State of the Union Addresses of Dwight D. Eisenhower

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I am flatly opposed to the socialization of medicine. The great need for
hospital and medical services can best be met by the initiative of private
plans. But it is unfortunately a fact that medical costs are rising and
already impose severe hardships on many families. The Federal Government
can do many helpful things and still carefully avoid the socialization of
medicine.

The Federal Government should encourage medical research in its battle with
such mortal diseases as cancer and heart ailments, and should continue to
help the states in their health and rehabilitation programs. The present
Hospital Survey and Construction Act should be broadened in order to assist
in the development of adequate facilities for the chronically ill, and to
encourage the construction of diagnostic centers, rehabilitation
facilities, and nursing homes. The war on disease also needs a better
working relationship between Government and private initiative. Private and
non-profit hospital and medical insurance plans are already in the field,
soundly based on the experience and initiative of the people in their
various communities.

A limited Government reinsurance service would permit the private and
non-profit insurance companies to offer broader protection to more of the
many families which want and should have it. On January 18 I shall forward
to the Congress a special message presenting this Administration's health
program in its detail. EDUCATION

Youth--our greatest resource--is being seriously neglected in a vital
respect. The nation as a whole is not preparing teachers or building
schools fast enough to keep up with the increase in our population.

The preparation of teachers as, indeed, the control and direction of public
education policy, is a state and local responsibility. However, the Federal
Government should stand ready to assist states which demonstrably cannot
provide sufficient school buildings. In order to appraise the needs, I hope
that this year a conference on education will be held in each state,
culminating in a national conference. From these conferences on education,
every level of government--from the Federal Government to each local school
board--should gain the information with which to attack this serious
problem. HOUSING

The details of a program to enlarge and improve the opportunities for our
people to acquire good homes will be presented to the Congress by special
message on January

This program will include:

Modernization of the home mortgage insurance program of the Federal
Government;

Redirection of the present system of loans and grants-in-aid to cities for
slum clearance and redevelopment;

Extension of the advantages of insured lending to private credit engaged in
this task of rehabilitating obsolete neighborhoods;

Insurance of long-term, mortgage loans, with small down payment for
low-income families; and, until alternative programs prove more effective,

Continuation of the public housing program adopted in the Housing Act of
1949.

If the individual, the community, the State and federal governments will
alike apply themselves, every American family can have a decent home.

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

The internal reorganization of the Veterans Administration is proceeding
with my full approval. When completed, it will afford a single agency whose
services, including medical facilities, will be better adapted to the needs
of those 20,000,000 veterans to whom this Nation owes so much. SUFFRAGE

My few remaining recommendations all relate to a basic right of our
citizens--that of being represented in the decisions of the government.

I hope that the States will cooperate with the Congress in adopting uniform
standards in their voting laws that will make it possible for our citizens
in the armed forces overseas to vote.

In the District of Columbia the time is long overdue for granting national
suffrage to its citizens and also applying the principle of local
self-government to the Nation's Capital. I urge the Congress to move
promptly in this direction and also to revise District revenue measures to
provide needed public works improvements.

The people of Hawaii are ready for statehood. I renew my request for this
legislation in order that Hawaii may elect its State officials and its
representatives in Washington along with the rest of the country this
fall.

For years our citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 have, in time of
peril, been summoned to fight for America. They should participate in the
political process that produces this fateful summons. I urge Congress to
propose to the States a constitutional amendment permitting citizens to
vote when they reach the age of 18. CONCLUSION

I want to add one final word about the general purport of these many
recommendations.

Our government's powers are wisely limited by the Constitution; but quite
apart from those limitations, there are things which no government can do
or should try to do.

A government can strive, as ours is striving, to maintain an economic
system whose doors are open to enterprise and ambition--those personal
qualities on which economic growth largely depends. But enterprise and
ambition are qualities which no government can supply. Fortunately no
American government need concern itself on this score; our people have
these qualities in good measure.

A government can sincerely strive for peace, as ours is striving, and ask
its people to make sacrifices for the sake of peace. But no government can
place peace in the hearts of foreign rulers. It is our duty then to
ourselves and to freedom itself to remain strong in all those
ways--spiritual, economic, military--that will give us maximum safety
against the possibility of aggressive action by others.

No government can inoculate its people against the fatal materialism that
plagues our age. Happily, our people, though blessed with more material
goods than any people in history, have always reserved their first
allegiance to the kingdom of the spirit, which is the true source of that
freedom we value above all material things.

But a government can try, as ours tries, to sense the deepest aspirations
of the people, and to express them in political action at home and abroad.
So long as action and aspiration humbly and earnestly seek favor in the
sight of the Almighty, there is no end to America's forward road; there is
no obstacle on it she will not surmount in her march toward a lasting peace
in a free and prosperous world.

