Record copy, Remarks of the President in Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

RECORD COPY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCTOBER 29, 1964 OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) THE WHITE HOUSE REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT CONVENTION HALL PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA (AS ACTUALLY DELIVERED AT: 8:31 P.M. EST) Chairman Smith, Governor Lawrence, Mayor Tate, Senator Genevieve Blatt, my old friends Congressman Barrett, Congressman Nix, Congressman Burn, Congressman Toll, and Congressman Bill Green, my old friends Mike Musmanno and Richard Dilworth: A little while ago we arrived at the hotel after one of the largest and the warmest welcomes of this campaign. I went into my room and Frank Smith was with me. When I sat down in a chair there by the window, Frank looked over to me and said, "Mr. President, one year ago tonight at this very same hour, in that very same chair that you are now sitting in sat John Fitzgerald Kennedy." If I may, I want to say a word to you tonight and to all Americans about the role that fate has entrusted to me this year. For 11 months and one week now, I have borne the torch that passed from the hands of that great and good and gallant President on that tragic November day in1963. I have traveled more than 100,000 miles into 44 States of this land, and every mile of the way that I have walked, I have walked the path that was opened for us and the path that was pioneered for us by John Fitzgerald Kennedy. In your great city, and in every city I have seen millionsof Americans. I have seen a proud and a prospering and a peaceful people, and I have known that that pride and that prosperity, and, above all, that peace, is what John Fitzgerald Kennedy left to them. Of all that I have done in my life, nothing has given such great pride and satisfaction to me than to stand as I did in the campaign of 1960 by the side of John F. Kennedy. I am proud and I am grateful to have been a part of the campaign which proved forever that in America no man shall be denied the opportunity to serve his countrymen because of the region in which he lives or the religion which he has. Tonight, America is a better and a stronger nation for all of us because of that campaign that we waged in '60. Philadelphia is a city of homes and families, just as all of America is a nation of homes and families, and in the life of such a city and in the life of such a nation, religion has always, and religion must always, play a part in all that we do or all that we hope to do. I hope that the day will never come when any man, for any cause, will try to keep religion out of our national decisions on who shall lead us or the direction we shall go. Thank God that Americans welcome into their homes and into the lives of their families the preachers and the priests and the rabbis who serve us all so faithfully and so unselfishly. The men of the pulpit have a place in the leader- ship of our people and they have a place in our public affairs. We should be grateful for their concern over the well being of this land, for that is what America is all about, and that is what brought men to these shores, and particularly to this great State of Pennsylvania. MORE