Now we are asked to stop in our tracks. We are asked to turn about, to march back into the wilderness from which we came.

Of course we will not turn backward. We will not turn back because we are the inheritors of a tradition of pioneering, exploring, experimenting and adventuring. We will not be scared into retreating by threats from the doubters of democracy.

Neither will we be bribed by extravagant promises of fabulous wealth.

Those who offer such promises try to delude us with a mirage on the far horizon—a mirage of an island of dreams, with palaces and palms and plums.

And it is a curious fact of nature that a mirage is always upside down, above the horizon.

But then, the mirage—upside down or right-side up—isn't there at all.
Now you see it—and now you don't.

Of course we shall continue to strengthen all these dynamic reforms in our social and economic life; to keep the processes of democracy side by side with the necessities and possibilities of modern industrial production.

Of course we shall continue to make available the good things of life created by the genius of science and technology- to use them, however, not for the enjoyment of the few but for the welfare of all.
For there lies the road to democracy that is strong.

Of course we intend to preserve and build up the land of this country—its soil, its forests and its rivers—all the resources with which God has endowed the people of the United States.

Of course we intend to continue to build up the bodies and the minds of the men, women and children of the Nation—through democratic education and a democratic program for health.
For there lies the road to democracy that is strong.

Of course we intend to continue our efforts to protect our system of private enterprise and private property, but to protect it from monopoly of financial control on the one hand and from Communistic wrecking on the other.

Of course we shall continue our efforts to prevent economic dictatorship as well as political dictatorship.

Of course we intend to continue to build up the morale of this country, not as blind obedience to some leader, but as the expression of confidence in the deeply ethical principles upon which this Nation and its democracy were founded.
For there lies the road to democracy that is strong.

The progress of our country, as well as the defense of our country, requires national unity. We need the cooperation of every single American—our workers, the great organizers and technicians in our factories, our farmers, our professional men and women, our workers in industry, our mothers, our fathers, our youth—all the men and women who love America just a little bit more than they love themselves.

And if we can have the assistance of all these, we can promise that such a program can make this country prosperous and free and strong—to be a light of the world and a comfort to all people.
And all the forces of evil shall not prevail against it.

For so it is written in the Book, and so it is written in the moral law, and so it is written in the promise of a great era of world peace.

This Nation which is arming itself for defense has also the intelligence to save its human resources by giving them that confidence which comes from useful work.

This Nation which is creating a great navy has also found the strength to build houses and begin to clear the slums of its cities and its countryside.

This Nation which has become the industrial leader of the world has the humanity to know that the people of a free land need not suffer the disease of poverty and the dread of not being wanted.