The Address as reported from the floor appears in the Congressional Record
(vol. 100, p. 62).

***

State of the Union Address
Dwight D. Eisenhower
January 6, 1955

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress:

First, I extend cordial greetings to the 84th Congress. We shall have much
to do together; I am sure that we shall get it done--and, that we shall do
it in harmony and good will.

At the outset, I believe it would be well to remind ourselves of this great
fundamental in our national life: our common belief that every human being
is divinely endowed with dignity and worth and inalienable rights. This
faith, with its corollary--that to grow and flourish people must be
free--shapes the interests and aspirations of every American.

From this deep faith have evolved three main purposes of our Federal
Government:

First, to maintain justice and freedom among ourselves and to champion them
for others so that we may work effectively for enduring peace;

Second, to help keep our economy vigorous and expanding, thus sustaining
our international strength and assuring better jobs, better living, better
opportunities for every citizen;

And third, to concern ourselves with the human problems of our people so
that every American may have the opportunity to lead a healthy, productive
and rewarding life.

Foremost among these broad purposes of government is our support of
freedom, justice and peace.

It is of the utmost importance, that each of us understand the true nature
of the struggle now taking place in the world.

It is not a struggle merely of economic theories, or of forms of
government, or of military power. At issue is the true nature of man.
Either man is the creature whom the Psalmist described as "a little lower
than the angels," crowned with glory and honor, holding "dominion over the
works" of his Creator; or man is a soulless, animated machine to be
enslaved, used and consumed by the state for its own glorification.

It is, therefore, a struggle which goes to the roots of the human spirit,
and its shadow falls across the long sweep of man's destiny. This prize, so
precious, so fraught with ultimate meaning, is the true object of the
contending forces in the world.

In the past year, there has been progress justifying hope, both for
continuing peace and for the ultimate rule of freedom and justice in the
world. Free nations are collectively stronger than at any time in recent
years.

Just as nations of this Hemisphere, in the historic Caracas and Rio
conferences, have closed ranks against imperialistic Communism and
strengthened their economic ties, so free nations elsewhere have forged new
bonds of unity.

Recent agreements between Turkey and Pakistan have laid a foundation for
increased strength in the Middle East. With our understanding support,
Egypt and Britain, Yugoslavia and Italy, Britain and Iran have resolved
dangerous differences. The security of the Mediterranean has been enhanced
by an alliance among Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia. Agreements in Western
Europe have paved the way for unity to replace past divisions which have
undermined Europe's economic and military vitality. The defense of the West
appears likely at last to include a free, democratic Germany participating
as an equal in the councils of NATO.

In Asia and the Pacific, the pending Manila Pact supplements our treaties
with Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Korea and Japan and our
prospective treaty with the Republic of China. These pacts stand as solemn
warning that future military aggression and subversion against the free
nations of Asia will meet united response. The Pacific Charter, also
adopted at Manila, is a milestone in the development of human freedom and
self-government in the Pacific area.

Under the auspices of the United Nations, there is promise of progress in
our country's plan for the peaceful use of atomic energy.

Finally, today the world is at peace. It is, to be sure, an secure peace.
Yet all humanity finds hope in the simple fact that for an appreciable time
there has been no active major battlefield on earth. This same fact
inspires us to work all the more effectively with other nations for the
well-being, the freedom, the dignity, of every human on earth.

These developments are heartening indeed, and we are hopeful of continuing
progress. But sobering problems remain.

The massive military machines and ambitions of the Soviet-Communist bloc
still create uneasiness in the world. All of us are aware of the continuing
reliance of the Soviet Communists on military force, of the power of their
weapons, of their present resistance to realistic armament limitation, and
of their continuing effort to dominate or intimidate free nations on their
periphery. Their steadily growing power includes an increasing strength in
nuclear weapons. This power, combined with the proclaimed intentions of the
Communist leaders to communize the world, is the threat confronting us
today.

To protect our nations and our peoples from the catastrophe of a nuclear
holocaust, free nations must maintain countervailing military power to
persuade the Communists of the futility of seeking their ends through
aggression. If Communist rulers understand that America's response to
aggression will be swift and decisive--that never shall we buy peace at the
expense of honor or faith--they will be powerfully deterred from launching
a military venture engulfing their own peoples and many others in disaster.
This, of course, is merely world stalemate. But in this stalemate each of
us may and must exercise his high duty to strive in every honorable way for
enduring peace.

The military threat is but one menace to our freedom and security. We must
not only deter aggression; we must also frustrate the effort of Communists
to gain their goals by subversion. To this end, free nations must maintain
and reinforce their cohesion, their internal security, their political and
economic vitality, and their faith in freedom.

In such a world, America's course is dear:

We must tirelessly labor to make the peace more just and durable.

We must strengthen the collective defense under the United Nations Charter
and gird ourselves with sufficient military strength and productive
capacity to discourage resort to war and protect our nation's vital
interests.

