Political Quotes

“Mr. President, Indiana was settled by men and women who left the safety of their homes, they headed westward, and they crossed the Appalachian Mountains into the wilderness and the unknown. They were willing to endure hardship, to risk danger in search of a better tomorrow, to clear a path for others to follow. They were pioneers. But, long after our State was settled and Indiana's population drifted up from the banks of the Ohio River toward Lake Michigan, Hoosiers never stopped looking at the frontier. Only, they cast their gaze away from the west and toward the sky. In the fall of 1959, 15,000 people gathered in the southern Indiana town of Mitchell--population 3,500 at the time. Some lined the streets. Others sat on rooftops or watched through windows. They hadn't come to Mitchell's annual Persimmon Festival for the beauty pageant nor did they come for the pudding contest or the classic car run. No. They were there to see the convertible at the head of the festival's parade as it drove down Mitchell's Main Street. Seated inside that convertible was one of their own, a local boy. They knew him from the house on Baker Street. Maybe they knew him from Mitchell High or from the First Baptist Church. History knows him as the second American to travel to space and the first man to go there twice. So I am proud to have the privilege to deliver these remarks in front of the Presiding Officer, who has also been to space. His name was Lt. Col. Virgil Ivan ``Gus'' Grissom.…”