 Tumplo con el triste deber de anunciar a la Asamblea General la trágica muerte del presidente Kennedy, asesinado esta tarde en Dallas, Texas, ruego a los miembros de la Asamblea ponerse de pie para observar un minuto de silencio en memoria del presidente Kennedy. La delegación a la Asamblea General de la Nación Unidad está en silencio, en shock y en respeto para John F. Kennedy, quien, a la edad de 46, había already left an indelible marco en la consciencia del mundo. Aunque él era presidente de los Estados Unidos, su preocupación no fue solo para los ciudadanos de su país, pero para cada hombre y cada mujer y cada niño en todo el mundo. Cada living thing must die sooner or later. Cada hombre leave something of himself, some leave money, some a piece of land, some leave only a memory. John F. Kennedy was one of those men who leave along with everything else ideas and ideals that will never die. Los ideas and ideals have been passed on to Lyndon Johnson, the new president of the United States. He accompanies Mrs. Kennedy and her family to the capital in Washington, where her husband's body will lie in state. Following the constitutional provisions which provides for continuity in government, the vice president has become chief of state. Mr. Johnson had been chosen personally by Mr. Kennedy as candidate for that high office in 1960, and the people elected them as if they were one candidate for the executive branch of their government. On March 13, 1961, less than two months after the inauguration, the ambassadors of the sister republics of the Americas were called to the White House to hear a major statement of policy by the new administration of the United States. They were to hear for the first time for the Alliance for Progress. Mr. Johnson proposed that the American republics began on a vast new 10-year plan for the Americas, a plan to transform the 1960s into an historic decade of democratic progress. These 10 years will be the years of maximum progress, maximum effort, the years when the greatest obstacles must be overcome. The years when the need for assistance will be the greatest. And if we are successful, if our effort is bold enough and determined enough, then the close of this decade will mark the beginning of a new era in the American experience. The living standards of every American family will be on the rise. Basic education will be available to all. Hunger will be a forgotten experience. The need for massive outside help will have passed. Most nations will have ended a period of self-sustaining growth. And though there will be still much to do, every American republic will be the master of its own revolution and its own hope in progress. The Alliance for Progress was launched, and over the past two and a half years long range plans for development have been put into action. The government has come to land that they follow. In many places men who worked in fields belonging to others are now tending their own plots under land reform programs called for by the Allianza. Schools have been built where there were none before. The Allianza is concerned for a better life for coming generations, not only our own. Health centers have been built. Men and nations have learned to plan and work together for the benefit of all. All things have been happening to people throughout the hemisphere. This baby in El Salvador doesn't know what the future holds for her, but it is brighter because of the Allianza. The products of modern science have become increasingly available, and industrial progress has been made. In his proposal, President Kennedy stressed that only the determined efforts of the American nations themselves could bring success to the effort. Only they could mobilize their resources. Unir reformes to enlist the energies of all their people so that all would share in the fruits of growth. In December of 1961, President Kennedy went to Venezuela. At La Morita he saw land distributed to the landless. And in Colombia he put a brick in place at Ciudad Techo, a self-help housing project. At the ceremony was Argenil Plazas García. He and his wife and 13 children began a new life through the Allianza. En 1963, President Kennedy visitó la Universidad de Costa Rica. En donde se vio, se sentó, se enamoró. Su sonido y su determinación y su fuerza eran contagiados. En noviembre 18, antes del día de la tragedia, él habló en Miami, Florida, a delegaciones de la Asociación Interamericana. The last two and a half years have been a time of trial and experiment. We have labored to build a structure of cooperation and common effort for years to come. No nation in the Americas can deny that much more must be done to strengthen and speed our efforts that they have not been setbacks and disappointments. That is why we intend to support strongly the leadership of the new Interamerican Committee for the Alliance for Progress. En noviembre 22, 1963, Mr. Kennedy was dead, but not his ideas or his ideals. En noviembre 26, 1963, the representatives of the sister republics of the Americas were called to the White House again to hear the first statement of international policy from the new president of the United States. Mrs. Kennedy accompanied Mr. Johnson. The Alliance for Progress has been close to her heart and perhaps more than anyone else, she wants to see her husband's dreams fulfilled. I've asked you to come here today because this is in a very special sense, a family gathering. For nothing in President Kennedy's public career meant more to him than the ties which united this country and yours. A little less than three years ago, here in the White House, in this very room, President Kennedy met with you, the representatives of the countries of Latin America. In the first full-scale foreign policy address of his administration, he called for an Alliance for Progress among all the nations of the Americas. Hoy, among you in this same room, I have come to reaffirm that Alliance and to pledge all the energies of my government to our common goals. We all know that there have been problems within the Alliance for Progress, but the accomplishments of the past three years have proven the soundness of our principles. The accomplishments of the years to come will vindicate our faith in the capacity of free men to meet the new challenges of a new day. And it was in this spirit of the principles that we have worked out together that President Kennedy launched the Alliance for Progress in this very room, inspired by his memory. And in that same spirit, we will carry on the job. Let the Alliance for Progress be his living memorial. James Johnson is the 36th President of the United States in the uninterrupted succession that began 174 years ago with George Washington and carried on through men like Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy told his countrymen at his inauguration that their work would not be finished in the life of his administration, but he said, let us begin. Mr. Johnson has said, let us continue.