You Can Change the World

[Music] [Music] h hello Mr lorett Young Mr B's having some people over here at the house tonight he'd like to know if you would come uh-oh uh Miss Young Mr Benny told me to tell you that would be after dinner that's right [Music] bye-bye hello Miss Irene dun uh this is Rochester over at Mr Benny's house uh he'd like to know if you could come over tonight be sure to tell you that that's oh that's right I forgot you you've been here before goodbye cigarette anyone thanks Paul uh-uh there aren't any oh that's our Jack mhm here you are Bill thank you well hello everybody glad you can come everybody comfortable good good a cigarette Jen oh thank you H now the reason I asked you all over here is because I want you to meet Father James Keller who's coming by in just a few minutes he wants to talk to you about making a movie now I know that everybody in Hollywood wants to make a movie but uh this fellow happens to have a very good idea for one you see uh father Keller is the head of the Christophers now as uh as some of you may know the main idea behind this movement is to encourage more good decent normal people to take up careers that strongly affect the fate of this country uh like uh well like education government uh Labor Management and in the fields of writing like newspapers books magazines Motion Pictures radio and television now I I know this is a pretty big order but the Christopher movement has been sweeping the country so much so that uh it has reached a point where father Keller has been able to cover only a small portion of the invitations for talks on the Christophers and he thinks that a picture explaining the idea would be a good substitute for a talk I think it's a good idea an excellent idea father killer oh hello father father I suppose Jack told you that the chief purpose of the Christophers is to get more people of High purpose into the vital fields that affect for better for worse the lives of the majority of mankind the fields of teaching government writing labor social service and Library work and Jack mentioned that uh we were interested in one picture as a matter of fact uh I'd be interested in lots of pictures on the Christopher idea because I don't know of any medium in which we could reach the millions of people more effectively through the motion pictures uh an you seem to have a question well you know I suppose it is a good thing to get into one of those fields but father it's not quite so easy for young people to get any kind of job these days well that's just the point and as long as it is difficult why not try for a job that counts instead of just taking something that where you're filling in time between 900 and 5 why not get a job where you're doing something a job with a purpose oh a job with a purpose so you can whistle while you work yes very good an that's the way to put it whistle while you work uh but it's really much more than that too I'm convinced we're on the brink of the greatest peace the world has ever seen or the worst disaster you make it sound like a matter of life and death father but Bill I I really feel it is here we are in the greatest country in the world about the only country left intact and whether we like it or not I'm afraid as America goes so goes the world my father that's a frightening thought yes Loretta but a glorious challenge it's a wonderful time to be alive just think a little handful of people can change the whole course of history well maybe more than a handful I mean just that a handful 1% is nothing more than a handful and just think what that 1% has been doing to mess up the world and they get in the fields that count that's right right you never see any of those pardon me Father chaps out at the ball game selling hot dogs no you don't you're right you are Paul they're in there pitching call them what you like they have one thing in common they hate the basic truth from which our nation is founded that every human being is a child of God that he gets his rights from God that the purpose of state is to protect those god-given rights they every one of them get into Fields where they can eliminate that truth so the purpose of the Christopher movement is to spark enough people to get them into the same fields and work as hard to build as they do to destroy yes bill that's just it I'm really convinced that we can find enough people who will be fired with the love of God and Country who will gladly get into these vital Fields dedicate their lives and get into government and teaching and all the rest of these important spheres and work hard to keep in there that basic truth in which our country is founded to be for what these other people are against the number one item is the Declaration of Independence no that's not everything but it's mighty important I don't think many people realize the close connection that the founders of our country explicitly stated was between God and Country over and over again they emphasized that was the Cornerstone of our Liberty then four times in the Declaration of Independence they repeat it over and over again that our Liberty depends upon God that's right do you know the Declaration Paul naturally it goes as follows when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the Earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature's God entitle them remarkable Paul you're one of the first persons I've ever met that know that much of the Declaration there's something I have here I'd like to show you right in the very first sentence of the Declaration it states very explicitly that all law flows from God and then there's another reference to God in the very next sentence the very next sentence we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights amazing Paul and he knows it word for word too here's an odd thing about that second reference to God it wasn't in the first version at all it's a straight right in here it is a photostatic copy of the original draft the first version said all men are created equal and from that equal creation they derive certain inalienable rights but apparently they want to emphasize the point still more so you can see where Jefferson crossed out the phrase from