US Presidency
1966

The majority of our people believe that a qualified man or woman, of any race, of any religion, of any section, could hold any office in our land. This was not so not very dear at all in 1940. We are committed now, however great the trial and tension, to protecting the right of free expression and peaceful dissent. We have learned to despise the witch hunt, the unprincipled harassment of a man's integrity and his right to be different. We have gained in tolerance, and I am determined to use the high office I hold to protect and to encourage that tolerance. I do not mean to say that I will remain altogether silent on the critical issues of our day. For just as strongly as I believe in other men's freedom to disagree, so do I also believe in the President's freedom to attempt to persuade. So let me assure you and my fellow Americans tonight that I will do everything in my power to defend both.