I want you to know that your efforts are not only welcomed by your President, but they are respected and they are applauded.

I have directed Secretary Gardner and Commissioner of Education Keppel to do everything in their power, starting now, to speed the flow of funds to all State and all local education agencies.

For in education, the time we waste today can mean a life wasted tomorrow.

So, we must go to the heart of the battle if we are to have a better life--for it is there that the decision lies.

What was more important than anything else in the world was what Arthur Goldberg was then doing.

Sometimes I think we must learn to move faster.

Prevention of the spread of atomic weapons is one of the most important tasks of our times.

I mean to preserve and I mean to extend that heritage for all of our people, East as well as West, North as well as South.

We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as God really made it, not just as it looked when we got through with it.

And whatever we seek to do to wage the war on poverty or to set new goals for health and happiness, to curb crime or try to bring beauty to our cities and our countryside--all of these, and more, depend on education.

They knew that once a nation commits itself to the increase and diffusion of knowledge, the real revolution begins.

Despite the noise of daily events, history is made by men and the ideas of men.

By virtue of the authority vested in me by subsection (f) of Section 303 of the Government Employees Salary Reform Act of 1964

He gave his entire fortune to establish this Institution which would serve 'for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.'

We must extend the treasure to those lands where learning is still a luxury for the few.

To split the atom, to launch the rocket, to explore the innermost mysteries and the outermost reaches of the universe--these are your God-given chores.

That is why I have directed a special task force within my administration to recommend a broad and long-range plan of worldwide educational endeavor.

This must and will be a local program, spearheaded by local initiative and local imagination.

The Federal Government does not want to run this program.

Our test will be how well we apply that knowledge for the betterment of all mankind.

If we use this bill effectively in the future, we can prevent more Appalachias from ever occurring.

It will put into their hands the latest ideas and methods, the fruits of research and development.

It will speed the development of cheaper and better consumer products.

This bill will do for American businessmen what the great Agricultural Extension Service has done for the American farmer.

I want to add the congratulations of your President on this signal occasion.