America is a stronger nation for the ACLU's uncompromising effort.
-- President John F. Kennedy
The simple rights, the civil liberties from generations of struggle must not
be just fine words for patriotic holidays, words we subvert on weekdays, but
living, honored rules of conduct amongst us...I'm glad the American Civil
Liberties Union gets indignant, and I hope this will always be so.
-- Senator Adlai E. Stevenson
The ACLU has stood foursquare against the recurring tides of hysteria that
from time to time threaten freedoms everyhere... Indeed, it is difficult
to appreciate how far our freedoms might have eroded had it not been for the
Union's valiant representation in the courts of the constitutional rights
of people of all persuasions, no matter how unpopular or even despised
by the majority they were at the time.
-- former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren
Let the world go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe
alike hat the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans,
born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter
peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or
permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation
has always been committed, and to which we are committed today, at
home and around the world!...
Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike
that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born
in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter
peace, proud of our ancient heritage -- and unwilling to witness or
permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has
always been committed....
