Freedom Is Indivisible.

[Music] recently at Columbia University while human  freedom is still being challenged abroad a peaceful reaffirmation of America's faith  took place when people from all walks of life mingled with the world's major educators in  witnessing the inauguration of a new university president former supreme commander of the  Allied forces in Europe flight D Eisenhower saw Admiral Leahy and Halsey and a multitude  of other dignitaries from every department of our national life assembled to honor his  investiture together with his own family [Music] right David Eisenhower I know avenging copies of  our chocolate the dependence of which I charge you to administer the affairs of this University  and in doing so to provide leadership for our staff and students in the pursuit of education  and the advancement of knowledge [Applause] [Applause] today's challenge to freedom and to every  free institution is such that none of us dare stand alone for human freedom is today  threatened by regimented statism the threat is infinitely more specific than that involved  in mere adherence to opposing ideologies men of widely divergent views in our own country live  in peace together because they share certain common aspirations which are more important to  them than their differences but democracy and the police state have no common purposes methods  or aspirations in today's struggle no free man no free institution can be neutral all must be  joined in a common profession that of democratic citizenship every institution within our national  structure must contribute to the advancement of this profession all our cherished rights the  right of free speech free worship ownership of property equality before the law all these  are mutually dependent for their existence thus when shallow critics denounce the profit motive  inherent in our system of private enterprise they ignore the fact that it is an economic support of  every human right we possess and that without it all rights would soon disappear love of freedom  confidence in cooperative effort optimism faith in the American Way will live so long as our  schools loyally devote themselves to a truly liberal education to assign the university the  mission of ever strengthening the foundations of our culture is to ennoble the institution  and confirm the vital importance of its service there will be no administrative suppression  or distortion of any that merits a place in the universe in this University's curriculum the  facts of communism for example shall be taught here its ideological development its political  methods its economic effects its probable course in the future the truth about communism is today  an indispensable requirement if the two values of our democratic system are to be properly  assessed ignorance of communism fascism or any other police state philosophy is far more  dangerous than ignorance of the most virulent disease the truth is what we need the full truth  except for those few who may be using the doctrine of communism as a vehicle to personal power  the people who in our country accept communism propaganda for truth are those most ignorant  of its aims and practices enlightenment is not only a defender of our institutions it is an  aggressive force for the defeat of both ideology [Applause] a fortnight after the inauguration of Colombia's  new president advertising and public relations executives from all over America assembled at  the 39th annual meeting of the Association of national advertisers at the hotel Waldorf Astoria  in New York for a special conference on education through advertising the speaker introduced by  president paul west of the ama was president eisenhower of columbia university here speaks  a mighty voice a voice distill the confusion of thought and to inspire all groups to sink  their minor differences and get on with the job of preserving our priceless freedom here  indeed is a living symbol of the individual elite of freedom itself General Eisenhower  the number-one soldier citizen of America [Applause] mr. West jump of course they're  one of the disadvantages of such a glowing introduction is almost a resulting feeling of  terror on the part of its recipient because he realizes that nothing he can say or do will  equal the promise that such an introduction implies I have the feeling though that there  is no subject in the world so fascinating to talk about as America America is of course a so a  diverse in its activity in his daily life we have people living in mountains and plains making their  living by fishing on the Seacoast delving in the mind so farming the ground working in factories  doing everything that needs to be done that this complex mechanism that is American industry can  continue to function there has been underlying all of these of fastnesses in both jerk geography  and in function which of themselves would tend to make us divisive and to pull us apart there has  been a spiritual unity existing even long before the deck versus the signing of a declaration of  independence a spiritual unity born out of the belief that man is a dignified human being created  in the image of his maker and by that fact the possessor of certain inalienable rights we call  him and we usually refer to this group of rights and privileges as representing our Bill of Rights  and the first 10 amendments to the Constitution and I think that the first thing we should be a is  that all of those rights are a bundle a remove one and all the others must of necessity fall and the  one that seems to have come under attack in our day and time more than anything else is the right  of property and many people have tried to make us believe that there is an essential antagonism  between so-called property rights and human rights it is a fallacy which to my mind underlies the  conflict now going on in the world between statism and these freedoms statism comes before us in many  kinds of different guises and with many different appearances it tweets up with great emphasis any  of the errors the mistakes in the application of the democratic principles it points a port  example to the depression days of the 30s and with 11 million people in bread lines but it fails  to state that under a status of former government all of those people would probably be in the salt  mines working under the whip and the banning but then it seems to me we must do is in this struggle  to preserve our freedoms which we approved time and again are more valuable to us than all else is  to show that all of our freedoms are of a bundle belong together cannot exist one without the other  and when we do that I believe we have established they they see stone in the whole structure of  defense against the encroachment of statism doctor now the educational institutions if it can get  all of our young to understanding the truth about these matters we have made a long step forward  but a man but let us say the United States goes to school only in part and then only for part of  our lives I believe that no matter how effective is the work of the educational institution it must  be supported further and amplified by every group in the United States that believes as I have been  trying so haltingly to say that in the education and understanding of our people today lies a  certainty of our own future now among these forces these institutions I can think of no one with more  influence than the advertisers the advertising mechanisms and individuals and media of the nation  you have a ceaseless and daily impact upon us all now you were selling washing machines and  soap and services and cigarettes and everything else division those things were made by this  combination between our matchless resources the initiative of America born of its free system so  every time you are selling one of those things to my mind you're selling part of America but along  with you I believe if you're going to continue to sell through the decades you must sell also  an understanding of what made those things what is necessary a to this free market and what this  free market means to the individual freedoms of each of us and I believe that that understanding  can be brought about by one means John that is telling the truth never that anything that we say  about America must be capable of being held up and disproved as a distortion and evasion propulsor  because the truth is sufficient we are convinced that anyone that has known our way of life they  have given the free choice and he understands our system is opposed to all forms of dictatorship  and statism will choose our own therefore why lie about fight claim that it is never had any  defects particularly in the application of these principles through the past and indeed in  the future but if we can wet ourselves to the spiritual devotion to of the basic plan the basic  scheme the basic concept itself the time that we like to think of that was displayed by Nathan  Hale and Patrick Henry and George Washington and Abraham Lincoln we don't have to aspire a to  let us say the stature of those people but we can certainly worship and believe in and follow the  same concepts and the same principles that they live because remember that is why we think they  are men with such stature and by doing that and forever living the truth of those things and  holding daily in a truthful aspect before the people in the United States I do not believe that  any form of dictatorship whether it is attempts to come on us by assault from without by boring  from within or merely by suffocating us in the hoping to choke our understanding of what is  happening to us when each of us gives up some of these individual responsibilities to the state  no matter in what former guys it comes is certain to be defeated if America remains forever United  just on those few simple things I want to correct before I stop just one little impression given to  you by mr. West it was not the personal sacrifice for me to come here today it was a great and rare  personal privilege what he merely meant was that I am so inefficient that I seem to get my day so  crowded that I don't have the hours of leisure that most people do to do things yes freedom  is indivisible General Eisenhower has given voice to the affirmative use of both education  and business as regards the right of property profit and wage incentives competition a free  market a government to service not rule us the preservation of our political and economic  freedoms is our crusade [Applause] [Music]