American prestige, essential to our influence and our security, has declined these last 8 years even more sharply than we realized.

All I can do as a candidate for the Presidency is to make a judgment on what this country must do.

Let me say that Mr. Nixon and I have one thing in common and that is that he just campaigns in Republican districts.

This administration has refused to make these surveys public

In the last years people around the world have come to the conclusion that we are not the strongest power

I want to express my thanks to you for coming today.

Here is the headline on these findings which have been kept secret up to today: 'United States Survey Funds Others Consider the Soviet Union the Mightiest.'

And I say that today our children's schools are not good enough.

The reason that countries of Africa no longer support the United States and look to it is because we have been indifferent to the problems of that vital continent.

The question of whether America represents as strong and vigorous an image as it did years ago goes to the security of everyone who lives in Libertyville.

My belief is that Mr. Nixon runs for the office of the Presidency without emphasizing in his campaign, either because he is not informed or because he does not believe that this is the most serious time in the life of this country.

The United States is moving into a period which will feature great opportunities for us as well as great responsibilities and great burdens.

The next 5 years are going to be decisive years in the life of our country.

The office of the Presidency is key, and whoever may be the next President, whether it is Mr. Nixon or myself, will be faced with greater responsibilities and greater burdens.

Only the President of the United States can speak for this country.

I ask your help in this campaign.

I want to thank all of you who came out today.

I campaign for the Presidency with a full recognition that that office will bear more responsibility than it has in the last 100 years since the administration of Lincoln.