Robert C. Byrd

I know that this trade legislation will not automatically solve all the problems of American domestic life, nor all the problems of our international relations. But it is a tool that we cannot afford to neglect.

Let us not face the future like sheep going to the slaughter, for weakness, in this hour, will only contribute to our undoing.

I think we must be reasonable in our approach, and we must remain calm, but at the same time we must remember that only that which is morally and legally right is politically right.

I am not one who believes that it pays to continue to vacillate and appease and make concessions and yield to a man like Khrushchev.

If we are about to go to a summit conference with the idea that we will have to yield, then we are defeated to begin with. We must remind Mr. Khrushchev that we are interested in self-determination by the peoples of East Germany.

We must recognize that the Communist ultimatum on West Berlin has placed us at the crossroads of our national existence. We can either purchase a spurious peace at the expense of other people or we can say that this is it.

Let us take every step necessary to demonstrate that we will not yield to bluster, or to bayonets, or bombs, where freedom is at stake. We must recognize that the cost of cowardice is far more fearful a price to pay than that of freedom.

The choice before us is not between giving up Berlin and all-out war. For if we stand firm in Berlin and convince Khrushchev of our determination to do so, we perhaps shall not have war.

Rather than spending profitless time fearing Federal interference in the school curriculum, we should do some positive thinking about how our States and the Federal Government should apply bigger percentages of their tax take for education.

We must take the bull by the horns and curb the importation of such foreign products which directly affect the economic well-being of any American community. In all good conscience we cannot do otherwise.

We should note that a luxury tax assumes that the Federal Government has the right to decide and the obligation to designate what goods and services people need or should have, and to apply punitive taxation to those things the Government…

We must attain a balance between job seekers and jobs available. We must care for the older worker who will be "let out" as more machines are installed to do the jobs of men and women.

As progress whittles away at the work force-as machines take over the jobs of men-the problem of unemployment will grow.

We must be farsighted enough to realize that unskilled workers, and those with specialized skills, are being displaced by machines. A worker may spend a lifetime learning a trade, and then see that trade, or skill, become obsolete…

There must be a balance between the number of jobs available and the number of jobseekers. Jobseekers must be equipped to perform in new jobs.

Although we Democrats in the Congress are eternally dedicated to the attainment of certain ideals, we realize that at times we must effect a legislative compromise in order to gain for our people and our country that which is workable and…

The responsibility of the party's leadership in the Congress, then, is to work to enact a program which is at least attainable-even though it may not conform to the ultimate sought to be achieved-rather than to strive merely to establish a…

We in West Virginia have as our motto, "Mountaineers are always free." Dear as it is to us, we realize that the sentiment is one we share happily with all our fellow Americans. But I fear that these words, "always free," may be resounding…

At present, there are a great many people in this country who are living in a kind of no man's land. They are the men and women who have reached age 60, who are unemployed, but who must wait several more years before qualifying for social…

We are in an era of change and in the long run this change will produce greater prosperity and better working conditions, but the transition works hardships which should and can be eased. Surely we need not sacrifice thousands of families…

I propose that we act with vision to make up for lost years and act to bring the corrosive actions of nature against man under control. Let us start again to rebuild the productivity capacity of our Nation's lands and waters on an adequate…

Lands of plenty have been turned into deserts bringing famine and ruin to past civilizations. It has happened in startling degree in some limited areas in our country even within our own time. We are at the point in our history today where…

Unfortunately, the decisions to be made at the Conference of Foreign Ministers will not be so black and white as whether or not to stay in Berlin. Instead, the issues will be subtle and deceptive.

Sacrifices of principles now have no reward but the agonies of national disaster in the future. Let us, therefore, steel ourselves in this supreme moment of challenge.

Regrettably, the administration has never understood the simple fact that the balance of world power is far more vital to us than the balance of our budget.