culture, our State universities and land-grant colleges, and the most creative of our people in agriculture, marketing, and industry. Foreign aid cannot succeed if we view it as a job for government alone. For government can only do a small part on the job. We must bring to bear on the problems of the developing world, the knowledge and skills and good judgment of people from all walks of American life. The Agency for International Development provides the means for utilizing the resources of private business, of our universities and colleges, of farm groups, labor unions, banks, cooperatives, savings and loan associations, and professional groups. * We are making a special effort to encourage private enterprise in the developing countries, through- Technical assistance for private enterprise; Productivity centers and schools of business administration for training in management and new techniques; Commodity loans to provide materials and parts for private business: Loans to industrial development banks and agricultural credit banks; * Loans to private business. E. MESSAGE RELATIVE TO THE STATE OF OUR DEFENSES, JANUARY 18, 1965 It is imperative that our men in uniform have the necessary background and training to keep up with the complexities of the everchanging military, political, and technical problems they face each day. To insure this, the Secretary of Defense is undertaking a study of military education to make certain that the education available to our service men and women at their academies, at their war colleges, and at the command and staff colleges, is excellent in its quality. In recent years large numbers of volunteers have been rejected by the military services because of their failure to meet certain mental or physical standards, even though many of their deficiencies could have been corrected. To broaden the opportunity for service and increase the supply of potentially qualified volunteers, the Army is planning to initiate an experimental program of military training, education, and physical rehabilitation for men who fail at first to meet minimum requirements for service. This pilot program, which will involve about 10,000 men in 1965, will establish how many of these young volunteers can be upgraded so as to qualify for service. * F. INAUGURAL ADDRESS, JANUARY 20, 1965 (Excerpts) * In a great land of learning and scholars, young people must be taught to read and write. * * * * * Liberty was the second article of our covenant. It was self-government. It was our Bill of Rights. But it was more. America would be a place where each man could be proud to be himself: stretching his talents, rejoicing in his work, important in the life of his neighbors and his Nation. This has become more difficult in a world where change and growth seem to tower beyond the control, and even the judgment, of men. We must work to provide the knowledge and the surroundings which can enlarge the possibilities of every citizen. We have discovered that every child who learns, every man who finds work, every sick body that is made whole-like a candle added to an altar-brightens the hope of all the faithful. * For myself, I ask only, in the words of an ancient leader: "Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this, thy people, that is so great?" G. BUDGET MESSAGE, JANUARY 25, 1965 (Excerpts) Fourth, expanded programs and higher expenditures are proposed to: Provide better and more education for our children. My budgets for both 1965 and 1966 have provided for major increases in areas of high national priority-particularly education, health, aid to the needy, housing, and the war on poverty. *** * * ** The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 rededicated the Nation to a vigorous attack on the causes of the poverty which grips onefifth of our population-including 15 million children. Our objective is to mobilize local, State, and Federal resources in a coordinated effort. to assist the poor-especially children and youth-to achieve a better life. The 1966 budget provides for almost doubling the new obligational authority and quadrupling the expenditures for this effort. These funds will Support 300 urban and rural community action programs. Provide work opportunities, remedial education, and vocational training for 330,000 youths in the Job Corps and the Neighborhood Youth Corps. Provide work-study opportunities for 100,000 needy college students and work experience for 110,000 unemployed adults. Support the Volunteers in Services to America (VISTA); finance literacy training for adults; and assist migrant workers, farmers, and other low-income rural families. To improve health care and facilities for the American people, the 1966 budget includes new proposals for: Hospital insurance for the aged under social security. Multipurpose regional medical centers to provide the most advanced diagnosis and treatment for heart disease, cancer, stroke, and other major diseases. * Grants for operating expenses of medical and dental schools. Improvements are also needed in our public assistance and manpower training programs. Recommendations will also be made to broaden the Manpower Development and Training Act and increase the Federal share of project costs to 90 percent from the 66 percent which would go into effect under present law in 1966. Education: Among the unfinished tasks of our Nation, the improvement of education deserves first priority. It is our primary weapon in the war on poverty and the principal tool for building a Great Society. This budget recognizes the increasing Federal responsibility to expand educational opportunity for all people and at all levels. It provides an increase in 1966 of over 60 percent in new obligational authority and over 75 percent in outlays. The programs of the Office of Education alone are more than doubled in 1966. The 88th Congress enacted more education legislation than any previous Congress. About 