Remarks and Statement Upon Signing Order Establishing the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.

Dr. Eisenhower, Mr. Attorney General, ladies and gentlemen of the Commission:

As I reviewed with you in the Fish Room earlier, I shall shortly, in your presence here, sign the Executive order creating the Commission and will ask the Congress for authority for subpoena power of the Commission.

It is anticipated that there will be, as the order outlines, additional appointees to the Commission, perhaps two, maybe more. The request to the Congress for additional authority will go up this afternoon.

Following the signing of the order, I will make a statement of some 10 or 15 minutes that will give you my views, as well as a background, I think, that will be appropriate for you to review in the light of the responsibilities which you are undertaking.

I want to, before I go into the formal statement, again express to Dr. Eisenhower, as I do to each member of this Commission, my deep and lasting gratitude on not only my part but, I think, on the part of the American people for their willingness to assume this responsibility. I am grateful to each of you.

[At this point the President signed the Executive order. He then resumed speaking.]

This troubled world will long remember the scar of the past week's violence, but when the week is remembered, let this be remembered, too: that out of anguish came a national resolve to search for the causes and to find the cures for the outbursts of violence which have brought so much heartbreak to our Nation.

Violence has erupted in many parts of the globe, from the streets of newly emerging nations to the old cobblestones of Paris. But it is the episodes of violence in our own country which must command our attention now.

Our inquiry into that violence brings all of us together here this afternoon in the Cabinet Room at the White House. You members of this Commission come here from the church, the university, the Senate and the House, the judiciary, the ranks of the workingman on the waterfront, and the professions.

My charge to you is simple and direct: I ask you to undertake a penetrating search for the causes and prevention of violence-a search into our national life, our past as well as our present, our traditions as well as our institutions, our culture, our customs, and our laws.

I hope your search will yield:

First, an understanding and an insight into the kinds of violent aberrations which have struck down public figures and private citizens alike.

One out of every five Presidents since 1865 has been assassinated--Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, Garfield in July 1881, McKinley in September 1901, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy in November 1963.

In this same period, there have been attempts on the lives of one out of every three of our Presidents, including President Theodore Roosevelt while campaigning in October 1912, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in February 1933, and Harry S. Truman in November 1950. In the attempt on Roosevelt's life, Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago was killed. In the attack on President Harry Truman, a white House policeman lost his life.

The list of assassinations during the last 5 years is also long and shocking. Here are just some of them:

In 1963: Medgar Evers, ambushed by a sniper; four Negro girls killed in a church bombing; President John F. Kennedy assassinated. 8,500 Americans were murdered that year, also, in America.

In 1964: three civil rights workers murdered as part of a Ku Klux Klan conspiracy; Lieutenant Colonel Lemuel Penn shot down on a highway. 9,250 Americans were murdered that year in America, also.

In 1965: Mrs. Viola Liuzzo. 9,850 Americans were murdered that year in America, too.

In 1966: Malcolm X. 10,920 Americans were murdered that year.

In 1967: George Lincoln Rockwell. 12,230 Americans were murdered that year.

In 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Just yesterday, the morning paper records that a Jordanian grocer living on Chicago's South Side was shot to death and police speculate that the killing may have been in revenge for the assassination of Senator Kennedy.

Second, I hope your search will uncover the causes of disrespect for law and order-disrespect for proper authority in the home and disrespect for public officials--and of violent disruptions of public order by individuals and groups.

Third, I hope your search will lead to sensible and practical actions to control or prevent these outbreaks of violence.

Here are some of the questions I hope you will consider:

Is there something in the environment of American society or the structure of our American institutions that causes disrespect for the law, that causes contempt for the rights of others, and incidents of violence? If there is, how can we correct it?

Has permissiveness toward extreme behavior in our society encouraged an increase of violence?

Why do some individuals and groups reject the peaceful political and institutional processes of change in favor of violent means?

Are the seeds of violence nurtured through the public's airwaves, the screens of neighborhood theaters, the news media, and other forms of communication from our leaders that reach the family and reach our young? I am asking the heads of the radio and television networks and the Chairman and the members of the Federal Communications Commission to cooperate wholeheartedly with this Commission.

Is violence a contagious phenomenon? To the extent that it is, are there ways we can reduce the contagion?

What is the relationship between mass disruption of public order and the individual acts of violence?

What is the relationship between mental derangement and violence--remembering that half of our hospital beds in America are now occupied by the mentally ill?

Does the democratic process which stresses exchanges of ideas permit less physical contact with masses of people--as a matter of security against the deranged individual and obsessed fanatic?

To the extent that we can identify the basic causes of violence and disrespect for the law, what practical steps then can we and should we take to eliminate them?

Can our society any longer tolerate the widespread possession of deadly firearms by private citizens?

What--beyond firm and effective Federal and State gun control laws which are so desperately needed---can be done to give further protection to public leaders and to private citizens?

How can the government at all levels, the churches, the schools, and the parents help to dispel the forces that lead to violence?

These are some of the questions that are on the minds of Americans today. But I will and I must leave to you the task of defining precisely the scope and boundaries of this inquiry. For you will be venturing into uncharted ground.

Some of the questions I have asked and the matters you look into may be beyond the frontiers of man's knowledge. Nevertheless, I urge you to go as far as man's knowledge takes you.

Even where basic causes are beyond the knowledge and control of man, you may still be able to propose actions and laws and institutions which can limit the opportunities for violence by individuals and groups, for as I said to the Nation only last Friday:

"Two million guns were sold in the United States last year. Far too many were bought by the demented, the deranged, the hardened criminal and the convict, the addict, and the alcoholic. We cannot expect these irresponsible people to be prudent in their protection of us, but we can expect the Congress to protect us from them ....

"I have spoken of the terrible toll inflicted on our people by firearms: 750,000 Americans dead since the turn of the century. This is far more than have died at the hands of our enemies in all the wars we have fought ....

"Each year, in this country, guns are involved in more than 6,500 murders. This compares with 30 in England, 99 in Canada, 68 in West Germany, and 37 in Japan. 44,000 aggravated assaults are committed with guns in America each year. 50,000 robberies are committed with guns in America each year."

The truths you seek will yield stubbornly to search. But I do want to be sure that that search is made, and that search must be started now.

Your work should help us all move toward that day when hatred and violence will have no sway in the affairs of men. Since violence is an international phenomenon, your work will be a service not only to your countrymen, but, I hope, to the world.

The agony of these past days lies heavy on the hearts of all the American people.

But let us all now have the will and have the purpose to forge our sorrow into a constructive force for public order and progress, for justice and compassion. This is the spirit that has sustained the Nation, and sustained it in all the years of our history.

This is the spirit, I believe, that can see us emerge from this hour of sorrow--and emerge as a stronger and a more unified people.