I pledge to you that if I become President, you, the mayors of America, will have a friend, an ally, and a partner in the White House.

I believe that, working together, we can turn the tide, stop the decay, and set in motion a process of growth that by the end of this century can give us cities worthy of the greatest nation on earth.

I think the public at large does not yet realize that what we confront is not just New York City's fiscal crisis, but a national problem.

A nation that can send men to the moon can meet its urban needs.

The only way to achieve the growth in the urban tax base required to meet rising expenditures is through a healthy local economy.

We simply can no longer afford the price of the red tape.

Today, America's No. 1 economic problem is our cities.

It is time for our government leaders to recognize that the people who inhabit even the poorest and most deteriorating of our central cities are our fellow Americans.

The primary purpose of our foreign policy is to create and maintain a world environment within which our great experiment in freedom can survive and flourish.

We simply must have an international policy of democratic leadership, and we must stop trying to play a lonely game of power politics.

There must be bipartisan harmony and collaboration between the President and the Congress, and we must reestablish a spirit of common purpose among democratic nations.