30 percent of the estimated increase in expenditures for education in 1966 is to carry out the Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963, the Vocational Education Act of 1963, the Library Services and Construction Act of 1964, and the National Defense Education Act Amendments of 1964. But much remains to be done. Federal aid to meet critical needs in elementary and secondary education has not been enacted. Such aid is vital if we are to end the situation in which children are handicapped for life because they happen to live in communities which cannot support good schools. The program I am proposing emphasizes assistance to improve elementary and secondary education, particularly for children who live in poverty. It will step up research in education and help schools and communities to provide wider educational opportunities for all. It will also strengthen higher education by expanding assistance to colleges and to college students. My proposals were presented more fully in a special message on education. I also propose to expand present programs of support for academic research and science education. In 1966, expenditures by the National Science Foundation will increase by 25 percent, primarily to help provide an adequate rate of growth in Federal support for basic research in universities. Consistent with these objectives, I recommend that the Congress remove its restrictions on payments to universities for indirect costs of research grants. H. MESSAGE RELATIVE TO FARM PROGRAM, FEBRUARY 4, 1965 Rural people lag almost 2 years behind urban residents in educational attainment. They often suffer from a lower quality of education. Per pupil expenditures for elementary and secondary education in rural school districts are substantially below expenditures in urban districts. * * * * These deficiencies feed on one another. They leave too few resources to support education, health, and other public services essential to development of the talent, skills, and earning power of the people. * * * * * These facts require a national policy for rural America with parity of opportunity as its goal. There has been a steady migration from our countryside. In the 1950's more than half of America's rural counties suffered a population loss. But farmers who are handicapped by poor health, age, or lack of skill in any occupation outside of farming and who leave their home communities for want of opportunity often create new problems for themselves, for the communities they leave, and for the cities which receive them. When people move away from rural areas, the area suffers. Migration leaves vacant stores, abandoned churches, empty schoolrooms, declining tax bases, and a declining ability to support a minimum level of public service. This is what we need to have parity of opportunity for rural Americans: National economic prosperity to increase their employment opportunities; Full access to education, training, and health services to expand their earning power; and Economic development of smaller and medium-sized communities to insure a healthy economic base for rural America. * * * * * Many other activities of the Government are assisting businessmen and farmers to revive dying economies and raise the level of public services in rural areas. These include aid for community facilities, employment services, health and education programs, small business loans, job training, and development of outdoor recreation. Yet gaps remain between the levels of living in rural America and those of urban America; in income, in education, in housing, in health and sanitation facilities. Parity of opportunity remains a distant hope for many. It is a challenge we must meet head on. In my earlier messages to the Congress, particularly those on education and health, I have proposed measures to assist those areas of our country and those families most in need, both urban and rural. It is not easy to equitably distribute Federal assistance to a scattered rural population. Rural communities often lack the specialized organizations found in major cities which keep informed of development programs and initiate action to make use of them. Special measures must be taken both by the States, and by Federal agencies to reach rural people, particularly in remote areas. * We have the opportunity now to provide the means by which people in rural towns and on inadequate farms can join the march toward a better life. We must seize this opportunity. Our agricultural abundance has also made possible the food stamp, school lunch, surplus food distribution, and special milk programs. These projects are essential to our needy people and to our schoolchildren. Research and education, credit and conservation, and price stabilization have all served us well. They have benefited all Americans, though they were designed as programs for farmers. * Our programs should provide efficient family farmers an opportunity to earn parity of income; assist those small farmers who have little chance to enlarge their operations but whose age, physical handicap, or lack of education, prevent their shifting to other employment; and assist those farm families who seek to enlarge their productive resources in order to obtain a decent living and have the opportunity and capacity to do so. As I pointed out in my message on foreign aid, we must use both our agricultural abundance and our technical skills in agriculture to assist the developing nations to stand on their own feet. Under our assistance programs we will make full use of the agricultural knowhow in the Department of Agriculture and in the land-grant colleges and State universities. We will enlist the support and cooperation of private agencies and enterprises of all kinds. ***Research and education must continue to speed our progress in agriculture, to insure the protection of consumers, and to make full opportunity more than a distant hope. * * * * |