Speech #890162184

That challenge was met by this Congress. and every American should rejoice in the knowledge that today his Negro brother has the legal and moral right to go into the voting booth and cast his equal vote for his equal choice. This is the Congress that gave new encouragement to the Nations struggling artists through the establishment of a National Arts and Humanities Foundation. This is the Congress that had the courage to revise the immigration policy of the United States. This move represents a humane. enlightened. and highly beneficial legislative change not only from the standpoint of those seeking to come to these shores and throw their destiny in with us. but from the standpoint also of our own interests as a Nation. It has taken us some 40 years to bring these changes about. The results show a position of mature statesmanship that does this session great credit. For this Is the Legislature that has brought down. so to speak. the walls of Jericho and helped us into the promised land of international decency and national advantage. free of narrow prejudices that run athwart the American tradition. The change in immigration policy is not merely a technical advance in the matter of the admission of immigrants arrived at after much debate and trained technical advice. It is a high point. again. in the moral eminence we have achieved as a people. We did not merely correct a wrong. but we followed through on a question of simple moral righteousness. It is this that does this Legislature immense credit and that is bound. in the years of the policys operation. to improve the character and the quality of those coming to our shores. and supply the human needs of our manpower requirements. In immigration we have raised high the standard of human understanding and promoted with it what is right for us all both morally and materially. The passage of this bill brings great happiness to me because my maiden speech in the House of Representatives in February of 1929 was in opposition to the national origins clause. This is the Congress that extended and expanded President Johnsons poverty program. Who. among you. can accuse this Nation of losing its soul when through the Job Corps 40.000 high school dropouts will receive the vocational training and educational skills necessary to give them a crack at making a meaningful contribution to the Great Society. Who can accuse this Nation of turning its back on its lessfortunate citizens when legislation to aid the poorer farmer. the migrant worker. and the American Indian has been passed by this Congress. And who can accuse this Nation of snobblish neglect when through a regional development program those painfully depressed areas of chronic unemployment will receive a helping hand in the form of grants to modernize their water systems. sewage plants. sewers. and police and fire facilities. No. all of these accusations are for another time and another place. but in 1965. this Congress was truly the Congress of fulfillment.