Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Remarks at the Dedication of the Gary Job Corps Center, San Marcos, Texas.

April 10, 1965

Governor Connally, Congressman Pickle, Mr. Shriver, members of the board of trustees and faculty, Mr. Mayor, members of the Job Corps, ladies and gentlemen:

This is a very proud and a very special occasion for me.

Not many years ago, as you have been reminded, as a Congressman I came here to San Marcos and participated in developing this site, Camp Gary, in order to train young men to go to war. I am so proud today to come back here, not for myself but for my country, to rededicate this facility to the training of young Americans for the pursuit of peace.

I am especially proud of the young men enrolled here.

I couldn't help but compare what was happening today and what happened some 30 years ago on another day in my life. This is my anniversary. I went to Congress 28 years ago on April 10th--but I had had some training in the old job corps here at the college before I ran for Congress. And I remember that it was about 30 years ago that I had Governor Connally, and Mr. Pickle, and a good many other people on this platform in the job corps of that day.

Governor Connally talks about not having to borrow money to pay his income tax these days. He did not have to borrow it then, either. But he's always been a modest man. I can give testimony, even if it is not eloquent to the fact, that he's come a long way from that $25 a month to $25,000 a year. So, fellows, you have got something to shoot at here.

Thirty years ago I employed Mr. Pickle for the job corps; in 30 years he's come from $30 to $30,000.

And I must say, in all frankness, I knew Mr. Ruby, one of your trustees, when he was not making much more than that, when he was a young man your age. And I knew Mr. Thornton long before he got to be a big banker, when he was taking training just as you are taking it.

And in all candor and frankness, you three fellows who spoke here today indicate to me having a far greater potential than any of these fellows indicated.

But you have made a choice that I, myself, once faced--the choice of being a dropout for life or striving to be something more.

I was a dropout from 1924 to 1926. I worked for a dollar a day. I went to California seeking my fortune and almost starved to death before I got back to Texas!

But whatever has come to me, the time I spent in this cordial city studying and learning did make some little difference. And I hope that it is the same for you, because I want you to know that your country is very, very proud of you, and very proud of the choice that you have made in coming here.

On such an anniversary, among old friends and good friends, I think the temptation is great to reminisce. But I came here today not to speak of what has changed in this country, but I came to talk about what is unchanging in America.

Nowhere on this earth, in all the history of man, has there been such changes as we have experienced in the United States during those middle years of this 20th century.

We are a far stronger nation, a far richer nation, an infinitely wiser nation, a much happier nation, than in those years back in the thirties when my career began. But what we stand for as a nation, and what we are as a people, remains unchanged.

And this is a point which needs to be made, I think, over and over a dozen times or more.

Three decades ago, 30 years ago, the course of history for the world was set on a tragic direction because other men in other lands misread our American purpose, misjudged our American will and determination, and-not least of all--miscalculated the spirit and the stamina of our American youth.

There must not be any mistakes like that made today because I am determined to use whatever talents are mine to make certain that America is not misunderstood in the world today.

In this setting, and under these circumstances which mean so much to me, I would like for a moment today to speak from my heart to the hearts of men and women everywhere in all this world, to say a few things:

Beyond these shores, we of America have only one purpose--that purpose is peace in the world for all men, peace for ourselves, peace for all mankind of all countries.

The only wars we seek are wars such as we are fighting here today on these peaceful grounds--as Dr. Singletary mentioned-wars against poverty, wars against disease, wars against discrimination, wars against ignorance, and wars against war itself.

I started out the early part of the week trying to evolve and enunciate a program that I hoped would be war against war itself. In a tripod, three-pronged speech that I made in Baltimore on Wednesday evening to the Nation and to the world, I made clear our firmness and our commitment, and our determination to carry out our commitments; our readiness and our willingness to engage in unconditional discussions; and our great Christian, humanitarian desire to participate in helping to develop other parts of the world.

And to you young men who may be following in our footsteps not many years from now, I want to observe this: I don't think that this country has ever had a more profitable week in its political history.

Wednesday, we were evolving a program of war against war in Baltimore. Thursday, we were passing the most far-reaching, comprehensive health program ever enacted by any country at any time through the House of Representatives. Friday, we got done what we have been trying to do in this country since 1870--pass a comprehensive national education bill.

I remember back many years ago, more than 20 years ago, when I was one of two or three men from my section to vote for an education bill. And I was so proud last night when they brought me word that only 17 in the entire Senate had voted against one yesterday out of the 100 Senators there.

So, on health, on education, the war on disease, the war on ignorance, the war against war, and, yes, the war against discrimination-this week, yesterday, we reported from the committees of the House and of the Senate, the most comprehensive voting rights bill to ever be reported from the committees of the Congress.

So, we would like to welcome to these works that we are doing, not just the people of our Congress, or our State, but to all peoples of all nations. And we are so happy that we could have the distinguished Governor from our sister Republic here on the platform with us today, because it was just a few weeks ago that I talked to his distinguished President here about the program of this administration's war against war, war against ancient enemies of ignorance, and disease, and poverty, and illiteracy. And I am so happy that their President Diaz Ordaz is undertaking a similar program in his country, and he will have our most enthusiastic support and cooperation.

We do not seek to live in a world where all men think alike, but we do seek to live in a world where all men are free to think together.

Peace is our purpose, and the works of peace are the works that we want to do most.

But let no man in any land, any time, misjudge our purpose, or our cause, or our course.

We love peace. We hate war. But our course is charted always by the compass of honor.

We know today, as Americans have always known, that liberty has only one price--and that is eternal vigilance. That price we are able and we are willing to pay.

