I am going to build the kind of nation that President Roosevelt hoped for, President Truman worked for, and President Kennedy died for.
Interpretation
This quote expresses a commitment to continue the vision of past leaders for a better nation.
Lyndon B. Johnson's quote reflects his dedication to creating a nation that embodies the ideals and aspirations of past presidents, namely Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and John F. Kennedy. It underscores the importance of leadership and the pursuit of progress in society, suggesting that he is driven by their legacies to work towards a nation that promotes equality, prosperity, and justice for all.
In practice
Referring to this quote during a political rally to inspire voters.
You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "you are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result.
Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.
We do this in order to slow down aggression. We do this to increase the confidence of the brave people of South Vietnam who have bravely born this brutal battle for so many years with so many casualties. And we do this to convince the leaders of North Vietnam-and all who seek to share their conquest-of a simple fact: We will not be defeated. We will not grow tired. We will not withdraw either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement.
So far are we generally from thinking what we often say of the shortness of life, that at the time when it is necessarily shortest we form projects which we delay to execute, indulge such expectations as nothing but along train of events can gratify, and suffer those passions to gain upon us which are only excusable in the prime of life.
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.
If government is to serve any purpose it is to do for others what they are unable to do for themselves.
Employee loyalty begins with employer loyalty. Your employees should know that if they do the job they were hired to do with a reasonable amount of competence and efficiency, you will support them.
It was better for me when I was joined at the court by a second woman. When I was there alone, there was too much media focus on the one woman, and the minute we got another woman, that changed.
If I had to pick my greatest strength as a football coach, I say it would be innovation.
The ability to plan for what has not yet happened, for a future that has only been imagined, is one of the hallmarks of leadership.
Negotiating in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.
I've learned some exciting things - mostly, that people really want to help each other; and that, if you can lay out a vision for them - and that vision is sincere and genuine - they'll get interested.
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