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1961 - Speech, President Kennedy: Special Message To Congress, TRACK ONLY Pt. 3 of 10

Reel Number: H2029-03

Color: Black and White

Sound: SD

Year / Date: 1961

Country: USA

Location: DC,Washington

TC Begins: 20:09:52

TC Ends: 20:15:15

Duration: 00:05:23

1961 - Speech, President Kennedy: Special Message To Congress, TRACK ONLY Pt. 3 of 10 Continued... We would be badly mistaken to consider their problems in military terms alone. For no amount of arms & armies can help stabilize those governments which are unable or unwilling to achieve social & economic reform & development. Military pacts cannot help nations whose social injustice & economic chaos invite insurgency & penetration & subversion. The most skillful counter-guerrilla efforts cannot succeed where the local population is too caught up in its own misery to be concerned about the advance of communism. 20:10:37 But for those who share this view, we stand ready now, as we have in the past, to provide generously of our skills, & our capital, & our food to assist the peoples of the less-developed nations to reach their goals in freedom--to help them before they are engulfed in crisis. 20:10:58 This is also our great opportunity in 1961. If we grasp it, then subversion to prevent its success is exposed as an unjustifiable attempt to keep these nations from either being free or equal. But if we do not pursue it, & if they do not pursue it, the bankruptcy of unstable governments, one by one, & of unfilled hopes will surely lead to a series of totalitarian receiverships. 20:11:33 Earlier in the year, I outlined to the Congress a new program for aiding emerging nations; & it is my intention to transmit shortly draft legislation to implement this program, to establish a new Act for International Development, & to add to the figures previously requested, in view of the swift pace of critical events, an additional 250 million dollars for a Presidential Contingency Fund, to be used only upon a Presidential determination in each case, w/ regular & complete reports to the Congress in each case, when there is a sudden & extraordinary drain upon our regular funds which we cannot foresee--as illustrated by recent events in Southeast Asia--& it makes necessary the use of this emergency reserve. The total amount requested--now raised to 2.65 billion dollars--is both minimal & crucial. I do not see how anyone who is concerned--as we all are--about the growing threats to freedom around the globe--and who is asking what more we can do as a people--can weaken or oppose the single most important program available for building the frontiers of freedom. 20:13:01 All that I have said makes it clear that we are engaged in a world-wide struggle in which we bear a heavy burden to preserve & promote the ideals that we share with all mankind, or have alien ideals forced upon them. That struggle has highlighted the role of our Information Agency. It is essential that the funds previously requested for this effort be not only approved in full, but increased by 2 million, 400 thousand dollars, to a total of 121 million dollars. 20:13:38 This new request is for additional radio and television to Latin America & Southeast Asia. These tools are particularly effective & essential in the cities & villages of those great continents as a means of reaching millions of uncertain peoples to tell them of our interest in their fight for freedom. In Latin America, we are proposing to increase our Spanish & Portuguese broadcasts to a total of 154 hours a week, compared to 42 hours today, none of which is in Portuguese, the language of about one-third of the people of South America. The Soviets, Red Chinese & satellites already broadcast into Latin America more than 134 hours a week in Spanish and Portuguese. Communist China alone does more public information broadcasting in our own hemisphere than we do. Moreover, powerful propaganda broadcasts from Havana now are heard throughout Latin America, encouraging new revolutions in several countries. 20:14:54 Similarly, in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, we must communicate our determination and support to those upon whom our hopes for resisting the communist tide in that continent ultimately depend. Our interest is in the truth. Continued... 25May61; Presidential Speeches; Cold War; NOTE: Any continuous 15 minutes of speech, 20:00:05 - 20:45:05 sold at per reel rate.

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