You are about to witness the very exciting story of a city and its people.
It will be an adventure that will open new sites in familiar surroundings.
It is a story of a city seeking new horizons and a resolute
contest with great challenges.
That city is Detroit, home of nearly two million people.
Back in 1701, long before this land became a nation, Cadillac
planted the colors of France on Detroit's shore.
And thus began a rich and inspiring history which has brought Detroit to its
finest hour, the today of which we are a part.
Yes, Detroit is enjoying its finest hour.
There is a renaissance, a rebirth in the city. There's a newness in Detroit.
I am honored to be serving as mayor at this most eventful and productive
period in Detroit's history.
And I'm honored to be a participant in the Detroit story.
The The The The Frequently called the most cosmopolitan city of the Midwest,
Detroit today stands at the threshold of a bright new future.
One rich with the promise of fulfillment.
In this bustling city on the streets, where British and American flags soon
followed the French, a spirit of brotherhood was born and nurtured, foreshadowing
the city's national character.
Here people from many nations have met and mixed and built a metropolis of
thriving commerce and culture.
The Detroit River flows past the city's front door.
The world's busiest waterway. This river is a vital passage to the Great Lakes
and to the St. Lawrence Seaway beyond.
Detroiters just naturally take to the water. They enjoy more sparkling pure water
than any similar area in the world.
Detroit, the crossroads of half the population of the United States is but
minutes away by Bridger Tunnel from Canada.
Between these friendly neighbors, the Detroit River forms part of the world's
longest undefended boundary.
Detroiters are responding to an exciting new vision. There is a resurgence of
civic pride and unfettered imagination.
A new renaissance is changing the face of the city.
This renaissance, seen everywhere, is the direct result of considered planning.
The applied skills of planners, idea men, organizers, builders,
Detroiters who welcome and respond to challenges.
Today they are charting new courses, taking new action, creating a new
concept of urban efficiency.
This concept of a finer Detroit takes bold new form.
Designing skill blends with imagination and experience.
Sleeves rolled up, Detroit levels and shifts and carves the
contours of a new city.
And a new spirit of progress matches the vision of its people.
New buildings put solid roots in the ground and stretch toward the sky.
Reflected here is planning with a purpose.
New office buildings alter the landscape, each in turn becoming a bright
landmark of progress.
Detroit is rebuilding to a master plan of beauty and public service.
Detroit is daring to reach up.
The inner city is becoming an exciting place to live, convenient
to shops, offices and the most modern of school.
Some Detroiters prefer to dwell in these new self-contained cities within a city,
others in new cooperatives or friendly neighborhoods.
Whatever the choice, Detroiters rate their city high for living, working
and sheer enjoyment.
Fine restaurants call you to good food.
This popular restaurant also features a breathtaking view of the city and river.
Following dinner, there's the excitement of a night on the
town. The opera perhaps.
Detroit is one of the few cities outside New York which attracts the Metropolitan
Opera year after year.
Port Auditorium, a claim for
its acoustics, is the home of Detroit's world famous symphony orchestra.
Its summer symphony, community sponsored, plays under the stars.
Detroit is an established prior to Broadway tryout town as well as a center for
many other theatrical activities.
Tryouts and top touring attractions have helped make the city second only to New
York in legitimate theater attendance.
What more fitting than that Detroit, the world's automobile capital, should hold
the world's largest automobile show?
Mammoth-Cobo Hall, geared to conventions of every kind and size, houses all kinds
of national and regional events.
But Detroit's manufacturing vision, its automotive genius, is matched by its
cultural activities too.
The Detroit Institute of Arts houses many of the world's most
famous paintings and sculpture.
Nearby is Cranbrook, where arts and sciences are taught, enhanced by gardens
and fountains of unparalleled beauty.
The Detroit Public Library houses the world famous Burton Historical Collection.
Adjacent is the Detroit Historical Museum.
And within the Metropolitan Complex stands Historic Greenfield Village, one of
the greatest tourist attractions in the United States.
The village and museum stand as an enduring monument to the genius of Henry Ford.
