Remarks at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Mr. Prime Minister and Mrs. Holt, Mr. premier and Mrs. Askin, Mr. Chief Justice and Mrs. Herron, Ministers of State, Your Eminence Cardinal Gilroy, Your Grace Archbishop Loane, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:

I did come to listen, and I heard a lot when the Prime Minister and the Premier spoke to you.

First, I was deeply concerned that they were not in complete agreement on the cosponsorship of this meeting. The reason I was concerned was for fear when they disagreed, I might be called upon, too.

And I also observed from the Prime Minister's comments about women that you do have an election coming up here in Australia before long. I trust that the ladies recognize that the Prime Minister is not completely oblivious to your influence. When Prime Ministers and Presidents ever come to the point where they overlook the ladies in an election year, or in an off year, they are in for more difficulties than they normally have.

In America, during the past few years, I have heard Australia described as a very "American" place.

I can only assume that America is described here as a very "Australian" place.

I believe that both are true--providing we are talking about the real meaning of our nations. I am not willing to accept the notion that America stands only for supermarkets and superhighways--just as I know that you will not accept the idea that Australia stands only for kangaroos and "Waltzing Matilda."

If America and Australia are alike--in what way are we alike?

Our lands are vast. Our people are drawn from many countries. Our histories are young. Our governments are free. Our people bubble with energy, occasionally to a fault. We have reached a level of plenty, for most of our people, that men could scarcely envision or ever dream of just a century ago.

But, for all of this, there is more that really binds us together. In a political campaign in Texas some years ago, I was asked about my allegiances. I replied in this way: "I am a free man first, an American second, a public servant third, and a Democrat fourth, in that order."

I think that ranking of priorities is something that we can all understand. I think that kind of ranking holds true in Australia as well. We are free men first--and our strength flows like a mighty river from that premise.

The hallmark of our societies is that we encourage every man to stretch as far as he can, and to look any man straight in the eye.

I believe that trait, more than any other, has built America and built Australia and, indeed, has forever changed the human equation upon this planet.

So we have prospered. We already have most of the material trappings that so much of the developing world today strives for.

Our people for the most part are well-clothed, well-fed, well-educated, and well-housed. Automobiles are commonplace; washing machines far outnumber washboards; private housing is spacious and available to ever larger segments of the population of our two countries.

But if the American experience--and the Australian experience-is to have any real meaning on the canvas of history, it must show a good deal more than just mere quantity. "More" is not enough. We must now learn the social truths that can convert "more" into "better."

Human progress, we know, does not end with a two-car family, or central air conditioning, or even a long vacation.

We are concerned in my country with the quality and the human grandeur of our existence.

I have set that proposition to the people of my land under a simple banner: the Great Society.

We are seeking better and much more extensive education. We are seeking better medical treatment for all of our people. We are seeking cleaner cities--purer water and purer air. We are seeking equality for all of our minority groups--and the land preserved in as near the state as possible as God gave it to us.

I have some help on that conservation and beautification program in person here today. Mrs. Johnson has been pointing out to me several good examples that we must emulate that we have observed here in your country.

These programs have a common root: to let men push on to the furthermost boundaries of their being in an environment that is fit for the human species.

We know that a great society demands great individuals--that as Emerson said:

"The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops--but the kind of man the country turns out."

Increasingly, the thrust of Emerson's words will be at the heart of my program when I return home. I intend to pursue what I consider the ultimate moral goal that a politician can seek. It is this: the creation of the conditions that allow people to pursue excellence.

In the session of the Congress that is about to end, we fought poverty and discrimination and slums--and all the accumulated ailments of a society that grew boundlessly for almost two centuries and sometimes passed over its less fortunate members. That battle is not yet won, and we do not intend to falter in its execution.

But we now also intend to concentrate on the quest for quality. Needless to say, such a goal cannot be achieved just by legislative fiat. But if an enlightened program cannot automatically grant excellence, it can open the doors for those who seek to enter. That is what I seek, and that is what I have asked task forces made up of our great scholars throughout the land, who are now at work in our Capital, to seek: to seek an open-door policy for excellence.

