Maybe I’m the one who’s truly representative of the majority of Americans, people who recognize the shortcomings, who aren’t blind to the flaws and who still have the ability to understand how very blessed we are.
generation will provide what america needs as we approach our 200th birthday. not just strength and not just wealth but the spirit of 76, a spirit of moral courage, a spirit of high idealism in which we believe in the american dream, but in which we realize that the american dream can never be fulfilled until every american has an equal chance to fulfill it in his own light. a spirit of moral courage of high idealism. that changed the voting age brought about in the form of the 26th amendment to the constitution. it passed like a lightning bolt from the time they started the constitutional amendment process until it passed, it was just over three months, which is incredibly fast. once the young people put their minds to it, it was a remarkable feat, a big change almost overnight. moral courage, high idealism,
i think what we have to do is we re going to define what the mood is. in 1972, richard nixon is very much on the top of his game, and is on his way to achieving his goal of being the greatest president in american history. he had de-segregated all the southern schools, ended the draft, had the greatest arms control agreement in american history. not a bad record and the american people thought so. air force one, spirit of 76 has just landed at peking international airport, an historic moment, the beginning of a visit to china. china was considered almost a different planet. and the idea that any american president would go to china was