Speech #870041048

We need active groups like the PolishAmerican Veterans in order to insure at no time can a certain nationalistic minority. even though unorganized. be dismissed as of no significance or consequence. Basically. the true purposes of nationalistic organizations such as the Stopyra Post Veterans lie in their recognition of the human values of democratic freedom. dignity of the individual. and the guarantee and assurance of equal opportunity. Although the waves of immigration from European shores have decreased in volume -as compared to the years gone by. I think it is most praiseworthy that their sons and daughters. aware of their own particular role in American society. have continued to maintain a consistency of effort and unity in order to perpetuate the noble heritage of their nationalistic origin. Thus. in the same sense. I. although of Irish extraction. share the same motivation. ideals. and purposes which have energized your activities since the founding of this post some years ago. I would say that it is because of our mutual backgrounds and environment that we. like our immigrant forebears. embrace with loving devotion the ideals and the principles of the Constitution of the United States. Recent political events have borne out the validity of my remarks. Only a few short weeks ago. we in this country witnessed the culmination of all the hopes. the dreams. and the aspirations of every immigrant. who upon descending the gangplank and setting foot upon the soil of the United States. felt within his or her heart that someday. despite the peasant origin. a descendant of theirs might gain the highest honor to be achieved by a naturalborn citizen of these United States. John Fitzgerald Kennedy. President of the United States is only three generations removed from the same classification which identifies so many of us here today. It was his great grandfather who sought the opportunity to better his lot by leaving his native Ireland much for the same desirable reasons which brought so many natives of Poland to this land of democratic freedom and opportunity. The election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy as President of the United States is the fitting culmination of an Irishmans dream. and I am equally certain that his victory is a direct reaction of attitudes transformed into action by not only the Irish and the Poles but also by other nationalistic groups who by their collective efforts succeeded in making their Influence felt in the selection of this "son of an Irish immigrant" as President. I expect John F. Kennedy to be one of our greatest Presidents. I believe that he will reflect in his official actions the compassion bred into him for the trials. tribulations. and difficulties experienced by all immigrants and their offspring who have made up the working class since the beginning of the industrial revolution in America. Social progress in the true democratic sense as opposed to statism and communistic collectivism made its greatest advance in the early years of President Roosevelts administration. The war intervened.