The State of the Union Address is traditionally an occasion for a lengthy and detailed account by the President of what he has accomplished in the past, what he wants the Congress to do in the future, and, in an election year, to lay the basis for the political issues which might be decisive in the Fall. 1. Occasionally there comes a time when profound and far-reaching events command a break with tradition. (1) This is such a time. I say this not only because 1970 marks the beginning of a new decade in which America will celebrate its 200th birthday. 1. I say it because new knowledge and hard experience argue persuasively that both our programs and our institutions need to be reformed. 164