aid institutions of higher education to provide better programs for educating teachers. The National Teacher Corps draws on that spirit of dedication of Americans which has been demonstrated time and again in peace and war, by young and old, at home and abroad. It will provide a challenge and an opportunity for teachers with a sense of missionthose best suited to the momentous tasks this Nation faces in improving education. The National Teacher Corps can help improve the quality of teaching where quality is most needed and most often in short supply— in city slums and in areas of rural poverty. It will enroll experienced teachers and, to work with them, students who intend to make teaching a career. They will teach in local schools at the request of local communities and will serve on the same terms as local teachers. They will be local, not Federal, employees. The fellowships are essential if teaching is to attract a higher proportion of our ablest young people, and if the best teaching is to prevail in the classroom. Students preparing for teaching in these days should have superior graduate training. Teaching is a difficult job at best; the more preparation for it, the better. The desire of classroom teachers to replenish their skills and knowledge is not only to be applauded but aided. As revolutionary changes take place in all subjects and at all levels of learning, there is a limit to the sacrifice we can ask of our teachers in their efforts to renew their knowledge. Finally, I propose a program of grants to help institutions of higher education offer first-rate programs to would-be teachers as well as to experienced teachers. This measure, coupled with the fellowship program and the National Teacher Corps, completes a program which is entitled to be called the Teaching Professions Act of 1965. The Teaching Professions Act of 1965 is a composite of hard thinking about educational problems in the Congress, in the executive branch, and in the teaching profession. It owes much to the proposals of Senators Gaylord Nelson and Edward Kennedy for a National Teacher Corps, to Senators Wayne Morse and Clifford Case and Representatives Carl Perkins and John Brademas for a program of fellowships for teachers, and to Representative Patsy Mink for a program of Federal grants to teachers for sabbatical leaves. This bill will deepen the meaning and substance of the already impressive work of the 88th and 89th Congresses in the field of education. I have concluded that it is of sufficient urgency to justify action by this session of the Congress. The problems which face us in education do not grow smaller as time goes by; neither should our determination to attack and solve those problems. I commend to you the Teaching Professions Act of 1965, and hope that you will give it speedy consideration. HH. REMARKS UPON SIGNING THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES BILL, SEPTEMBER 29, 1965 In the long history of man, countless empires and nations have come and gone. Those which created no lasting works of art are reduced today to short footnotes in history's catalog. Art is a nation's most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves, and to others, the inner vision which guides us as a nation. And where there is no vision, the people perish. We in America have not always been kind to the artists and the scholars who are the creators and the keepers of our vision. Somehow, the scientists always seem to get the penthouse, while the arts and the humanities get the basement. Last year, for the first time in our history, we passed legislation to start changing that situation. We created the National Council on the Arts. The talented and the distinguished members of that Council have worked very hard. They have worked creatively. They have dreamed dreams and they have developed ideas. This new bill, creating the National Foundation for the Arts and the Humanities, gives us the power to turn some of those dreams and ideas into reality. We would not have that bill but for the hard and the thorough and the dedicated work of some great legislators in both Houses of the Congress. All lovers of art are especially indebted to Congressman Adam Clayton Powell of New York, to Congressman Frank Thompson of New Jersey, to Senator Lister Hill of Alabama, to Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, to many Members of both the House and Senate who stand with me on this platform today-too many names to mention. But these men and women have worked long and hard and effectively to give us this bill. And now we have it. Let me tell you what we are going to do with it. Working together with the State and the local governments, and with many private organizations in the artsWe will create a National Theater to bring ancient and modern classics of the theater to audiences all over America. We will support a National Opera Company and a National Ballet Company. We will create an American Film Institute, bringing together leading artists of the film industry, outstanding educators, and young men and women who wish to pursue the 20th century art form as their life's work. We will commission new works of music by American composers. We will bring more great artists to our schools and universities by creating grants for their time in residence. But those are only a small part of the programs that we are ready to begin. They will have an unprecedented effect on the arts and the humanities of our great Nation. But these actions, and others soon to follow, cannot alone achieve our goals. To produce true and lasting results, our States and our municipalities, our schools and our great private foundations, must join forces with us. It is in the neighborhoods of each community that a nation's art is born. In countless American towns there live thousands of obscure and unknown talents. What this bill really does is to bring active support to this great national asset, to make fresher the kinds of art in this great land of ours. The arts and the humanities belong to the people, for it is, after all, the people who create them. II. REMARKS TO THE PRESIDENT'S CONSUMER ADVISORY COUNCIL, OCTOBER 15, 1965 * (Delivered by Vice President Humphrey) (Excerpts) Since the Council (of Economic Advisers) was established, still other significant developments benefited consumers: The Office of Economic Opportunity has made 17 grants, totaling over $893,000, for the development of consumer education programs throughout the country. Through the Committee on Consumer Interests, Federal agencies will continue to call on the Consumer Advisory Council for expert and timely advice on specific issues. The Consumer Advisory Council can render valuable assistance by recommending further steps: To improve consumer education in the Nation's schools; To meet the information needs of modern-day consumers; and To take a fresh look at how adequately the Federal Government is equipped to serve and protect the consumer interest. * JJ. REMARKS ON SIGNING THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE AMENDMENTS, OCTOBER 22, 1965 The record of the 89th Congress is impressive in every field-and monumental