Record copy, Statement of Democratic Leader Johnson to the Meeting of the Democratic Conference
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OCR Page 1 of 9LBJA
RECORD COPY
speech
STATEMENT OF DEMOCRATIC LEADER LYNDON B. JOHNSON TO THE
MEETING OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONFERENCE ON JANUARY 7, 1958.
Members of the Conference:
For this presentation this morning, I shall divide my own remarks
in two parts.
I shall, briefly, summarize certain of the findings which have
been made thus far by the Senate Armed Services Preparedness
Subcommittee. Other members of the subcommittee will, in greater
detail, deal with specific areas of the investigations.
In all candor, however, I cannot begin these remarks with a simple
recapitulation of the work we have done. Illuminating as such might be,
I realize -- as I know all members realize -- that we have, thus far,
barely begun a work that will occupy and dominate the Congresses of free
men for lifetimes to come. It is, therefore, of first importance, that --
no matter how feeble our understanding -- we strive to establish per-
spective.
Our security may very well depend, above all else, on how well
and how quickly we grasp such perspective.
Let us begin with this fact: the ground beneath us when we last
met has been, largely, swept away. How much is gone, how much
remains are questions no man can answer with authority.
The peril of the hour is obvious.
Less obvious, but of far greater importance, is the fact that
beyond the peril lies a potential for peace that exceeds any ever before
within man's reach.
Since August 30, when the first session of this Congress adjourned,
the human race itself -- without regard to flags or philosophy -- has
multiplied its capabilities to infinity.
The exploitation of these capabilities by men of selfish purpose
holds the awful threat of a world in subjugation.
The mastery of such capabilities by men wholly dedicated to free-
dom presents, instead, the prospect of a world at last liberated from
tyranny, liberated in fact from the fear of war.
What this Congress does will, at best, be only a small beginning
on what must ultimately be done -- and will be done in decades and
perhaps even centuries ahead. But, small as our effort may be in the
long view of history, we can see that lack of sufficient effort on our part
would be compounded throughout the ages ahead into a failure of tragic
proportions.
(over)
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