of America affords, we are all aware of our duty to love our country,
to support its constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag to
defend it against its enemies. That Baltimoreans and Marylanders
adhere to these basic rules of patriotism is evident by this outpouring
of people here today.

In these critical times, with our freedom and our way of life
threatened from all sides by the farces of tyranny and oppression, it
is essential from time to time that we renew our faith in the principles
upon which this Nation was founded. Today is such an occasion, and
it is most gratifying to observe the spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving
that we feel here in celebrating "1 Am An American Day. " I am
grateful, as I know all of you are grateful, for the many privileges I
enjoy as a citizen of the United State of America. 1 am proud, as I
know all of you are proud, to be an American. Let us, then, renew
our pledge to love our country, to support its Constitution, to obey
its laws and to defend it against its enemies. And let us say together,
with pride and with gratitude:

"I am An American!"

ADDRESS, VETERANS DAY

BETHESDA
November 11, 1964

I am pleased to join with the people of Bethesda and Chevy Chase
on this Veterans Day to pay tribute to the brave men who fought in
the great wars of our nation to safeguard our American liberties and
our American way of life. We should feel gratitude, not only on
Veterans Day but on every day of the year, to the heroic Americans
who sacrificed their lives that we might live in greater security and
greater happiness.

It is certainly appropriate that we set aside a day of each year to
pay our respects and express our gratitude to our courageous soldiers,
sailors, marines and airmen. Perhaps the highest tribute we could pay
to the veterans of our wars — those of our generations and of genera-
tions of the past — would be to renew our resolution to work for an
enduring peace and our determination to keep our country strong
enough to resist any enemy that may assail it.

We all pray for the day when we may be able, as the Scriptures
say, to beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning

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