880 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

Today we assemble to prepare another attack. This time the target
is not limited to our State but embraces our entire nation. This
year, we do not plan to campaign, we shall crusade! Republicans,
everywhere, are committed to combat for a cause that merits escala-
tion; and in the words of John Paul Jones, "we have just begun to
fight!"

Under normal circumstances my remarks today would be confined
to the customary compliments on your past work, which you richly
deserve, the customary exhortation tor your continued efforts and
the customary pitch for party unity. But these are not normal times.
In the past months our nation and our State have suffered a series
of convulsive shocks. The murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, the
subsequent senseless rioting, the campus rebellions, and the assassi-
nation of Senator Robert Kennedy have left America doubting its
sanity. The events of the past eleven weeks have had a more pro-
found impact on the American mind than the sum of political con-
sequences over the past eleven years.

In such a time there is no need to appeal for Republican unity or
enthusiasm. We have it. We have it here in Maryland and we have
it throughout the United States.

The country is in crisis. We face a foreign crisis, a domestic crisis
and a moral crisis. That's what the 1968 election will be all about.
America stands at a spiritual crossroads, and the outcome of this
election could well determine the direction and the destiny of our
nation.

At this critical juncture in America's history, the Republican Party
stands as a resolute and responsible alternative for all who vote their
conscience and their principles.

The Republican Party, born in an era of civil crisis and civil war,
is prepared to face the truth, the present and the future. We're a
party linking a broad spectrum of political views, because we're the
party of and for the individual. Yet, for all our diversity in par-
ticulars, no party is more firmly united in principles. We love our
nation and stand proud of our unabashed patriotism.

We are the party born in the determination to preserve country
and Constitution. We remain steadfast in this commitment.

We appreciate, with an intensity impossible to articulate, the
greatness of America's democratic system. We are frankly reverent
of the wisdom of our nation's Constitution and frankly appalled by
those who would destroy the fabric that binds our nation.