I have had an old lesson reinforced in my mind during the past few days that I have been away from my country. A great society cannot end at the water's edge in New York or in Los Angeles--nor can it end at the water's edge in Sydney or in Perth. A truly great society can exist only in a great and unifying world that is dedicated to bringing out the best in people from all over the world.

I know that the magnanimous offer announced yesterday by your own University of Sydney--to bring 10 young American science students here in January--was made in that spirit. It will touch a most responsive chord in my country, and I must say to you that it has touched me deeply.

Our young people, who will study at your Nuclear Research Foundation, are symbols of our common quest to probe the deepest limits of our world--and to stretch the human intellect as far as it seeks to go. That these young students will be designated "Lyndon B. Johnson Scholars" is an honor that, as a former schoolteacher--and sometimes I have some practice teaching to do these days--I cherish beyond expression and description.¹

¹On November 21, 1966, the White House announced the names of the 10 "Lyndon B. Johnson Australian Science Scholars," outstanding high school students chosen to attend a 2-week science seminar in Australia on scholarships provided by the Nuclear Research Foundation of the University of Sydney. The release stated that the four girls and six boys from seven States, selected by the National Science Foundation and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, would attend lectures by world authorities in space and aeronautics.

The scholarships, the release pointed out, were proposed by Dr. Harry Messel, head of the School of Physics and director of the Nuclear Research Foundation, University of Sydney, in a letter to the President dated October 10, 1966. The President replied on October 17, as follows: "I am personally touched by your wish to associate these scholarships with me .... To me, these scholarships symbolize the importance of educational exchange between our two countries. They confirm ties of friendship."(2 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 1717)

For the liberation of the best in man lies at the heart of all we are trying to do in our own country--and all that we are really trying to help others do.

If we are to ever be worthy of the trust and of the confidence of other peoples, we shall have to face up to our own lives and our own problems.

The struggle for minority civil rights in America has more ultimate meaning throughout the world than a hundred superhighways.

I have said so often that if you want to know what our foreign policy is, look at our domestic policy. I described that domestic policy of some 200 measures--I believe the State of the Union Message had 171 recommended, and we will perhaps get in the neighborhood of 150 enacted--I summarized it in six letters:

--Food, producing food for hungry people, ourselves and the entire world. We call that F.

--Recreation, beautification, and conservation, so our children will have a place to play, so that we can see the beauty of the land as God made it. We call that R.

--Jobs and good wages, full employment that you have had for 30 years, income--

77 million of our people are working, more than ever in the history--we call that I.

--Education--18 educational measures enacted from picking the youngster at 4 years of age and carrying him through a Ph.D. in college, giving him all the education he can take. We will call that E.

--Then medical care for all of our senior citizens, modern hospitalization, increased nursing training, and nursing homes for all of our elderly people; the health program--23 bills. We will call that N for nursing homes.

--D, the security of our Nation rests on the strength of our defense, and our ability to execute our policies with dispatch and with strength. We will call that D.

That is really our domestic program. We have divided it into 150 detailed bills to clean up the dirty water, the dirty air, and those things. But it spells "Friend," F-r-i-e-n-d.

So the best way to judge how you look at other people is to look and see how you treat your own people. We have many religions, many colors, many races, and many geographies. But we are all human beings.

The war on poverty in America has more ultimate meaning, I think, throughout the world than a thousand supermarkets.

The protection of freedom where freedom is threatened has more ultimate meaning throughout the world than all the products or technology that we may ever export.

The great majority of our people have come to embrace and accept these values. I believe that you share them as well--and that satisfied this visiting American as deeply as the exuberant warmth of your hospitality. It is one more bond in a friendship that shall last as long, as the Prime Minister said, as our nations endure.

For as I read only this morning in the Sydney Morning World, my visit to Australia represents a growing awareness of the interdependence of all of us, and a growing desire to strengthen it and to make it increasingly fruitful, not simply for "white" Australians and Americans, but for all people of every race, of every creed, of every nationality.

And that is exactly why I am here, and that is exactly how I feel and how I believe most Australians feel.

Thank you so much.