IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed. DONE on this twenty-sixth day of October in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-first. [SEAL] LYNDON B. JOHNSON. UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE The President's Message to the 14th UNESCO General Conference in Paris. October 28, 1966 As you review twenty years of achievement and set your course for the future, I send warm greetings to the 14th UNESCO General Conference. In a world where there is too much want and too much ignorance, you are helping build a better life for all men based on education and on progress in science and the arts. of In a world strained with mistrust and conflict, you are helping to build peace. Your work is founded on the conviction that peace must mean more than the absence of conflict: it must mean the justice and wider opportunities for human fulfillment. The American people support these goals. presence What we achieve together can give reality to our common dream; a worldwide human fraternity, based on mutual understanding and respect and living in peace. HEALTH AND EDUCATION LEGISLATION The President's Remarks Upon Signing Four Bills. November 3, 1966 "Mr. Vice President, Secretary Gardner, distinguished Members of the Congress, ladies and gentlemen: Thomas Jefferson once said: "The disease of liberty is catching. Our function is to maintain its vitality here... so that we will be the nucleus of a great army of people the globe around who desire to follow the same road we follow." Well, I have just returned from a 31,500-mile trip throughout the Pacific. I visited seven nations. I saw more than 5 million people. And I can tell you that the words of Thomas Jefferson spoke more than 100 years ago are truer today than they were when he spoke them. I cannot think of a better homecoming for an American President than to be standing here in the East Room this morning-less than 24 hours after my return-to sign four landmark health and education bills. These four bills will help us maintain our vitality here at home. They will act as a beacon of hope to our friends around the world. Today, thanks to our great 89th Congress, American boys and girls can look forward to the future with renewed hope. We have made the greatest national commitment to education in our history through our Federal Government. That commitment says that every American child will have all the education that he can take, that he can absorb. He will have it from the best teachers that any enlightened nation can train. He will have it with the best facilities that a rich nation can afford. That commitment begins with the kindergarten. It extends through the university, and even beyond. There is not a classroom or a library or a laboratory or teacher or researcher or a student or a scholar that will not benefit from these measures that we are signing this morning. These benefits have already begun. But with the two education bills that I am signing today, we are enlarging and greatly extending those benefits. These measures are a great national investment in the education of the people of America. The other two measures that we are here to sign are equally important investments in the health of the people of America. For the Congress in its wisdom has also acted to match the achievements of modern medicine with the needs of our people. Thanks to the great 89th Congress, every older American can now live out his life without the fear that serious illness will leave him destitute. Thanks to the great 89th Congress, we have already launched an allout attack on the three largest killers of the people of America: heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Thanks to the great 89th Congress, 20 million children have already been vaccinated against disease that would cripple their bodies. The two measures I am signing today build on these great beginnings. The point I want to make, and I want to constantly make it, and reiterate it: We are not just-during these days-talking about doing these things. We are not just talking about our hopes. We are doing them. And every Member of the Congress from both parties who has participated and who has supported these programs ought to be recognized. The people of this country ought to know that we are getting action. The two measures that I am signing today build on these great beginnings. First we have the Comprehensive Health Planning Act. Modern medicine has produced miracle drugs which attack dozens of diseases all at once. But our health services and our health programs are still trying to deal piecemeal with one affliction after another. So this act will broaden the whole base of our State and local health programs. It will bring them into line with the achievements of the 20th century medicine. The second act will help our hardworking doctors and our overburdened hospitals. It will train thousands of our health workers and other technicians that are desperately needed in every hospital, in every clinic, and in every doctor's office in this country. The ideal of a sound mind and a sound body is as old as civilization itself. The four measures that the President will shortly sign will bring us closer to that goal than men have ever come before. I see in this room a great many of the progressive legislators who have labored for this cause through the years. I commend them on finally reaching the day when we enacted this legislation. I am very happy to observe that the man who will execute and translate these words into actions has been planning in this field for many years. President Eisenhower had a commission created in 1960 to explore and to make recommendations. The head of that commission was Mr. John W. Gardner. Mr. Gardner today as a member of my Cabinet will have a chance to carry into execution some of the plans that he advocated. I am happy to observe Mr. George Meany here on the front row this morning. Because for all these years that he has been working in behalf of the laboring men of this country, he has realized that there is not anything more important to human beings in this country than the education of their children and the health of their bodies. So this is a great day for me. It is good to be back. It is good to have all of you here, particularly those of you who chair the committees, who belong to the committees, who have made it possible for us to sign this legislation. Even though it is close to the election, I want to observe that a great deal of this legislation which has been produced in the 89th Congress has been bipartisan legislation-supported by members of both parties. I have always felt