US Presidency
1966

This is what our struggle for equal rights in this country is all about tonight. We seek to create that climate, at home and abroad, where unlettered men can learn, where deprived children can grow, where hopeless millions can be inspired to change the terms of their existence for the better. That climate can not be created where terror fills the air. Children can not learn, and men can not earn their bread, and women can not heal the sick where the night of violence has blotted out the sun. Whether in the cities and hamlets of Vietnam, or in the ghettos of our own cities, the struggle is the same. That struggle is to end the violence against the human mind and body so that the work of peace may be done, and the fruits of freedom may be won. We are pitting the resources of the law, of education and training, of our vision and our compassion, against that violence here in America. And we shall end it in our time.