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  • Mr. Smith, Senator Kennedy. The things that Senator Kennedy has said many of us can agree

  • with. There is no question but that we cannot discuss our internal affairs in the United

  • States without recognizing that they have a tremendous bearing on our international

  • position. There is no question but that this nation cannot stand still; because we are

  • in a deadly competition, a competition not only with the men in the Kremlin, but the

  • men in Peking. We're ahead in this competition, as Senator Kennedy, I think, has implied.

  • But when you're in a race, the only way to stay ahead is to move ahead. And I subscribe

  • completely to the spirit that Senator Kennedy has expressed tonight, the spirit that the

  • United States should move ahead. Where, then, do we disagree? I think we disagree on the

  • implication of his remarks tonight and on the statements that he has made on many occasions

  • during his campaign to the effect that the United States has been standing still. We

  • heard tonight, for example, the statement made that our growth in national product last

  • year was the lowest of any industrial nation in the world. Now last year, of course, was

  • 1958. That happened to be a recession year. But when we look at the growth of G.N.P. this

  • year, a year of recovery, we find that it's six and nine-tenths per cent and one of the

  • highest in the world today. More about that later. Looking then to this problem of how

  • the United States should move ahead and where the United States is moving, I think it is

  • well that we take the advice of a very famous campaigner: Let's look at the record. Is the

  • United States standing still? Is it true that this Administration, as Senator Kennedy has

  • charged, has been an Administration of retreat, of defeat, of stagnation? Is it true that,

  • as far as this country is concerned, in the field of electric power, in all of the fields

  • that he has mentioned, we have not been moving ahead. Well, we have a comparison that we

  • can make. We have the record of the Truman Administration of seven and a half years and

  • the seven and a half years of the Eisenhower Administration. When we compare these two

  • records in the areas that Senator Kennedy has - has discussed tonight, I think we find

  • that America has been moving ahead. Let's take schools. We have built more schools in

  • these last seven and a half years than we built in the previous seven and a half, for

  • that matter in the previous twenty years. Let's take hydroelectric power. We have developed

  • more hydroelectric power in these seven and a half years than was developed in any previous

  • administration in history. Let us take hospitals. We find that more have been built in this

  • Administration than in the previous Administration. The same is true of highways. Let's put it

  • in terms that all of us can understand. We often hear gross national product discussed

  • and in that respect may I say that when we compare the growth in this Administration

  • with that of the previous Administration that then there was a total growth of eleven percent

  • over seven years; in this Administration there has been a total growth of nineteen per cent

  • over seven years. That shows that there's been more growth in this Administration than

  • in its predecessor. But let's not put it there; let's put it in terms of the average family.

  • What has happened to you? We find that your wages have gone up five times as much in the

  • Eisenhower Administration as they did in the Truman Administration. What about the prices

  • you pay? We find that the prices you pay went up five times as much in the Truman Administration

  • as they did in the Eisenhower Administration. What's the net result of this? This means

  • that the average family income went up fifteen per cent in the Eisenhower years as against

  • two per cent in the Truman years. Now, this is not standing still. But, good as this record

  • is, may I emphasize it isn't enough. A record is never something to stand on. It's something

  • to build on. And in building on this record, I believe that we have the secret for progress,

  • we know the way to progress. And I think, first of all, our own record proves that we

  • know the way. Senator Kennedy has suggested that he believes he knows the way. I respect

  • the sincerity which he m- which he makes that suggestion. But on the other hand, when we

  • look at the various programs that he offers, they do not seem to be new. They seem to be

  • simply retreads of the programs of the Truman Administration which preceded it. And I would

  • suggest that during the course of the evening he might indicate those areas in which his

  • programs are new, where they will mean more progress than we had then. What kind of programs

  • are we for? We are for programs that will expand educational opportunities, that will

  • give to all Americans their equal chance for education, for all of the things which are

  • necessary and dear to the hearts of our people. We are for programs, in addition, which will

  • see that our medical care for the aged are - is - are much - is much better handled

  • than it is at the present time. Here again, may I indicate that Senator Kennedy and I

  • are not in disagreement as to the aims. We both want to help the old people. We want

  • to see that they do have adequate medical care. The question is the means. I think that

  • the means that I advocate will reach that goal better than the means that he advocates.

  • I could give better examples, but for - for whatever it is, whether it's in the field

  • of housing, or health, or medical care, or schools, or the eh- development of electric

  • power, we have programs which we believe will move America, move her forward and build on

  • the wonderful record that we have made over these past seven and a half years. Now, when

  • we look at these programs, might I suggest that in evaluating them we often have a tendency

  • to say that the test of a program is how much you're spending. I will concede that in all

  • the areas to which I have referred Senator Kennedy would have the spe- federal government

  • spend more than I would have it spend. I costed out the cost of the Democratic platform. It

  • runs a minimum of thirteen and two-tenths billions dollars a year more than we are presently

  • spending to a maximum of eighteen billion dollars a year more than we're presently spending.

  • Now the Republican platform will cost more too. It will cost a minimum of four billion

  • dollars a year more, a maximum of four and nine-tenths billion dollar a year more than

  • we're presently spending. Now, does this mean that his program is better than ours? Not

  • at all. Because it isn't a question of how much the federal government spends; it isn't

  • a question of which government does the most. It is a question of which administration does

  • the right thing. And in our case, I do believe that our programs will stimulate the creative

  • energies of a hundred and eighty million free Americans. I believe the programs that Senator

  • Kennedy advocates will have a tendency to stifle those creative energies, I believe

  • in other words, that his program would lead to the stagnation of the motive power that

  • we need in this country to get progress. The final point that I would like to make is this:

  • Senator Kennedy has suggested in his speeches that we lack compassion for the poor, for

  • the old, and for others that are unfortunate. Let us understand throughout this campaign

  • that his motives and mine are sincere. I know what it means to be poor. I know what it means

  • to see people who are unemployed. I know Senator Kennedy feels as deeply about these problems

  • as I do, but our disagreement is not about the goals for America but only about the means

  • to reach those goals.

Mr. Smith, Senator Kennedy. The things that Senator Kennedy has said many of us can agree

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尼克松的開場白--1960年的辯論。 (Nixon's opening statement - 1960 debate)

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    Simon N. Liu 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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