Where we have given our commitments to others, as I said Wednesday night in Baltimore, we shall keep them, for we have made a binding commitment to ourselves that peace shall not be lost and freedom shall not perish from this earth.

I hope I speak softly but firmly when I say to all, let none misjudge. Let none doubt the will that supports this American purpose of peace and freedom.

I would say also let none today miscalculate either the spirit or the stamina of our American youth. In times past America has asked her young to shoulder arms and to fight for freedom on many fields and many forests throughout the world. And I would remind all the world that they have never failed.

In these times now we ask our young and the youth of all the lands to give their hands and their hearts to these worthy wars against poverty and disease, illiteracy and discrimination, because we believe the young people of the world are ready to rally to such endeavors. We know this is true of the young people in America. And as I said the other night we would so much enjoy asking our men from the far corners of southeast Asia to return from the bombs and the bullets of that area, and bring them home, and to help those who live there build a peaceful world that knows no illiteracy and no disease and no poverty.

Today we are spending in southeast Asia between a billion and a half and two billion dollars on bombs and bullets and helicopters, and war and disease and development. How much better it would be if we could bring half of the money we are spending there now back in those helicopters with those men to help develop our own young people here at home, and leave the other half out there to help develop their young people so we could work together in brotherly love.

We are determined here in America to give all of our youth their chance. We would like to see that done for all youth everywhere. We in America are committing our resources to the education of our people as never before, to their health as never before, to their happiness and their hope as never before. We are determined that no child born in this land of the free shall ever be deprived by our neglect of realizing his share of America's promise.

That promise of America was once described by Thomas Wolfe in these words-

"--To every man, his chance.

"--To every man, regardless of his birth, his shining golden opportunity.

"--To every man the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever his manhood and his vision can combine to make him.

"--This, seeker, is the promise of America."

All my life, since I left this beautiful little city of San Marcos, I have been devoted to the fulfillment of this promise, and that devotion was never more positive or more determined than it is today.

But I want the youth of the world today to know, whether they live in the East or the West, in old countries or young countries, that the American President and the American people want to fulfill this promise not just for our own but for them too.

We believe that this is not a dark and dreary hour for mankind, but rather we are convinced that this is a bright and precious time when the hope for peace is real, when the chance for progress is great, when the light of liberty can shine forth more brightly than it has ever shined in all of our history. We are determined, we are committed, we are steadfastly resolved that the precious opportunity shall not be lost for the youth of America or for the youth of the entire world.

In these purposes we are a nation united, we are a people dedicated, we are a land determined as we have been for 189 years.

So coming back here today to these familiar scenes, I am conscious anew of what this system has meant to me and what it can mean for all young men and women, if the door of opportunity remains open. And I am determined and I am dedicated to use the time that is mine to keep that door open in America and to open it wider, wider for all the youth of my own country and for all the youth of every country, of every creed, of every continent.

This is a stimulating and inspiring occasion for me. I am so happy that this great undertaking that is going on throughout America in our war on poverty is directed by this selfless, young man who was a very poor boy himself and who in the last 4 years has opened the door of opportunity to thousands and thousands of young people not only here but throughout the world-Sargent Shriver.

Presidents come and go. Some leave their mark, some fade into memory, but there are two Presidents that I believe are looking down upon us today, observing the results of our labors and our leadership. Oh, how I wish and hope and believe that Abraham Lincoln was watching Alex Maynard from Carl Albert's district up in McAlester, Oklahoma, as he talked to this group today, and how pleased and how proud he would be not only of Alex but what he, Mr. Lincoln stood for and fought for and died for. And the man who originally conceived of the poverty program and who dreamed of it, but was not spared to see his dreams come true. How much I know he must enjoy this very moment looking down on all these young men of all races, all religions, all regions, all colors assembled here listening to Tommy Caves of Louisiana, David Mullet of Georgia, and Alex Maynard of Oklahoma, roll up their sleeves and start out to help win this war on poverty. President Kennedy is watching all of you. He would be mighty proud of you.

I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I predict that not only these two great Presidents who have shown vision and courage and willingness to provide opportunities for those who are entitled to it, but I predict that all the Presidents that have gone before us and that will come after us will look to this year, 1965, as a year of accomplishment, as a year of achievement, as a year of realization of their dreams that the day would come here in their own America when the weak would rise up and they would be blessed, and that the rich and poor, those who pay income taxes and those who don't, but all give of our talents and our efforts to the end that war on war would be successfully waged, that war on disease and ignorance and illiteracy would finally be won, and that this great Nation and this great world would someday reach the time when disease and illiteracy and ignorance would be gone and we could live happily as one people, in brotherhood under God.

Note: The President spoke at 11:52 a.m. in the theater on the grounds of the Gary Job Corps Center at San Marcos, Tex. In his opening words he referred to Governor John B. Connally and Representative J. J. Pickle, both of Texas, Sargent Shriver, Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and Mayor Ellis Serur of San Marcos. Later he referred to Cecil B. Ruby and J. R. Thornton, members of the Texas Educational Foundation, Inc., which sponsored the Gary Job Corps Center, and Otis A. Singletary, Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity's Job Corps training program, who spoke at the ceremony. He also referred to Governor Praxedis Balboa of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz of Mexico, and Tommy Caves, David Mullet, and Alex Maynard, Job Corps students, who spoke briefly on their impressions of the Center.

The President's reference, early in his remarks, to the "old job corps" was to the National Youth Administration of which he was the Texas State director from 1935 to 1937.

For the President's speech in Baltimore on Wednesday, April 8, see Item 172.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks at the Dedication of the Gary Job Corps Center, San Marcos, Texas. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241903

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