that equal creation they derive certain inable rights and wrote in the phrase they are endowed by their creator with certain enable rights now that's not the only change that was made in the Declaration when it was submitted to the first Congress they made several changes several deletions but they insisted on only two additions and both those additions were referenced to God and they're both in the last paragraph uh the last paragraph the last paragraph We therefore the representatives of the United States of America in general Congress assembled appealing to the Supreme judge of the world very good Paul appealing to the Supreme judge of the world that's just the point they want to emphasize and then again in the last paragraph and for the support of this declaration with a firm Reliance on Divine Providence thanks am minion Paul you were a big help no reflection Paul but how did you learn all of that yeah I'd like to know too well the teacher used to keep me in after school a lot I bet I wrote that in the Blackboard 5,000 times I'll say this for the woman though she didn't have me writing cat and dog or Paul was a bad boy she must have a lot of that Christopher purpose we've been talking about you know that 1% a cozy group all they want to do is tear the heart out of the Declaration and that's bad enough bill but they're out to do much more than that they want to destroy the very Pursuit of Happiness the whole reason for being the joy of living that's come down through 20 centuries of Christianity and for over 3,000 years the Jews have carried the sublime truth that man is made in the image and likeness of God that he has an eternal Destiny and all of this stands out ever so much more clearly when you think of what Adolf Hitler and Karl Marx said about their idea of the worth of the human being here are Hitler's words he said to the Christian doctrine of the infinite significance of the individual human soul I oppose with icy Clarity the saving doctrine of the nothingness and insignificance of the human being and KL marks put it a slightly different way but his idea was just the same he said the Democratic concept of man is false because it is Christian the Democratic concept holds that each man is a sovereign being this is the illusion dream and postulate of Christianity then our position is Crystal Clear father we say man is a creature of God responsible to God that 1% say that man is a nobody yes just a nobody worth about $189 just a bunch of chemicals and uh they don't want men to to know his sacred worth and that's why they swarm into every feel they can to eliminate every trace of man's dignity they want to wipe it out eliminate from the face of the Earth well is it correct to say then that the Christophers are an anti-communist movement no the problem as we see it is this it's getting good people in getting the good citizen to do his part in saving our country and saving the world and so the Christopher approach emphasizes the affirmative the constructive doing something positive we say that it's much more uh important to chase good people in than is to be too preoccupied chasing evil people people out essential as that is I don't know how many of you realize it but according to Reliable estimates 60% of the parents of America don't want their own children to work for their own government can you think of any quicker way to wreck any country then on top of that a million teachers are needed in the schools of America 6,000 little public schools of Clos because of lack of teachers fewer and fewer parents are encouraging their children to take up writing careers 17,000 Librarians are needed tens of thousands in the social service field I could go on and on but it's more or less the same old story of what happened in Germany most of the good Germans wanted good government good education good everything else but they didn't want to be bothered they wanted somebody else to do it you know the old story everybody wanted to eat but nobody wanted to cook we know who wound up doing all the cooking yes Jack and the worlds had indigestion ever since the Nazis weren't strong in the beginning but they swarmed into every vital field the lines were drawn then and the lines are drawn now were either for God or against God if it's the latter we'll pay the penalty and soon William Penn said something along that line about being ruled by tyrants I remember yes he said those who are not governed by God are ruled by tyrants is that what you meant Irene yes Father something like he said was what I meant well anyhow that's where the Christopher approach comes in we feel that something can be done and soon as soon as there are more people turning on lights than there turning them off there'll be a wonderful change for the better just recently I finished a quick trip around the country I gave talks in 23 cities 95 talks a little over four weeks every place you go you find wonderful people all ready and set to do something to change the world for the better yes Father the woods are full of good people now all we have to do is get them out of the woods uh father you mentioned that you had been all over the country and you met some very fine people could you give us an example for instance of some constructive thing that has been done I certainly can Loretta I can give you hundreds of them but here's one that I think will interest you in particular I was down in Texas not long ago and I met this 23-year-old Baptist school teacher she said she'd read an article about the Christophers in a magazine and the point that she liked best was its emphasis on what little people can do to change the world world for the better she said and it was wonderful to hear the way she said it she said you know for the first time my life did I realize a little person like myself counts then she went on to explain that she was teaching in schools it was hard work and so forth but she said most of the girls I know are getting out of the teaching field they say there's not enough money in it the pay is too low well after all father they do have a point they don't make very much money do they that's s well there's something father U is it even a living wage well I