The typical of Detroit's many institutions of higher education, the vigorously
growing campus of Wayne State University.
Like other colleges and schools in the metropolitan area, its modern architecture
is creating a new image of beauty and function.
Medical research at Wayne State University puts Detroit in the forefront of the
never-ending battle to conquer disease.
The most modern of hospitals serve Detroit's needs.
The city's many medical facilities are soon to be joined by a magnificent new
medical center to rise on these grounds.
This, as well as the other vast reaches of the city, where once lay the ugliness,
the poverty, and sickness of slums, has been condemned and cleared.
Such progress in medical facilities and research attracts the nation's
leading doctors and surgeons.
Typical of Detroit's spiritual heritage is the painstaking restoration of
historical mariners church.
Here is reflected the city's many old and new churches and synagogues.
Detroit, an exciting place to be, to live, to grow, to work shoulder to shoulder,
regardless of national origin, color, or creed.
Detroit has earned an outstanding record in community relations, a reputation
which is nationally recognized.
Here are found 92 ethnic groups, more than in any other major American city.
A small wonder, Detroit is a foremost city in international relationships.
Detroit's progress in good ethnic relations owes a great deal to international
institute, the largest of its kind in the nation.
Here is a focal point for the multiracial strains that compose so
much of Detroit's population.
International goodwill is perhaps experienced most frequently at the border
between the United States and Canada.
Thousands go back and forth daily between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
Such comradeship is underscored by the International Freedom Festival.
Staged annually by Detroit and Windsor, crowds of over 500,000
gather on the USA and Canadian banks of the Detroit River to celebrate with a
roar the idea of freedom.
Like a stout heart within the city is Detroit industry, the vital pulse beat
of technology and resources which has put the world on wheels.
Detroit's strategic location, its reservoir of know-how, its ability to deliver
manpower, places it in the vanguard of choice spots in which to
build, manufacture, and expand.
Industry, backed by research and depth, proves Detroit is ever seeking the new
way, the better way. Detroit shares, indeed leads in each forward stride
today as it builds for an even more prosperous tomorrow.
With all the city's dedication to getting things done, Detroiters also know how
to temper work with play. Beautiful beaches beckon its people to sun
and sand and water.
The world's largest freshwater beach is but minutes
away from the heart of the city.
A day at the zoo, the Detroit Zoological Park ranks with the finest in the world.
Detroiters love sports and Detroit provides an abundance of facilities as befits
a sports-minded town. Here is what the late president, John F. Kennedy, said
about Detroit as it bid for the 1968 Olympic Games.
The United States Olympic Committee has chosen Detroit, Michigan as its nominee
for the 1968 Olympic Games. Should Detroit be selected as a result of your
deliberations in Baden-Baden, I want to assure you of the warmest and most
cordial welcome in the United States. Detroit is the center of a great sports
community in central United States.
We are anxious to open our doors in this section of the country and indeed
throughout the entire United States to you all to share our nation and our
hospitality with participants and spectators from all over the world.
I appreciate this opportunity to appear before you. And may all of you have the
wisdom of scribe to the Olympian gods in arriving at your very difficult
decision. Thank you.
A strenuous pace is balanced by moments of relaxation and serenity.
Detroiters enjoy their water wonderland and their winter wonderland as well.
Detroit's beautiful Island Park, Belle Isle, and many other wooded parks put
playgrounds virtually at every front door. Detroiters not only participate, they
are avid and vocal fans as well. Detroit is fiercely proud of its Tigers and just
as partisan about its Lions.
The Detroit Red Wings are internationally famous.
The Pistons have made basketball a favorite of many Detroiters. Many facilities,
arenas, and tracks make Detroit a great hometown for sports lovers of every bent.
Whether you come to live, to work, to visit, to attend a convention, to
establish a business, to build things, Detroit is unsurpassed
for opportunity and growth.
The friendliness of its people reaches out. The warmth of the city, the
excitement of change, the dedication to progress, social, spiritual, cultural,
and material is equaled only by its 20th century vision.
The city on the Straits welcomes you to share that vision as it continues to
plan, to build, and yes, to dream.