"In the light of this equality, we know that the virtues most cherished by free people -- love of truth, pride of work, devotion to country -- all are treasures equally precious in the lives of the most humble and of the most exalted. The men who mine coal and fire furnaces, and balance ledgers, and turn lathes, and pick cotton, and heal the sick and plant corn -- all serve as proudly and as profitably for America as the statesmen who draft treaties and the legislators who enact laws."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
This speech was delivered January 20, 1953.