US Presidency
1972

This statue is more than a landmark; it is a symbol, a symbol of what America has meant to the world. It reminds us that what America has meant is not its wealth, and not its power, but its spirit and purpose, a land that enshrines liberty and opportunity, and that has held out a hand of welcome to millions in search of a better and a fuller and, above all, a freer life. The world's hopes poured into America, along with its people. And those hopes, those dreams, that have been brought here from every corner of the world, have become a part of the hope that we now hold out to the world. Four years from now, America will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its founding as a nation. There are those who say that the old spirit of ' 76 is dead, that we no longer have the strength of character, the idealism, the faith in our founding purposes that that spirit represents. Those who say this do not know America.