Remarks to the Summer Interns in the White House Seminar Program.

Chairman Macy, ladies and gentlemen:

I am very happy this morning to pay my respects to the biggest group of Washington summer interns in our history--and I hope the busiest group.

You are nearing the end of your Washington summer. You have had experiences here that are as diverse as the regions that you come from, and as various as the issues which face this great country of yours.

But before you wear out your last typewriter eraser; before you ruin the last mimeograph stencil--before you pack your guitar and leave town--I hope that each of you will consider what this summer has meant to you and, really more important, what it has meant to your country.

I am told that no other nation in the world has a program like this one of which you are a part. No other country invites its younger citizens to share, to the extent that you have done, in the daily operation of government.

You are here because your fellow citizens have faith in your ability not to just learn about your Government, but to make a contribution to your Government.

And I hope and I believe that you have done both.

You have learned that the business of governing a Nation of 200 million people can be tedious and undramatic. But you know also that, in the routine, in the seemingly trivial tasks of thousands of offices--a great Nation is moving forward and is forging history.

You may have seen much that you like: much that is right in Washington. But I hope also that you have seen some things that are wrong; I hope there was born in you this summer a desire to cure the ills and to right the wrongs.

We depend on you for that.

We know that the freshest ideas often come from the freshest minds on the job.

For this reason, we have established the White House Fellows program, which this year will bring from all corners of the Nation 18 of the Nation's brightest young leaders to serve in Washington--at the side of White House officials and Cabinet members. I hope that before long some of you will apply for these fellowships, and that your next trip to Washington will be to begin your year to start contributing your efforts to this bold and this exciting adventure. I am announcing today the beginning of this year's search for the best for next year's White House Fellows.¹

¹The White House Fellows program, designed to give outstanding young Americans top-level experience with the workings of the Federal Government, was established by the President on October 3, 1964 (see 1963-64 volume, this series, Book II, Item 622).

On February 25, 1966, the White House announced the names of 38 finalists, chosen from over 600 qualified applicants, who would compete for selection as White House Fellows for 1966--67. The release stated that the finalists would be brought to Washington March 27-29 to meet with the Commission on White House Fellows headed by Douglas Dillon, former Secretary of the Treasury (2 Weekly Comp. Pres. Does., p. 265).

On March 29, 1966, the White House announced the names of the 18 new White House Fellows, including the first woman, who would begin their Government service on September 1, 1966. The program, the release pointed out, was based on an idea by John W. Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and former President of the Carnegie Corp. (2 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 463).

The start of another nationwide search to choose the White House Fellows for 1967-68 was made public by the White House on August 18, 1966. The release added that 11 regional panels, composed of distinguished citizens, would review applications, interview candidates, and recommend the most outstanding for further consideration by the Commission (2 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 1085).

It is not enough for our student generation to inherit America on some future day. They must help shape it--and shape it today.

It is not enough for our young people merely to prepare for tomorrow's life. They must be living life--and they must be making it better for all men--now.

Around the world, as we stand here this morning, the winds of change are stirring. The cry for justice grows louder and clearer and more insistent every day. That cry will not die--and we will not deny it. For 190 years ago, with our declaration that all men are created equal, we sent it ringing down through the centuries.

Justice means that every man should have a share in creating his own destiny.

Justice means that those who live by the rules should have a part in making those rules.

This idea--that men must have a stake in the decisions which affect men--is an important idea for America's younger citizens.

A Presidential advisory commission has already begun its work on a matter which deeply concerns every young American: the Selective Service System.

I know that for most of you, the quality of that system will influence the course of your life in the years to come.

Our present system has served this Nation and the national interest since 1948. In many ways it has become a crazy quilt, applying to some but not to others.

We have inherited that system--but we need not be wedded to it.

We are not interested in just a system. What we do want and need is a just system.

And this is why I have called for some fresh and hard questions and some creative thinking about the draft:

--Does the present system have flaws or inequities which could and should be corrected?

--Can we make the draft fairer and can we make it more effective?

--Can we--without harming our future or our national security--establish a practical system of nonmilitary alternatives to the draft?

Student leaders and young citizens, I think, should have an important part in answering these questions.

