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Governor of Novolpe, Speaker Thompson,
President Powers, Lieutenant Governor mclarukan, members

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of the General Court, constitutional officers, reverend clergy, ladies, and gentlemen.

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I have welcomed this opportunity to address
this historic body and through you,

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the people of Massachusetts, to whom
I am so deeply indebted for a lifetime

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of friendship and trust. For fourteen
years, I have placed my confidence in

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the citizens of Massachusetts, and they
have generously responded by placing their confidence in

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me. Now, on the Friday
after next, I am to assume new

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and broader responsibilities. But I am
not here to bid farewell to Massachusetts.

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For forty three years, whether I
was in London, or in Washington,

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or in the South Pacific or elsewhere, this has been my home, and

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God willing, wherever I serve,
this shall remain my home. It was

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here that my grandparents were born.
It is here I hope that my grandchildren

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will be born. I speak neither
from false provincial pride nor artful political flattery,

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For no man about to enter high
office in this country can ever be

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unmindful of the contributions which this state
has made to our national greatness. Its

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leaders have shaped our destiny long before
the Great Republic was born. Its principles

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have guided our footsteps in times of
crisis as well as in times of calm.

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Its democratic institutions, including this historic
body, have served as beacon lights

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for other nations as well as for
our sister states. For what Pericles said

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of the Athenians has long been true
of this Commonwealth. We do not imitate,

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for we are a model to others. And so it is that I

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carry with me from this state through
that high and lonely office to which I

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now succeed. More than fond memories
or firm friendships, the enduring quality of

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Massachusetts, the common threads woven by
the pilgrim and the puritan, the fishermen

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and the farmer, the yankee and
the immigrant, will not be and could

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not be forgotten in this nation's executive
mansion. They are an indelible part of

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my life. My convictions, my
view of the past, and my hopes

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for the future. Allow me to
illustrate. During the last sixty days I

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have been at the task of constructing
an administration. It has been a long

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and deliberate process. Some have,
how counciled greater speed. Others have counseled

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more expedient tests, but I have
been guided by the standard on Winthrop set

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before his shipmates on the flagship Arabella
three hundred and thirty one years ago.

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As they too face the task are
building a new government on a perilous frontier,

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we must always consider he said that
we shall be as a city upon

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a hill the eyes of all people
are upon us. Today the eyes of

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all people are truly upon us.
And our governments in every branch, at

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every level, national, state and
local, must be as a city upon

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a hill, constructed and inhabited by
men aware of their great trusts and their

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great responsibilities. For we are setting
out upon a voyage in nineteen sixty one

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no less hazardous than that undertaken by
the Arabella in sixteen thirty. We are

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committing ourselves to tasks of state craft
no less awesome than that of governing the

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Massachusetts Bay Colony. Be said,
as it was by terror without and disorder

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within. History will not judge our
endeavors, and a government cannot be selected

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merely on the basis of color or
creed or party affiliation. Neither will competence

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and loyalty and stature, while assent
you to the utmost suffice in times such

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as these, for of those to
whom much is given, much is required.

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And when, at some future date, the high Court of History sits

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in judgment on each one of us, recording whether in our brief span of

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service, we fulfilled our responsibilities to
the state. Our success or failure in

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whatever office we may hold, will
be measured by the answers to four questions.

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First, were we truly men of
courage, with the courage to stand

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up to one's enemies, and the
courage to stand up when necessary to one's

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own associates, the courage to resist
public pressure as well as private breed.

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Secondly, were we truly men of
judgment, with perceptive judgment of the future

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as well as of the past,
of our own mistakes as well as the

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mistakes of others, with enough wisdom
to know what we did not know,

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and enough candor to admit it.
Third, were we truly men of integrity?

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Men who never ran out on either
the principles in which they believe or

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the people who believed in them.
Men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition

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could ever divert from the fulfillment of
our sacred trust. Finally, were we

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truly men of dedication, with an
honor mortgaged to no single individual or group,

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and compromised by no private obligation or
aim, but devoted solely to serving

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the public good and the national interest. Courage, judgment, integrity, dedication.

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These are the historic qualities of the
Bay Colony and of the Bay State,

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the qualities which this state have consistently
sent to this chamber here in Beacon

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Hill in Boston, and a Capitol
Hill back in Washington. And these are

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the qualities which, with God's help, this of Massachusetts hopes, will characterize

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our government's conduct in the four stormy
years that lie ahead. Humbly I ask

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his help and that undertaking, but
aware that on earth his will is worked

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by men, I ask for your
help and your prayers as I embark on

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this new and solemn journey