(We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment.)
We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights. Yet many Americans do not enjoy those rights.
(We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings)—not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin.
The reasons are deeply imbedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can understand—without rancor or hatred—how this all happened.
But it cannot continue. (Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it.) The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight forbids it.
That law is the product of months of the most careful debate and discussion. It was proposed more than one year ago by our late and beloved President John F. Kennedy. It received the bipartisan support of more than two-thirds of the Members of both the House and the Senate. An overwhelming majority of Republicans as well as Democrats voted for it.