administration of justice in the District of Columbia made by the courts or the Judicial Council and to take appropriate action to implement them. CORRECTIONS We must make improvements in the rehabilitation of the convicted offender. The report of the Crime Commission makes clear that the problem which the District faces is not too much probation and parole. The Crime Commission's report revealed that two-thirds of those convicted of felonies in the District have already served at least one prison term. In addition, the Commission found that more than onehalf of the felony offenders were unemployed when they committed their most recent crime. No matter how long the sentences, most prisoners will eventually be returned to the community. The quality of the help they receive in prison and after release in building new lives for themselves makes the critical difference. The District's correctional system is in need of modern facilities, more specialized personnel to provide counseling and vocational training, "halfway" houses to provide support during the critical release period, and community support to provide employment for persons with criminal records. The budget I have recommended to the Congress will permit the District to begin to overcome these deficiencies and to plan to meet the needs of the future. It will— Permit planning of a modern detention, diagnostic, and treatment facility to replace the District jail and the District receiving home. Allow closer supervision and improved counseling, training, and employment services for prisoners before and after release. Provide greater services for youth offenders and an expanded work-training program to assist in the transition from jail to meaningful employment. I strongly urge prompt and favorable action on these recommendations. 1 also recommend that the Federal Prison Industries be authorized to manage and operate the industrial program of the District's correctional institutions. This agency, which has an enviable record of success in Federal prisons, will provide valuable assistance to the District in improving prison vocational training and employment opportunities. This is the immediate battle plan in a total campaign to assure law and order for the District. Some parts require legislation. Some require funds. Some require improvements in procedures that courts, agencies, and administrators can themselves put into effect. A failure on any front in this war weakens the efforts on all the others. Every course must be pursued. We must not fail. I pledge myself—and I urge the Congress-to take every step which is necessary to ultimate success in our drive against crime. We must pursue every avenue and use every weapon which holds promise of advancing this effort. We will need the total commitment and cooperation of every man and woman in the District, if we are to have city where civic order and social justice prevail. As I said in my message on crime in America, "Public order is the first business of government." III. THE DISTRICT AS THE CAPITAL The District, as the Nation's Capital, must be able to serve the national purpose for which it was founded. Its great avenues must be preserved as a tribute to the past and an inspiration for the future. It should afford unparalleled opportunities for the great scholars of the country and the world. It must make every effort to meet the needs of emissaries from abroad. It must continually explore new ways to improve its overloaded transportation facilities. PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE COMMISSION Pennsylvania Avenue, the District's most important thoroughfare. is the symbolic link between the White House and the Capitol. Throughout our history it has been the scene of ceremonies celebrating our triumphs and our tragedies. Yet it has been allowed to wear down and become unworthy of its role. A temporary Commission created by Executive order is now engaged in bringing to the avenue the dignity and grandeur which it should have. I recommend that the Congress support these efforts by prompt approval of the bill establishing a statutory Commission on Pennsylvania Avenue. WOODROW WILSON CENTER FOR SCHOLARS The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Commission, created by the Congress in 1961, recently recommended the establishment of a Center for Scholars at Market Square as a living memorial to that great President. The proposal of the Woodrow Wilson Commission has much to commend it. Because of its broad educational aspects, I am appointing the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to the temporary Commission on Pennsylvania Avenue. I am asking him, in consultation with the Commission, to conduct a study to develop a detailed proposal for the Center. When that study is completed, I will make further recommendations to the Congress. It is my hope that the Center will serve as a place for bringing together scholars and students from other countries to increase understanding among peoples of the world, as well as an important educational institution. INTERNATIONAL CENTER For the District to serve its purpose as the Nation's Capital, it must provide for the representatives of foreign governments and international organizations. Increasingly, the unavailability of space for the legitimate needs of foreign governments is becoming a matter of concern. Many new countries require but have been unable to secure adequate space for their chanceries. Many older countries which are seeking larger quarters are having similar difficulties. The problem has become an unnecessary irritant in our international relationships. I recommend legislation which, consistent with the legitimate interests of District citizens, would specify an area northwest of Washington Circle to be available for foreign chanceries and the offices of international organizations. The bill would authorize the Federal Government to acquire land in this area for appropriate disposition, as the Secretary of State may determine, to foreign governments and international organizations. TRANSPORTATION CENTER Last year, important decisions by the Congress and by local government agencies cleared the way for the development of highway and mass transit systems required to handle the growing transportation needs of the National Capital region. Meanwhile, the National Capital Planning Commission is recommending that a major transportation center be developed in the vicinity of the Union Station where railroads, mass transit, and highways will come together. I am asking the Planning Commission to take the lead, in cooperation with other agencies, to conduct a detailed study of this recommendation and to determine how such a center might be designed and brought into being. This study will be closely coordinated with the planning for the visitors center which the Congress has already authorized. CONCLUSION It will not be easy to achieve our goal for the Nation's Capital-a city in which all Americans can take pride. The problems to which this message is primarily directed better government and crimewill not be solved over night. Dedicated and persistent efforts by private citizens, private organizations, private businesses, and by the District and Federal Government will be required. The task is difficult and success will take time. We must-and we will-succeed. THE WHITE HOUSE, February 27, 1967. LYNDON B. JOHNSON. REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 3 OF 1967 TO PROVIDE A JUNE 1, 1967.-Referred to the Committee on Government Operations, and ordered to be printed U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1967 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL To the Congress of the United States: I am transmitting Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 to provide a better government for the citizens of the Nation's Capital. The explosive growth of the District of Columbia challenges the city on every front-from schools and hospitals, courts and police, to housing and transportation, recreation and job opportunities. If the District is to meet these tests and fulfill the needs of its citizens, it must, as I said in my message on the National Capital, "have the most responsive and efficient government we are capable of providing.' The plan I submit today is more than a matter of routine reorganization. Its vital purpose is to bring Twentieth Century government to the Capital of this Nation: to strengthen and modernize the government of the District of Columbia; to make it as efficient and effective as possible. The present form of District government was designed almost a century ago for a community of 150,000 people. The District government then employed less than 500 persons and administered a budget of less than four million dollars. Today Washington has a population of 800,000. It is the center of the country's fastest growing metropolitan area with a population of 2.5 million. The District's Government now employs some 30,000 people and the proposed 1968 budget is more than half a billion dollars. The machinery designed more than 90 years ago to govern a small community is now obsolete. The commission form of governmentunorthodox when the Congress accepted it as a temporary measure in 1874-provides neither effective nor efficient government for the Nation's Capital. That form of government has long since been abandoned by the few cities which adopted it around the turn of the century. Today none of the Nation's 27 largest cities and only two of the country's 47 cities with populations exceeding 300,000 have a government of divided authority. The District of Columbia is governed by three Commissioners. Each Commissioner is the chief executive-the mayor-but for only a part of the government. Yet, the problems of the District of Columbia, like those of any major city, cannot be neatly broken into three parts. Any effort to control crime, for example, cuts across virtually every function of government from police and corrections to housing, education, health and employment. An effective attack on the problem requires action by two or more Commissioners and the Departments for which they are separately responsible-a time-consuming and often costly process. The District has been fortunate in the caliber and dedication of the men who have served as Commissioners, but it can no longer afford divided executive authority. Its government must be able to respond promptly and effectively to new demands and new conditions. This |