Fraternity-Testvériség, 1960 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1960-10-01 / 10. szám
FRATERNITY 3 I recall talking to Mr. Herbert Hoover at the time he was working with me on the Hungarian refugee problems, trying to develop programs for the refugees. Concern was expressed at that time about changing our immigration laws to allow more refugees to come in, concern with regard to the effect on employment and unemployment in this country, concern as to how these people could be assimilated. His answer was that every wave of refugees that has come to the U. S. has strengthened America rather than weakened it. This we must never forget because again we are seeing an element of the greatness, and we must always remember this in our attitudes toward our fellow Americans and in our attitudes with regard to legislation affecting the various groups within our society. We must do nothing that would weaken this element of greatness. We must do those things that strengthen it. That is why we must fight against hatred and prejudice of any kind, fight against it because it is wrong morally, fight against it because it weakens America wherever it exists in this country in any shape. ★ ★ ★ As far as America is concerned, as far as those who stand with us in the fight for freedom are concerned, we must remember that we are fighting in effect an idea, an ideology which is aggressive, which advocates change, which advocates a better life. It is not enough for us to say that what we are doing is defending what we have got. If we simply say that America has freedom and prosperity, that we like it and we don’t want anybody to change it and that we’ll do anything, anything from the standpoint of making a treaty or a deal with the Soviet Union or any other country just so long as we can retain our freedom and our independence, then first of all we won’t retain our freedom and our independence, and secondly we would be doing something that would be a betrayal of everything that America stands for. In other words, you cannot answer a great offensive idea, an idea which is on the march and which is engaging in an offense, simply with defensive tactics. And so America today must stand, as I said in my acceptance speech in Chicago, it must stand not just for defending what we have, not just for the status quo, but be must stand for extending freedom throughout the world. To those who boldy work for and arrogantly say that they stand for the victory of Communism over all the world, the only answer is to stand for the victory of freedom throughout the world. This is an American ideal, not new, but as old as the nation is old and as old as civilization is old. It is easy for us to forget that there are millions of people, some of whom we never hear of because of the Iron Curtain which cuts off information from them, who deeply want to achieve freedom and independence, people that we must not and cannot forget in our policy. I think this was first and most vividly brought to my attention when I stood on the border between Austria and Hungary, and I saw young people come across, in spite of the fact that there were Communist guns there ready to shoot them down. There were workers and
