knows the thoughts of the great body of citizens, the men who go about
their business every day, the men who toil from morning till night, the
men who go home tired in the evenings, the men who are carrying on the
things we are so proud of.

You know how it thrills our blood sometimes to think how all the nations
of the earth wait to see what America is going to do with her power, her
physical power, her enormous resources, her enormous wealth. The nations
hold their breath to see what this young country will do with her young
unspoiled strength; we cannot help but be proud that we are strong. But
what has made us strong? The toil of millions of men, the toil of men who
do not boast, who are inconspicuous, but who live their lives humbly from
day to day; it is the great body of toilers that constitutes the might of
America. It is one of the glories of our land that nobody is able to
predict from what family, from what region, from what race, even, the
leaders of the country are going to come. The great leaders of this
country have not come very often from the established, "successful"
families.

I remember speaking at a school not long ago where I understood that
almost all the young men were the sons of very rich people, and I told
them I looked upon them with a great deal of pity, because, I said: "Most
of you fellows are doomed to obscurity. You will not do anything. You will
never try to do anything, and with all the great tasks of the country
waiting to be done, probably you are the very men who will decline to do
them. Some man who has been 'up against it,' some man who has come out of
the crowd, somebody who has had the whip of necessity laid on his back,
will emerge out of the crowd, will show that he understands the crowd,
understands the interests of the nation, united and not separated, and
will stand up and lead us."