The modern presidential campaign covers every issue in and out of the platform from cranberries to creation. But the public is rarely alerted to a candidate's views about the central issue on which all the rest turn. That central issue--and the point of my comments this noon-- is not the farm problem or defense or India. It is the presidency itself. Of course a candidate's views on specific policies are important, but Theodore Roosevelt and …showed first 75 words of 2446 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2446 total…goes down in history, it will be for this act. My whole soul is in it. If my hand trembles when I sign this proclamation, all who examine the document hereafter will say: 'He hesitated.'" But Lincoln's hand did not tremble. He did not hesitate. He did not equivocate. For he was the President of the United States. It is in this spirit that we must go forth in the coming months and years.