State of the Union

State of the Union

The Project Gutenberg EBook of State of the Union Addresses
by Richard Nixon (#34 in our series of US Presidential State of the
Union Addresses)
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Title: State of the Union Addresses of Richard Nixon
Author: Richard Nixon
Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5043] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 11,
2002]

Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OF
ADDRESSES BY RICHARD NIXON ***

This eBook was produced by James Linden.
The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***
Dates of addresses by Richard Nixon in this eBook: January 22, 1970
January 22, 1971 January 20, 1972 February 2, 1973 January 30, 1974

***
State of the Union Address Richard Nixon January 22, 1970
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, my colleagues in the Congress, our
distinguished guests and my fellow Americans:
To address a joint session of the Congress in this great Chamber in
which I was once privileged to serve is an honor for which I am deeply
grateful.
The State of the Union Address is traditionally an occasion for a
lengthy and detailed account by the President of what he has
accomplished in the past, what he wants the Congress to do in the
future, and, in an election year, to lay the basis for the political issues
which might be decisive in the fall.
Occasionally there comes a time when profound and far-reaching
events command a break with tradition. This is such a time.
I say this not only because 1970 marks the beginning of a new decade
in which America will celebrate its 200th birthday. I say it because new
knowledge and hard experience argue persuasively that both our
programs and our institutions in America need to be reformed.
The moment has arrived to harness the vast energies and abundance of
this land to the creation of a new American experience, an experience
richer and deeper and more truly a reflection of the goodness and grace
of the human spirit.

The seventies will be a time of new beginnings, a time of exploring
both on the earth and in the heavens, a time of discovery. But the time
has also come for emphasis on developing better ways of managing
what we have and of completing what man's genius has begun but left
unfinished.
Our land, this land that is ours together, is a great and a good land. It is
also an unfinished land, and the challenge of perfecting it is the
summons of the seventies.
It is in that spirit that I address myself to those great issues facing our
Nation which are above partisanship.
When we speak of America's priorities the first priority must always be
peace for America and the world.
The major immediate goal of our foreign policy is to bring an end to
the war in Vietnam in a way that our generation will be remembered
not so much as the generation that suffered in war, but more for the fact
that we had the courage and character to win the kind of a just peace
that the next generation was able to keep.
We are making progress toward that goal.
The prospects for peace are far greater today than they were a year ago.
A major part of the credit for this development goes to the Members of
this Congress who, despite their differences on the conduct of the war,
have overwhelmingly indicated their support of a just peace. By this
action, you have completely demolished the enemy's hopes that they
can gain in Washington the victory our fighting men have denied them
in Vietnam.
No goal could be greater than to make the next generation the first in
this century in which America was at peace with every nation in the
world.
I shall discuss in detail the new concepts and programs designed