Lyndon Johnson

I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby extend through the year 1966 the period during which all persons are specially invited to see the United States, visit our historic shrines, our natural wonders…

I am pleased with this opportunity for the United States to participate with Japan in the joint solution of health problems which will have worldwide benefits.

No one has a right to use America's rivers and America's waterways that belong to all the people as a sewer.

Today, we proclaim our refusal to be strangled by the wastes of civilization.

This sort of carelessness and selfishness simply ought to be stopped; and more, it just must be reversed.

The ultimate victory of reclaiming this portion of our national heritage really rests in the hands of all the people of America, not just the Government here in Washington.

With the signing of the Water Quality Act of 1965 this morning, I pledge you that we are going to reopen the Potomac for swimming by 1975.

But we must act, and act swiftly.

There is no excuse for a river flowing red with blood from slaughterhouses.

There is no excuse for communities to use other people's rivers as a dump for their raw sewage.

Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby extend through the year 1966 the period during which all persons are specially invited to see the United States, visit our historic shrines, our…

Today, we begin to be masters of our environment.

The long period of large United States deficits has come to an end.

We must begin now to provide machinery for the creation of additional reserves.

The job of building sound and effective institutions for financing world trade is never finished.

Increasing educational opportunity is only one of the ways that we human beings must meet the pressing demands of the times.

I want to be very clear about this, because we must, in our own interest and in the interest of those who rely on the dollar as a reserve currency, maintain our payments in equilibrium.

This High-Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 really gives us, for the first time in history, a coordinated program for improving the transportation system that we have today, and making it a better servant Of our people.

I requested authorization for the Commerce Department to undertake a program of research and development.

Under the provisions of this legislation, more than 5 1/2 million schoolchildren in areas of poverty throughout this Nation from coast to coast will be helped.

That Pennsylvania Avenue will be redeveloped is inevitable.

This year, with the help of your organization and many other friends of education, Congress enacted its crowning achievement in education--the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

So we begin this morning to really plan the revolutionary advances of tomorrow.

When President Stillman organized your American Federation of Teachers in 1916, the responsibility for teachers was very high, but, as I have just indicated, the rewards were quite low.

You are thinking to the future, you are moving ahead, you are anticipating the problems of the 20th century, and you are finding solutions to them.