Statement by the President Announcing an Increase in the Interest Rate on U.S. Savings Bonds.

I AM TODAY announcing an increase in the interest on U.S. savings bonds from 3.75 percent to 4.15 percent.

This means that the bonds that you have, and the bonds you buy in the future, will earn you more money. It means a fairer return for those millions of Americans that are already enrolled in the savings bond program. And I hope that it will encourage millions more of you to join.

The savings bond program is both prudent and patriotic. It is prudent because it strengthens the security of your own family. It is patriotic because it strengthens the economy of our country, it supports our fighting men in Vietnam who need to be supported at this very hour, and it supports the cause of our freedom everywhere in the world. It helps to preserve the buying power of our American dollars.

And for all of these reasons, I believe that savings bonds are the most important investment that any American can make. I urge you to invest regularly through the payroll savings plan at your office, your factory, or your bank.

Your President, your Vice President, and the members of the Cabinet are themselves enrolling in such a plan. I am purchasing bonds today for myself and Mrs. Johnson, for Luci and Lynda, and I am instructing my department and agency heads to immediately begin a campaign so that every employee of the Federal Government can set an example for the rest of the Nation to follow.

Not all of us are called upon to fight for freedom in Vietnam, but we can help in that cause by strengthening our country and by strengthening its economy here at home.