 What was unbelievable was sorrowfully believed. By a bullet fired by a single man, the president was killed, and the entire nation was wounded. Knew it must recover, and the world made known that it would not wait too long for that wound to heal. The light in the White House window is on. During those tragic and horrible days of November, the light flickered. It could not turn off. It is made of presidents, kings, and prime ministers. It is made instead of those who work with hands and mind, who seek to learn and long to teach, and mainly by the people who plant the seeds and reap the harvest. Today, the tiller of the soil has loaned his knowledge to the president. For as he rides his tractor, he knows he cannot keep his head turned behind him too long to look at the past, or he will destroy the paths by his side already soon. There were things done and things undone that John Kennedy left behind him. And so the responsibility, the honor, and the burden fell to the man that John Kennedy selected as his vice presidential running mate, and the man the people had elected with him, Lyndon B. Johnson, now the 36th president of the United States of America. But who is this man who sits by the light in the White House? Who is the man who sits with documents on his desk, grief in his heart, and the world on his shoulders? Who is the man who people now call Mr. President? Is he a giant? No. No more, no less than John Kennedy was. Is he a magician who, with the sweep of his pen or the nod of his head, can work miracles? No. No more, no less than Franklin Roosevelt was. Is he a scientific genius who will unravel all the world's problems? No. No more, no less than Abraham Lincoln was. He is a man of God, freedom, and peace, as much as any of them were. And so we must meet this man, Lyndon Johnson. He is the man who, in the past, placed great emphasis on meeting us in Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America. He served his country under four presidents as a congressman, senator, Senate majority leader, and vice president of the United States. And during that time, he made his causes known and his voice heard. One of his causes was civil rights for all men regardless of creed or color. Our government owes to every American citizen for protection of his constitutional rights. He was the chief spokesman of the legislature on the country's goals in space. By the vehicles of space, there can be no secrets. We need, therefore, to concern ourselves not with guarding what we know, but rather with exchanging. He was a chief backer for a strong defense. We're looking in the record to indicate that America has lost its vitality or its capacity to produce in time whatever we need to retain our present power. He was a spokesman for peace. In order to assure their children, your children, and the children of all the nations, a life without war, a future with peace. And he dealt with the intricacies of budget and finance. That budget was one of the, was the largest peacetime budget in the history of this country. And when the Senate got through... Such was his background. And now the man was president. The travel around the world, it was a happy memory, turned into a new importance. The civil matters he discussed could now be reinforced. But still it was asked, would he move the nation and the world forward? And would the people respond to him? The questions were answered five days after he became president. The greatest leader of sad enough to express our sense of loss. No words are strong to express our determination to continue the forward thrust of America that he began. The dream of conquering the vastness of space. The dream of partnership across the Atlantic and across the Pacific as well. The dream of a peace corps in less developed nations. The dream of education for all of our children. And above all, the dream of equal rights for all Americans. Whatever their race or color. And other American dreams have been vitalized by his drive and by his dedication. And now the ideas and the ideals, which he so nobly represented, must and will be translated into effective action. John Kennedy's leadership, this nation has demonstrated that it has the courage to seek peace. And it has the fortitude to risk war. We have proved that we are a good and reliable friend to those who seek peace and freedom. We have shown that we can also be a formidable foe to those who reject the path of peace and those who seek to impose upon us or our allies the yoke of tyranny. This nation will keep its commitments from South Vietnam to West Berlin, the 20th day of January in 1961. John F. Kennedy told his countrymen that our national work would not be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even, perhaps, in our lifetime on this planet. But he said, let us begin today in this moment of new resolve. I would say to all my fellow Americans, let us continue. And so the president said, let us continue. And his words were heard throughout his country. And there was no question asked. For what had begun was very clear. And what must continue was very clear. To respect equality without separation, it would continue. To work for the universe without chains, it would continue. To strengthen freedom and peace without submission, it would continue. To help livelihood without hunger, it would continue. The flags that waved at half-mast waved proud. For sorrow over the valuable has a strange way of breathing strength. And what is lost molds itself into preservation. At every time of need, there comes a man, a man who must know that he can no longer live through history, but that in part history must live through him. The time and the man have met. Within the room echoed the sound of a distant drum. But the drum was no longer ominous, or it was no longer the sound of something gone. It was instead the sound of life continuing, the sound of life that is left in all of us. The old, the young, and more important, the sound of the heartbeat of the ones who are yet unborn.