that if we did what was best for America, we would do what is best for ourselves. Thank you very much. DEMONSTRATION CITIES AND CLEAN WATER RESTORATION BILLS Advance Text of the President's Remarks Upon Signing the Bills Into Law. November 3, 1966 Poor children can have a rain-free roof over their heads and a rat-proof bedroom to sleep in. Our families can live in decent communities where green parks and open spaces will inspire their pride and enrich their lives. Our unemployed citizens can come off the welfare rolls and onto the payrolls. All of our citizens can have the schools, the transportation, the medical care, and the recreation that spell the difference between despair and the good life. EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIC, AND CULTURAL MATERIALS IMPORTATION ACT OF 1966 By the President of the United States of America a Proclamation WHEREAS Section 2 of the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Materials Importation Act of 1966, approved October 14, 1966 (Public Law 89-651), provides that the Act shall become effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after a date proclaimed by the President, which date shall be within a period of three months after the date on which the United States instrument of ratification of the Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials (commonly referred to as the Florence Agreement) shall have been deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations; and WHEREAS such instrument of ratification was deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on November 2, 1966: Now, THEREFORE, I, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the Statutes of the United States, including Section 2 of the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Materials Importation Act of 1966, do proclaim that that Act shall become effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after February 1, 1967. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed. DONE at the City of Washington this third day of November in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninetyfirst. [SEAL] LYNDON B. JOHNSON. THE PRESIDENT'S NEWS CONFERENCE OF NOVEMBER 6, 1966 THE PRESIDENT. Good morning, ladies and gentleman. Secretary Gardner flew down to visit me yesterday afternoon and we spent some time reviewing various plans and proposals in the area of health, education, and welfare. This is one of my favorite subjects and I asked the Secretary to join us here today. As I have told you, other Cabinet officers will be coming prior to the operation this week. As you know, the HEW is the second largest department in the entire Federal Government. Within the past 2 years, HEW has launched more than forty programs in education and health alone. This is a considerable number of new programs for any depart ment. At my request, Secretary Gardner has been reviewing ways to streamline the Department and to make it more modern and efficient, and economical in its operation. Dr. Gardner has submitted to me some very far-reaching proposals for major reorganizations of the Health, Education, and Welfare Department. In general, I believe they are worthy of very serious consideration. I have asked Director Schultze, of the Budget Bureau, and members of my White House staff to join the Secretary in giving these most careful study. Last Friday I met with Secretary Gardner's task force on nursing homes that I asked to be set up some time ago. I asked him to develop a radical new program for care of the elderly and to call on the best architects available in America to create designs for these homes. The Secretary expects this task force to work out a plan involving Federal, State, and local participation, along with private enterprise, to provide much better care for our senior citizens. We want the nursing home to be a place of comfort and not a prison for the old. We reviewed my directive to give top priority in Federal programs for producing health workers. The Secretary predicts that total training and retraining in these vital occupations will almost doubleduring this coming year. The Secretary gave me an excellent report on the launching of the teaching corps last night. He believes it has already proven its value in getting dedicated young teachers to go into the slum schools. He recommends that we triple the size of the Teacher Corps in the next year. The Secretary brought me some bad news as well as good. He estimates one million students will drop out of school this year, 3 out of 10 will not finish high school. Eleven million American adults have not completed sixth grade education. Three million are totally illiterate. It costs us about $37 billion a year in lost earning capacity. So I urge the parents of America to help us stop this. I urge the students to get more education and to stay in school. And I warn the educators and religious leaders of America of their need to modernize and improve programs to appeal to our young people. Otherwise, delinquency and crime will continue to increase. Dr. Gardner reported that the United States ranks 11th among the nations in infant mortality. * DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC EDUCATION ACT Statement by the President Upon Signing the Bill Providing for the Federal City College and the Washington Technical Institute. November 7, 1966 At last, public higher education is coming to the Nation's Capital. The District of Columbia Public Education Act, which I have signed today, is a landmark. No longer will District children be denied the opportunity, available to high school graduates in every State, to continue their education after high school in a publicly supported institution. When the Federal City College and the Washington Technical Institute open their doors, a longstanding educational inequity will be eliminated. Higher education is the key that unlocks many doors today; a high school diploma, too often, is not enough. Opportunities must be available at a minimum cost for every young person to continue his education to the limit of his capacity. Similar opportunities must be available for adults who seek to upgrade and update their skills. The two new educational institutions will provide these educational opportunities. They will offer programs in the arts and sciences as well as vocational and technical training programs. I pledge the full support of the Federal Government in making these institutions not only a success, but a model for the Nation. I wish to commend Senator Morse and Representative Ancher Nelsen, Congressman Powell, Congresswoman Green, and the many others 72-954 0-67-pt. 1-28 |