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    "localId": "7339270",
    "label": "Text of Remarks of the President to be Delivered at Freedom Day Celebration in Charlotte, North Carolina [Ford Speech or Statement]",
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    "title": "Text of Remarks of the President to be Delivered at Freedom Day Celebration in Charlotte, North Carolina [Ford Speech or Statement]",
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    "ocrText": "Digitized from Box 11 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nEMBARGOED FOR RELEASE\nUNTIL 6:00 a.m., EDT, MAY 20, 1975\nMAY 19, 1975\nOffice of the White House Press Secretary\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nTEXT OF REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT\nTO BE DELIVERED TO THE\nFREEDOM DAY CELEBRATION\nCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA\nI am delighted to be in Charlotte today to enjoy the spirit of this unique\nobservance of our national Bicentennial.\nI congratulate Mecklenburg County and all of North Carolina on the\nBicentennial enthusiasm demonstrated here. And I will leave to the\nhistorians any debates about Mecklenburg County's Declaration of\nIndependence.\nI see this gathering as a symbol of the pride of Americans in their com-\nmunity, in their State and in their Nation. In recent years, America has\nundergone change after change -- some still taking place with rapid and\nalmost bewildering speed. But amidst such change, our most cherished\nvalues have remained as steadfast as when instituted by the Fathers of our\nCountry. I refer to America's capacity for unity in diversity, for courage\nin the face of challenge, for decency in the midst of dissension, for opti-\nmism in spite of reverses and for creativity in adapting to the rapidly\nchanging world in which we live. Our destiny, in this year of our Bicenten-\nnial, is to emerge as an even greater Republic.\nWhen the United States celebrated its first one hundred years in 1876, the\nSouth was still recovering from the tragic War between the States. This\nwas America's most terrible ordeal. Yet America -- and the South -- have\nrisen again.\nNorth Carolina is a showcase of a State that reveres the values of the past\nwhile leading the way toward a progressive future. The Tar Heel tenacity\nis the American tenacity. The Tar Heelpride is the American pride. And\nthe Tar Heel moderation typifies America's new realism.\nThis State, and the rest of the South, knows at first hand the changes\nof which I speak. I am proud of the great breakthroughs in education and\nindustry in the South, a region which today numbers more than 67 million\npeople, nearly one-third of the American population. This is an area where\nfamily income has increased more in the past quarter-century than in any\nother part of the United States. Today, personal income is rising more\nrapidly here than in the rest of the country. Southerners -- including the\nTar Heels -- must be doing something right!\nIn fact, more people are today moving into the South than away from it. This\npart of the Nation is today growing as fast as the West.\nYou have so many accomplíshments to take pride in. In Southern education,\nexpenditures per pupil have increased by more than two hundred twenty\npercent in the last quarter century -- far more than in the Nation as a whole.\nThe number of high school graduates has increased at a much greater rate\nthan the rest of the country. There ar e also significant increases in those\nattending institutions of higher learning.\n(MOR E)\n-2-\nIn industry, the South has today moved from a basic agricultural society\nto a modern industrial region which manufactures approximately one quarter\nof our Nation's total output. This is a great comeback from economic\nconditions of a century ago.\nI cite these statistics because they verify the potentialities of the South\nand of all America. But it is not statistics that inspires us today. It is the\nspirit of the people. It is the patriotism and the dedication and the will-\npower of the thirteen original States which still live in the South and across\nAmerica. It is the vision of the future rather than a mirror of the past\nwhich you hold. And I commend you for it.\nAt the time of the American Revolution, some said that America could\nnot defy the odds that confronted us. There were some who would roll over\nand prostrate themselves in self-pity and hopelessness. But there were\nmany more who said, \"We are Americans. We can do it!\"\nThey were proud to be Americans -- just as you here today are proud to\nidentify yourselves with the traditions which made us great and the national\ncharacter which will keep us that way.\nOur Centennial in 1876 was a time of national renewal and rededication\nby Americans to our highest aspirations. Americans Southerners,\nNortherners, Easterners and Westerners -- all looked to the future.\nAmerica emerged from an agricultural and frontier society into an industrial\nage. Towns evolved into great cities of the 20th century. Rail transportation\nand the telegraph tied this vast continent together.\nToday, it is our turn to renew our pride in America, and rededicate our-\nselves to the future. Our challenge -- like the centennial task one\nhundred years ago -- is to create a new agenda for America's third century\nWe must rise above the divisions that have scarred our national life in\nrecent times. We must once again become one people -- strong and unified\nin our national purpose.\nThe new strength and dynamism of the South coupled with your cherished\ntraditions can help America achieve this unity. I look to you for leadership\nin forging a new destiny for America from the heritage we commemorate\nhere today.\nI know that the spirit of liberty -- so evident in North Carolina at the time\nof our Revolution -- will guide us. Those early stirrings of patriotism\nand dedication to our way of life are still very much with us. The South\nas a region and North Carolina as a State and Mecklenburg as a county\nwill continue to provide inspiration to our Nation.\nI join in working with all Southerners, and all other Americans, to build a\nbetter tomorrow. Together we can do it!\n#\n#\n#"
}