think for most it is Loretta it's a living wage but for many not and that's part of our job to get a better wage for them too but this girl had a very fine solution for the present she said she was going to stay in there teaching and moreover and this was an important Point she said I'm going to become a committee of one and get as many girls as I can to get in the teaching field it was wonderful to hear her her enthusiasm and then she said I got my first recruit yesterday but father uh tell them a one about the the young fellow in the in the gas station oh yes there's a nice point to that story Jack uh this young negro student was working his way through college trying to support his family he had a job at a filling station a little bit of prejudice developed and about 10 or 12 people stopped buying gasoline uh the man who or the owner of the station was quite worried it was only a small business that he had and he felt that he had let the man go word got around and this little housewife heard about it and she felt she should do something she' caught this Christopher idea she should reach out to the world and here was a specific opportunity so in a very nice way she walked down to the station and asked if there was anything she could do and this man was so surprised he said well you're the first one that's offer to do anything everybody's complaining nobody's doing anything but she said how many customers would you lose if you kept them we said I don't know about 20 maybe she said if I go out and get you 20 new customers will you keep them he said I certainly will she went out and got 25 new customers one of the big magazines picked up the story and carried it to F at least 15 million readers I dare say that maybe a million people have done things through her example she wanted to reach the world well she did reach the world father um I read a story in Rita's digest about that Russian school teacher uh Madam kassinka wasn't that her name now wasn't that in some way connected with the Christophers I think that's an ideal story to illustrate what one little person can do some time ago I uh talked with a young couple who live on a farm in Connecticut about the Christopher idea this young couple have a uh wonderful farm six children and 64 cows and when I talked about the Christophers to this lady she said listen we got enough to do right here and furthermore we're buried off here in the middle of Connecticut and I said to her I said I don't care whether you're buried in the middle of Alaska you can still do something to help the world the world needs people like you well I thought I'd hear nothing about it 6 months later she was sitting at breakfast with her husband and read in the morning paper about this Madame cassen the russan Russian school teacher been taken a prisoner I imagine a 100 million people read about it and uh said isn't that too bad and then turn to the wine Edge or something like that you know the old story she turned to her husband she says dan we can't allow a thing like this to happen in our country let's do something about it he said fine I'm with you her brother a young lawyer came up from New York for a quiet weekend no sooner does he get in the house than Louise goes right at him she says Peter we must do something to help that poor school teacher he wants to get out of it he says forget it after all it's not our business and she turns to him she says it isn't our business if it isn't our business whose business is it well he was sparked he went right through with it he got a group in New York to help him obtain a subpoena he carried it himself over to the Russian culate he stood across the street wondering how he would ever get in the hands of the Russian Council General he was standing there hoping and praying for something to happened something did happen up drove the Russian Council General steps out of his car hurries up to the front door and fortunately he left his key inside and he rang the bell meanwhile Pete saw what was happening he rushes across the street and it was quite a job but he got the subpoena in the hands of the Russian Council General well everything began to happen the word of this uh went all over the world by radio and by strange course of events and went right into the room on the third floor of the Russian culate whether it be radio left by accident and here seated a prisoner was this Russian school teacher she told us afterwards that uh when she heard her name over the radio when she looked out and saw hundreds of people Milling around outside she came to just one conclusion somebody in America was fighting for her she didn't know who it was but it thrilled her so much she just wanted to jump into America but that how could she do that she went to the window and she looked out here she was on the third floor but that wouldn't stop her nothing was going to stop her if she could just save her life anything she saw a wire stretch across the courtyard she felt if she could only hit that might break her fall and save her she jumped she nearly tore off her hand but it broke her fall and she was very seriously injured it took her months to recover but when she did did recover she had only one request and that was to see the one person who had thought out into the world to help a little person like her oh father that's a marvelous story and that's what the Christophers can do huh I could tell you thousands of stories like these each one emphasizes over and over again the big things that little people can do I'm convinced that God will bless any old fool who will try I don't think he'll bless the smartest person in the world who says it can't be done you know our forefathers left us a wonderful pattern a Heritage we should cherish each one of us can play a part in preserving it yes you and you and you and everybody else can do something to change the world for the better father you have a customer you can count on me too father I'm in I think I can speak for everybody why not you've been doing it all evening father I think what Paul means is that you don't have to take a vote you can have a Boost from all of us here because I really believe that everybody here is thrilled with the