in the field of health. This is the Congress which achieved medicare; the heart, cancer, and stroke amendments; the Community Mental Health Centers Act. This is the Congress which gave to the American people the Community Health Services Extension Act, the health research facilities amendments, and many others, To that record, we add today the health professions educational assistance amendments. Two years ago, Congress acknowledged our tremendous need for more doctors by passing the Health Professions Assistance Act, which provided funds for constructing medical teaching facilities; it established loans to students preparing for the health professions and in 2 years it helped create 2,000 new openings in medical and related schools. But the need for qualified health professionals is still acute. If we are to begin to meet our health needs, we must educate 50 percent more doctors by 1975, and we must double the annual graduation rate for dentists. By 1971, we must increase by at least 3,500 the capacity of our schools to receive first-year students. Today at least 10 medical schools are too poorly financed to continue providing acceptable education without assistance; at least 3 dental schools are on probationary status, in danger of losing their accreditation. Two schools of optometry also face loss of accredita tion. Because of prohibitive costs, a student from a poor family, no matter how impressive his talents, stands a far smaller chance of becoming a doctor or dentist than the child of a wealthier family. Fortynine percent of medical students come from families with annual incomes of $10,000 or more; almost 30 percent come from families making $15,000 or more per year. of More than four out of five students in science receive grants to assist their study, yet less than one-third of American medical students receive such aid. The needy student, looking toward the long years financial hardship in obtaining a medical education, frequently turns to graduate study in science, simply because the opportunities for financial assistance are greater. Thus the medical professions lose the services of many who might become talented-and sorely needed— doctors and dentists. The bill which I sign today will spur the attack on these serious shortages: It extends construction grants to public and nonprofit medical schools to increase student capacity. It extends a loan program to help thousands of needy students toward medical education. It authorizes a new program of basic and special improvement grants to enable schools of medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, optometry, and podiatry, many of which have borne heavy financial burdens at the expense of academic standards, to improve their teaching. Finally, it authorizes a new program of scholarships for students in these schools and in schools of pharmacy. I take pride in signing this measure. It symbolizes our national investment in the health and active life of every citizen-an investment which pays rich dividends in our people's productivity and happiness. KK. REMARKS ON SIGNING A BILL TO PROVIDE FEDERAL FUNDS FOR MEDICAL LIBRARIES, OCTOBER 22, 1965 The volume of published research in the field of medicine doubles every 10 years. Such a tremendous expansion of knowledge is cumulative; it feeds upon itself-no one can predict when a key discovery will be made which will unlock a whole new chain of knowledge. This creative process cannot go on unless the results of scientific work are available to practicing physicians and to health workers across the country. The Nation's medical libraries are a vital link between medical education, practice, and research. Yet in past years we have given too little attention to the problems of collecting and sharing scientific knowledge. This measure provides long-needed support for our medical libraries. It will furnish space and facilities for dealing with the massive body of published information. It will advance the processing, storage, and retrieval of material vitally needed by health professionals. It will help us to overcome the shortage of personnel trained in science information technology. Its result, ultimately, will be not only an increase in the growth and spread of scientific knowledge, but a gain in health and well-being of the American people. LL. REMARKS ON SIGNING THE SCHOOL DISASTER AID ACT, NOVEMBER 1, 1965 The legislation, I have approved today-H.R. 9022, the School Disaster Aid Act-recognizes a national responsibility to share the burden of assisting schools in communities which are struck by major dis asters. It recognizes that we must not allow the unpredictable forces of nature to disrupt the education which our children so vitally need. In early September I saw with my own eyes the terrible devastation that was visited upon the Mississippi Delta region by a great storm. Members of the Congress accompanied me to that ravaged area. Every community in America poured out its sympathy. We all know only too well that there is not a region of this country which can be confident that it will not suffer from an uncontrollable and unforeseeable catastrophe. Flooding in the Mississippi Delta, or an earthquake in Alaska-these events are an inevitable consequence of man's continual battle with nature. We are, and we should be, concerned when any school is put out of operation by a disaster. This bill will augment the assistance now being advanced to schools in major disaster areas by the Federal Government under the Federal Disaster Act (Public Law 81-875). The Nation will lend a helping hand as local communities rebuild schools damaged by hurricane, flood, or earthquake; as they replace books and desks and essential tools of learning; as they return school operations to normal after a great catastrophe. This new authority is limited to disasters occurring within a 2-year period and we will carefully examine its operation in relation to other disaster assistance programs to determine whether it should later be continued or revised. Physically handicapped and mentally retarded children will be aided by this bill which extends the benefits of the new Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to schools for deaf, speechimpaired, visually handicapped, emotionally disturbed, and crippled children. These children require special education programs which are extremely costly. It is fitting that we should recognize this need and assist our States and local school districts to educate all their children-even these for whom education is so difficult and expensive to provide. I am particularly pleased that Congress included this provision in the bill. This bill also includes an amendment to the impacted areas education legislation (Public Law 81-874) which will provide funds to schools attended by substantial numbers of children of the military and civilian personnel of the Federal Government on the same basis for our large cities as for our smaller communities. Both large and small school districts will now be eligible for impacted areas aid if 3 percent of the children in the schools are there because of the Federal Government's activities in the area. |