Freedom Is Indivisible (1953)

e [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 Dwight D Eisenhower saw Admirals Ley and Hy and a multitude of other dignitaries from every Department of our national life assembled to honor his investure together with his own [Music] family right David isenhower I now hand you copies of our Charter under the terms 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 d 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 with in 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 en Noble the institution and confirm the vital importance of its service there will be no administrative suppression or Distortion of any subject that merits a place in the univers 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 True Values of our democratic system are to be properly assessed ignorance of Communism fism 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's 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 false ideologies [Applause] [Music] a fortnight after the inauguration of Columbia'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 waldor Historia New York for a special conference on education through advertising the speaker introduced by President Paul West of the Ana was President Eisenhower of Columbia University here speaks a mighty voice a voice to Ste the confusion of thought and to inspire all groups to sync their minor differences and get on with the job of preserving our Priceless Freedom here indeed is a living symbol of the individuality of Freedom itself General Eisenhower the number one soldier citizen of [Applause] America Mr West and gentl of course they're one of the disadvantages of such a glowing interest eduction 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 so diverse in its activity in its daily life we have people living in mountains and plains making their living by fishing on the Sea Coast delving in the mines so farming the ground working in factories doing everything that needs to be done that this a complex mechanism that is American industry can continue to function there has been underlying all of these fastnesses in both GE 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 declar the signing of the 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 uh fact the possessor of certain inalienable rights we call them and we usually refer to this group of Rights and privileges as represented in our Bill of Rights in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution and I think that the first thing we should realize is that all of those rights are a bundle 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 appeals it points up with great emphasis any of the errors the mistakes in the application of the democratic principles it points for example to the depression days of the 30s and with 11 million people in breadlines but it fails to state that under a statism form of government all of those people would probably be in the salt mines working under the Whip and the banon but then it seems to me we must do is in this struggle to preserve our freedoms which we have proved 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 the basic Stone in the whole structure of defense against the encroachment of statism Doctrine 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 goes 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 furthered and Amplified of 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 the 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 there is those things were made by this combination between our matchless resources the initiative of America born of its free system so every time you're selling one of those things to my mind you're selling part of America but along with it 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 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 and 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 an evasion or a falsehood because the truth is sufficient we are convinced that anyone that has known our way of life have given the free choice and the understanding of our system as opposed to all forms of dictatorship and statism we'll choose our own therefore why lie about it I claim that it has never had any defects particularly in the application of these principles through the past and indeed in the future but if we can wed ourselves to the spiritual Devotion to of the basic plan the basic scheme the basic concept itself the kind that we like to think of that was displayed by Nathan hail and Patrick Henry and George Washington and Abraham Lincoln we don't have to Aspire uh 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 of such stature and by doing that and Forever Living the truth of those things and holding them be in a truthful aspect before the people of 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 his individual responsibility to the state no matter in what form or 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 a 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 these things thank you yes freedom is indivisible General Eisenhower has given voice to the affirmative views 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]