We must continue to support and strengthen the United Nations. At this very
moment, by vote of the United Nations General Assembly, its
Secretary-General is in Communist China on a mission of deepest concern to
all Americans: seeking the release of our never-to-be-forgotten American
aviators and all other United Nations prisoners wrongfully detained by the
Communist regime.

We must also encourage the efforts being made in the United Nations to
limit armaments and to harness the atom to peaceful rise.

We must expand international trade and investment and assist friendly
nations whose own best efforts are still insufficient to provide the
strength essential to the security of the free world.

We must be willing to use the processes of negotiation whenever they will
advance the cause of just and secure peace to which the United States and
other free nations are dedicated.

In respect to all these matters, we must, through a vigorous information
program, keep the peoples of the world truthfully advised of our actions
and purposes. This problem has been attacked with new vigor during the past
months. I urge that the Congress give its earnest consideration to the
great advantages that can accrue to our country through the successful
operations of this program.

We must also carry forward our educational exchange program. This sharing
of knowledge and experience between our citizens and those of free
countries is a powerful factor in the development and maintenance of true
partnership among free peoples.

To advance these many efforts, the Congress must act in this session on
appropriations, legislation, and treaties. Today I shall mention especially
our foreign economic and military programs.

The recent economic progress in many free nations has been most heartening.
The productivity of labor and the production of goods and services are
increasing in ever-widening areas. There is a growing will to improve the
living standards of all men. This progress is important to all our people.
It promises us allies who are strong and self-reliant; it promises a
growing world market for the products of our mines, our factories, and our
farms.

But only through steady effort can we hope to continue this progress.
Barriers still impede trade and the flow of capital needed to develop each
nation's human and material resources. Wise reduction of these barriers is
a long-term objective of our foreign economic policy--a policy of an
evolutionary and selective nature, assuring broad benefits to our own and
other peoples.

We must gradually reduce certain tariff obstacles to trade. These actions
should, of course, be accompanied by a similar lowering of trade barriers
by other nations, so that we may move steadily toward greater economic
advantage for all. We must further simplify customs administration and
procedures. We must facilitate the flow of capital and continue technical
assistance, both directly and through the United Nations, to less developed
countries to strengthen their independence and raise their living
standards. Many another step must be taken in and among the nations of the
free world to release forces of private initiative. In our own nation,
these forces have brought strength and prosperity; once released, they will
generate rising incomes in these other countries with which to buy the
products of American industry, labor and agriculture.

On January 10, by special message, I shall submit specific recommendations
for carrying forward the legislative phases of our foreign economic
policy.

Our many efforts to build a better world include the maintenance of our
military strength. This is a vast undertaking. Major national security
programs consume two-thirds of the entire Federal budget. Over four million
Americans--servicemen and civilians--are on the rolls of the defense
establishment. During the past two years, by eliminating duplication and
overstaffing, by improved procurement and inventory controls, and by
concentrating on the essentials, many billions of dollars have been saved
in our defense activities. I should like to mention certain fundamentals
underlying this vast program.

First, a realistic limitation of armaments and an enduring, just peace
remain our national goals; we maintain powerful military forces because
there is no present alternative--forces designed for deterrent and
defensive purposes alone but able instantly to strike back with destructive
power in response to an attack.

Second, we must stay alert to the fact that undue reliance on one weapon or
preparation for only one kind of warfare simply invites an enemy to resort
to another. We must, therefore, keep in our armed forces balance and
flexibility adequate for our purposes and objectives.

Third, to keep our armed forces abreast of the advances of science, our
military planning must be flexible enough to utilize the new weapons and
techniques which flow ever more speedily from our research and development
programs. The forthcoming military budget therefore emphasizes modern
airpower in the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and increases the emphasis
on new weapons, especially those of rapid and destructive striking power.
It assures the maintenance of effective, retaliatory force as the principal
deterrent to overt aggression. It accelerates the continental defense
program and the build-up of ready military reserve forces. It continues a
vigorous program of stockpiling strategic and critical materials and
strengthening our mobilization base. The budget also contemplates the
strategic concentration of our strength through redeployment of certain
forces. It provides for reduction of forces in certain categories and their
expansion in others, to fit them to the military realities of our time.
These emphases in our defense planning have been made at my personal
direction after long and thoughtful study. In my judgment, they will give
our nation a defense accurately adjusted to the national need.

Fourth, pending a world agreement on armament limitation, we must continue
to improve and expand our supplies of nuclear weapons for our land, naval
and air forces, while, at the same time, continuing our encouraging
progress in the peaceful use of atomic power.

And fifth, in the administration of these costly programs, we must demand
the utmost in efficiency and ingenuity. We must assure our people not only
of adequate protection but also of a defense that can be carried forward
from year to year until the threat of aggression has disappeared.

