Click on the link here for Audio Player – President Eisenhower Address To American Bar Association Convention – August 24, 1955 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
Addressing the American Bar Association on the occasion of the Bicentennial for the birth of John Marshall, fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801-1835, who was born on this day in 1755.
Pres. Eisenhower: “The peace we want–the product of understanding and agreement and law among nations–is an enduring international environment, based on justice and security. It will reflect enlightened self-interest. It will foster the concentration of human energy–individual and organized–for the advancement of human standards in all the areas of mankind’s material, intellectual and spiritual life.
Can we achieve that sort of peace? I think we can. At times it may seem hopeless, far beyond human capacity to reach. But has any great accomplishment in history begun with assurance of its success? Our own Republic is a case in point. Through a long generation there was almost a unanimous world conviction that the United States of America was an artificial contrivance doomed to collapse in failure.
And the Republic survived its most perilous years–the experimental years–because of dedicated efforts by individuals, not because it had a built-in guarantee of success or a path free from obstacles.
Our case for peace, based on justice, is as sound as was John Marshall’s for the Constitution and the Union. And it will be as successful–if we present it before the bar of world opinion with the same courage and dedicated conviction that he brought to his mission.
In our communities we can, each according to his capacity, promote comprehension of what this Republic must be–in strength, in understanding, in dedication to principle–if it is to fulfill its role of leadership for peace.
In the search for justice, we can make our system an ever more glorious example of an orderly government devoted to the preservation of human freedom and man’s individual opportunities and responsibilities.
No matter how vigorously we propose and uphold our individual views in domestic problems, we can present abroad a united front in all that concerns the freedom and security of the Republic, its dedication to a just and prosperous peace.”
He is followed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, who offers a few remarks on the life and times of John Marshall.
No more Cold War – but times have definitely changed.
Here is that address as given by President Eisenhower, along with remarks by Chief Justice Earl Warren from August 24, 1955
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