idea that all over the country there are people simple enough and wise enough to know that if you don't belong to the Human family you don't belong to anything well in other words if you don't stand for something you fall for anything that's right Loretta very true uh father Keller there's a couple of songwriters here wrote a song they thought maybe you could use their names are Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Houston you remember they wrote that song uh would you rather swing on a star carry Moon beans home in a jar Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Houston hello father Hello Johnny Jimmy hello father oh yes um uh they brought a fell along with him that said he'd like to sing it claims he's a bear tone I didn't get his last name but his first name is Bing well hello father hello Bing well notot a major league talent you have here huh good evening father good evening B Jack hello Bing say Jack the boys here have written a song that they think uh more or less suits father Keller's purpose oh then you you know his work oh certainly good good they did Father Keller tell you about the Declaration of Independence and the pains our forefathers went to and writing this beautiful document yes he did Jack in fact that was sort of the inspiration for the song I hope it fits father in any case here it is the dream I'm building is early American something that won't go out of star it makes you feel that life's worth living the way they must have felt that first Thanksgiving you sure get sold on that early American after you look around a while so I'm building a dream for [Music] someone likes ear [Music] Amic the dream I'm building is early American something that won't go out of style it makes you feel that life's worth living the way they must have felt that first Thanksgiving you sure get sold on this early American after you look around while so I'm building a dream for some one who likes early [Music] americ think it works I think it's wonderful thank you bless you thank you Father oh here's a telegram for you father Kell oh rer thank you would you mind Holiness please H oh it's from Bob Hope he wants me to phone him Bob yeah oh I'll get him for you I'll get him on a phone see he lives right over here in North Hollywood it's no distance at all you know maybe but that telegram says from Houston Texas uh father uh don't you think it'd be better to send Bob you know write him a letter you know sometimes the written word you can get so much more out of it yeah I know how you feel Jack but Bob says phone him and right away if it makes any difference I'll be glad to oh now wait a minute no no now father please no certainly not I'll get him on the phone for you yeah what what's the number Jackson 4219 Houston Texas I know about Houston I know I oh operator I'd like to get Mr Bob Hope please in hu in in Houston Texas yeah then number is Jackson 4219 G Jack I hate to put you to this expense oh it's listen father let me explain something to you believe me on the radio you're not supposed to be a real cheap stingy character you see but that's only to get laughs that's all you know you have to get laugh but and don't confuse that with the real me because in real life I'm I'm not like that at all you know here he is Father I'm all right hello bom how are you how is it down there fine I hope to get down there myself in a few weeks how's the weather you asked him that already sure fine did Dolores go with you father ask him what he wants uh uh Bob uh I'm a Jax can you make a Snappy yes Father uhhuh I can hardly hear you well I have a little would you wait till I turn this Crosby record off just hey fellas will you pipe down what you have talking a long distance to Hollywood it's expensive how can I explain it to you Jack Ben's paying for [Music] it father I just saw a miracle must be radio fans hey father I'm sorry I wasn't at Jack Benny's house for the meeting but I just want you to know I'm behind this project for the Christophers it seems like a good idea to me getting the people back to the basic idea behind the Declaration of Independence yeah you couldn't push a better product seems to me you don't hear much anymore about the Declaration all you hear about is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights but let's not forget for a moment that they don't add up to much if you pass up the Declaration yeah and I'm sure there's a lot of folks here in Texas will be behind you it's just their dish good luck father thanks a lot I'll be seeing you bye-bye Jack I can't begin to thank you for this is marvelous don't thank me father I want to thank you for the chance to help out our on an idea as important as this and of all the things you mentioned the the one that stands out in my mind is the part about the Declaration of Independence Jack it stood out in somebody else's mind too I wanted to tell the rest about it but I didn't dare take any more their time I have a copy here of Lincoln's lost speech if I may I'd leave it with you notice his magnificent language just read a bit of that H 185 58 this was their lofty and wise and Noble understanding of the Justice of the Creator to his creatures to the whole great family of man in their enlightened belief nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trotten on and degraded and embued by its fellows now my countrymen if you have been taught doctrines which conflict with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence if you have listened to suggestions which would take from its Grandeur and mutilate the symmetry of its proportions if you have been inclined to believe that all men are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated by our Charter of Liberty let me entreat you to come back return to The Fountains whose water spring close by the blood of the Revolution think nothing of me take no thought for the political fate of any man whomsoever but come back to the truths that are in the Declaration of Independence do not destroy the immortal emblem of humanity the Declaration of Independence God bless you jack God bless you to [Music] [Applause] Rochester [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] h [Music] I