To help maintain this kind of armed strength and improve its efficiency, I
must urge the enactment of several important measures in this session.

The first concerns the selective service act which expires next June 30th.
For the foreseeable future, our standing forces must remain much larger
than voluntary methods can sustain. We must, therefore, extend the
statutory authority to induct men for two years of military service.

The second kind of measure concerns the rapid turnover of our most
experienced servicemen. This process seriously weakens the combat readiness
of our armed forces and is exorbitantly expensive. To encourage more
trained servicemen to remain in uniform, I shall, on the thirteenth of this
month, propose a number of measures to increase the attractions of a
military career. These measures will include more adequate medical care for
dependents, survivors' benefits, more and better housing, and selective
adjustments in military pay and other allowances.

And third--also on January 13--I shall present a program to rebuild and
strengthen the civilian components of our armed forces. This is a
comprehensive program, designed to make better use of our manpower of
military age. Because it will go far in assuring fair and equitable
participation in military training and service, it is of particular
importance to our combat veterans. In keeping with the historic military
policy of our Republic, this program is designed to build and maintain
powerful civilian reserves immediately capable of effective military
service in an emergency in lieu of maintaining active duty forces in excess
of the nation's immediate need.

Maintenance of an effective defense requires continuance of our aggressive
attack on subversion at home. In this effort we have, in the past two
years, made excellent progress. FBI investigations have been powerfully
reinforced by a new Internal Security Division in the Department of
Justice; the security activities of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service have been revitalized; an improved and strengthened security system
is in effect throughout the government; the Department of Justice and the
FBI have been armed with effective new legal weapons forged by the 83rd
Congress.

We shall continue to ferret out and to destroy Communist subversion.

We shall, in the process, carefully preserve our traditions and the basic
rights of our citizens.

Our civil defense program is also a key element in the protection of our
country. We are developing cooperative methods with State Governors,
Mayors, and voluntary citizen groups, as well as among Federal agencies, in
building the civil defense organization. Its significance in time of war is
obvious; its swift assistance in disaster areas last year proved its
importance in time of peace.

An industry capable of rapid expansion and essential materials and
facilities swiftly available in time of emergency are indispensable to our
defense. I urge, therefore, a two-year extension of the Defense Production
Act and Title II of the First War Powers Act of 1941. These are
cornerstones of our program for the development and maintenance of an
adequate mobilization base. At this point, I should like to make this
additional observation. Our quest for peace and freedom necessarily
presumes that we who hold positions of public trust must rise above self
and section--that we must subordinate to the general good our partisan, our
personal pride and prejudice. Tirelessly, with united purpose, we must
fortify the material and spiritual foundations of this land of freedom and
of free nations throughout the world. As never before, there is need for
unhesitating cooperation among the branches of our government.

At this time the executive and legislative branches are under the
management of different political parties. This fact places both parties on
trial before the American people.

In less perilous days of the past, division of governmental responsibility
among our great parties has produced a paralyzing indecision. We must not
let this happen in our time. We must avoid a paralysis of the will for
peace and international security.

In the traditionally bipartisan areas--military security and foreign
relations--I can report to you that I have already, with the leaders of
this Congress, expressed assurances of unreserved cooperation. Yet, the
strength of our country requires more than mere maintenance of military
strength and success in foreign affairs; these vital matters are in turn
dependent upon concerted and vigorous action in a number of supporting
programs. I say, therefore, to the 84th Congress:

In all areas basic to the strength of America, there will be--to the extent
I can insure them--cooperative, constructive relations between the
Executive and Legislative Branches of this government. Let the general good
be our yardstick on every great issue of our time.

Our efforts to defend our freedom and to secure a just peace are, of
course, inseparable from the second great purpose of our government: to
help maintain a strong, growing economy--an economy vigorous and free, in
which there are ever-increasing opportunities, just rewards for effort, and
a stable prosperity that is widely shared.

In the past two years, many important governmental Actions helped our
economy adjust to conditions of peace; these and other actions created a
climate for renewed economic growth. Controls were removed from wages,
prices and materials. Tax revisions encouraged increased private spending
and employment. Federal expenditures were sharply reduced, making possible
a record tax cut. These actions, together with flexible monetary and debt
management policies, helped to halt inflation and stabilize the value of
the dollar. A program of cooperation and partnership in resource
development was begun. Social security and unemployment insurance laws were
broadened and strengthened. New laws started the long process of balancing
farm production with farm markets. Expanded shipbuilding and stockpiling
programs strengthened key sectors of the economy, while improving our
mobilization base. A comprehensive new housing law brought impressive
progress in an area fundamental to our economic strength and closed
loopholes in the old laws permitting dishonest manipulation. Many of these
programs are just beginning to exert their main stimulating effect upon the
economy generally and upon specific communities and industries throughout
the country.

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