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7339900
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Fourth of July Statement [Ford Speech or Statement]
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doc
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document
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1
Source metadata
id
7339900
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Fourth of July Statement [Ford Speech or Statement]
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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7339900
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2
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1975-07-02
month
7
year
1975
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nara-archive
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4253f1039e5e70c0
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Digitized from Box 13 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
JULY 2, 1975
UNTIL 6:00 p.m. EDT, THURSDAY,
JULY 3, 1975
Office of the White House Press Secretary'
THE WHITE HOUSE
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
My fellow Americans:
As we begin the 200th year of our independence as a Nation, we the
people of the United States still enjoy the blessings of liberty se we
continue to build a more perfect union for ourselves and ur posterity.
The great goals of America are never fully gained; the future of America
is always brighter than its glorious past; the destiny of America demands
the best of each succeeding generation, as it does of us today. While
we cherish the many heritages that enrich our land, we of all peoples
have no history except what we have written for ourselves. We are
not Americans alone by birth or blood, by oath or creed or compact
among princes. We are Americans because we deliberately chose to
be one nation, indivisible, and for 199 years with God's help we have
gone forward together.
Our Nation's first century saw the firm establishment of a free system
of government on this continent, from Atlantic to Pacific. Our first
century produced political institutions responsible to the people, and
confirmed at tragic cost the proposition that all Americans are created
equal. Our Nation's second century, now ending, saw the development
of a strong economic society in the free climate which our political
institutions sustained. Our second century transformed an. under-
developed country into the mightiest and ost pro ductive nation in
human history, with ever more widespread sharing of economic gains
and of responsibility for the less fortunate of our neighbors. Two
centuries of sacrifice and struggle, of conflict and compromise, have
gained for us an unprecedented measure of political and economic
independence.
We have on this Independence Day of 1975 a free government that checks
and balances its own excesses, and a free economic system that corrects
its own errors, given the courage and constructive cooperation of a
free and enlightened citizenry. This is the amazing history Americans
have written for themselves as we begin our Bicentennial celebration.
But what will be the goal of our Nation's third century? I see the
great challenge of our third century as the advancement of individual
independence in this "sweet land of liberty."
(MORE)
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We msut devise safeguards for the sacred identity of each and every
American, to protect personal freedom and individuality from the
daily pressures of conformity whether they come from massive
government, massive management and labor, massive education or
massive communications.
While we want the benefits of advancing technology, individual Americans
must never become coded ciphers in any central computer, unthinking
parrots of any idedogical slogans, uncaring slaves of any automated
assembly line. Every citizen in our third century of freedom as a
Nation must have the personal freedom to fulfill his or her potential
in life, liberty and in the pursuit of happiness.
Many years ago, a Sunday School teacher taught me that the beauty
of Joseph's coat was its many colors. And the beauty of America
is its many individuals, each of us a little different from the
other. Freedom for everyone who respects the freedom of others
is the great goal which I see and commend to my countrymen for
the third century of American Independence. Freedom is what the
Fourth of July is all about.
I wish you all a grand and glorious day.
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