America's progress toward a society of decency has been marked and measured by our attitudes toward the role and toward the rights of women.
Lyndon Johnson
The Public Record
Lyndon Baines Johnson was the 36th President of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. A member of the Democratic Party, he was born in Texas and began his political career as a U.S. Representative in 1937, later becoming a U.S. Senator in 1949. Johnson ascended to the presidency following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and his administration is noted for significant domestic policies, including the Great Society programs aimed at eliminating poverty and racial injustice. His legislative achievements included the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid.
We must and we shall keep moving forward toward a great and decent and just society for all, regardless of race or religion or sex.
The New Testament enjoins us to 'Go ye therefore and teach all nations.'
I am so proud to be here where Ken O'Donnell's father won so many victories every fall.
You have the potential to excel even more in the citizenship of your country of 1974 or 1984 or 1994.
I want now to challenge you--to challenge you to develop and apply that quality of excellence which is within you.
No nation can stand idly by while millions suffer and die from afflictions which we have the power to prevent.
We are going ahead with our determined effort to bring peace to this world.
Your destiny will not be a faceless and thoughtless existence in a dull and dreary society.
We are going ahead in our country to bring an end to poverty and to racial injustice.
For a generation, Americans have struggled to keep the ambitions of nations from erupting into the annihilation of nuclear war.
I am very proud to welcome you to the White House as the first 'Presidential Scholars.'
I would like briefly, today, to mention three problems which menace man's welfare and will threaten it even when armed destruction and war are things of the past.
I was also greatly impressed with our own Ambassador to Denmark at that time, Ambassador and Mrs. William Blair.
Mrs. Johnson and I are honored tonight to welcome to this house as good friends of America two good friends of ours--the Prime Minister and Mrs. Krag of Denmark.
On the world stage, Denmark and the United States stand together as allies in NATO, and we work together in common dedication to the cause of peace.
Denmark is an old country, but her people and her leadership live in the future and not in the past.
In all areas of public and private enterprise we must understand that important ideas cannot be fashioned on an assembly line.