I have, therefore, asked Mr. Burke Marshall, the distinguished attorney, to be Chairman of the Commission on Selective Service, to consider the recommendations of those that are most directly concerned with these questions: our students and our younger citizens.

But one thing I want to make clear this morning: No one contributes more to his country or deserves more from his country than the young man who serves in his country's armed forces any time that his country needs him.

Thirty-five years ago I came to Washington as a kind of intern. In those days the Government did not offer so wide an opportunity for the young man or woman who wished to serve an apprenticeship. But as I look out there at you today, I can see that we have come a long way.

Never has the day of the young person in government, in my judgment, been so promising. And never has the need for able, young, dedicated, trained people been more urgent for your country.

Over the next 4 years the Federal Government will need 30,000 more scientists and engineers. It will need 6,000 more specialists in health and technology and education.

When I came here they weren't sure they were going to need anyone else. Some think they didn't get much, either.

But by 1970, as you look down the road, our State governments alone must grow 600,000 to keep pace with the times; and employment just for State and local government will exceed 10 million persons.

Over the next 10 years our Nation is going to need 200,000 new public school teachers each year--200,000 new teachers each year!

The call then for public service cannot be met just by professionals alone. Therefore, we must revive the ancient ideal of citizensoldiers who answer their nation's call in time of danger.

Today's citizen-soldier will join the Teacher Corps in serving children who never heard the promise of equality--or received it.

Today's citizen-soldier will enlist in the Peace Corps to bring the miracle of medicine to millions whose life span rarely reaches half the Biblical three score and ten.

On many fronts and in many ways, the citizen-soldier will find his role.

Next year I plan to recommend to Congress a program to assist all those who want to train for public service. Because I am determined that my term in office will mean a greater role for young people. But I warn you--it will also mean greater responsibility for young people.

Your time is one of very serious testing for Americans.

In too many places--in our cities and our slums--justice seems slow to come. Violence and disorder threaten to kill our hopes and threaten to undo all the good things that we have done so recently.

In Vietnam this morning we face a challenge which could bring even more pain before we can end it. You and I would prefer that the answers for the future of Southeast Asia be written in treaties, in plans for regional development--in the works of peace, as I outlined in my Baltimore address and many times since. But standing against that wish are men who would rather write it in blood and in terror. They must--and they will--be answered.

The determination and the optimism of our people today are high. Our country has never had as many employed, eating more, wearing more, doing better, more prosperous, generally a happier progressive nation with goals and objectives and with programs in their reach, and with jobs to be done and people here to do them. We know that this time of testing--like every other time--is one very rich with promise.

We believe that man has the means to solve all of his problems. What he needs is the will.

We believe that freedom--and not tyranny, not dictatorship, not terror--will triumph; that we need only give force and power to the idea of freedom and liberty.

We believe that nothing is impossible for a free people who keep their determination, who keep their devotion, and who keep their spirit.

And wherever I look today, I see that spirit.

I see it in the determination of our Armed Forces. I saw it in the face of General Westmoreland when he spent Saturday and Sunday with me and told me of the young people that were marching with him to try to keep tyrants and terror from prevailing over free, innocent people.

I saw it in the letter of a young soldier in Vietnam who wrote me just a few days ago and he said: "Maybe there are other reasons for our being out here that we do not know about; but for us, freedom, freedom is cause enough."

I see it in the energy which you young people have shown this summer and the dedication that you have given to the principles of democracy. And as your President, I am grateful to you for it and pleased with the example that you have set.

Without that spirit, nothing is really possible. With it, nothing is impossible.

In a few weeks most of you will be returning to your campuses.

I hope that you will take back with you a new insight and a somewhat new appreciation for both the problems and the possibilities of your Government. I hope you return to your classes with a new concern not only for your own future, selfishly just for yourselves, but I hope you will have a concern for the future of all men, all humanity, everywhere.

I hope that when you leave this Capital, when you march from the shadows of this great monument which represents everything that is dear to us, that you will leave stronger in your conviction, more determined in your approach, believing that though there may be other reasons for your being here, "freedom, freedom is cause enough."

If you do that, your country will profit, your people will be proud of you, your summer will have been a success, and your Nation will be richer because you came this way.

You will have come, you will have seen, and you will have conquered.

And I hope you will come back again.

Thank you.