Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Message to the Economic Symposium Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Employment Act of 1946.

February 23, 1966

YOUR SYMPOSIUM today celebrates one of the great turning points in the economic and political history of this Nation.

Twenty years ago, the Nation's economy had just emerged from almost 4 years of test by fire, immediately following a decade of test by ice. Men of vision and goodwill in both political parties, in labor as in business, in the universities and professions as in Government, were resolved that we should learn from these experiences; that depression and mass unemployment equally with unbridled inflation must be and could be mastered; and that only the Federal Government's leadership could accomplish it.

Their resolution was reflected in the Employment Act of 1946.

To be sure, some regarded the declaration that the Federal Government must accept a share of responsibility for the performance of the American economy as a revolutionary threat to our system of free enterprise. Others regarded the commitment to maximum employment as a pious gesture toward a visionary objective.

The last 20 years have demonstrated that the Employment Act was neither dangerous nor visionary. Instead, the act, and the machinery it created, have allowed us to develop an increasingly fruitful partnership between business, labor, and Government in the great task of building a better society for all Americans.

The success of that partnership is demonstrated by the present state of our economy. Our prosperity is unequaled; and our growth rate and price stability are the envy of the world.

Our recent gains prove the dynamism of our prevailingly private economy. They also show the contribution of sound and positive Government policies.

In developing an awareness of problems, in improving our knowledge and understanding, and in designing appropriate policies, the machinery created by the Employment Act has proved its value many times over. Hearings and reports of the Joint Economic Committee have educated the Congress and the Nation on all aspects of our economy. The advice of the Council of Economic Advisers has helped four Presidents and their administrations to propose and to carry out policies that have preserved and advanced our economic strength. And the requirement of an Annual Economic Report of the President has spurred coherence and consistency in the far-flung activities of the many agencies of Government, and, at the same time, made a major contribution to public understanding of economic policy.

But most important of all was the spirit of the act: the recognition that all plans and policies of Government should be bent toward protecting and promoting the health of our economy.

The knowledge we have gained and the policies we have designed to achieve and maintain full employment, to avoid inflation, to speed our economic growth, and to eliminate poverty, demonstrate man's ability to master his social as well as his physical environment. They are achievements worthy of celebration.

After 5 years of record expansion, we now face the new task of sustaining full employment without inflation. I have recommended a budget and fiscal policy which, in the best judgment of my advisers and myself, will allow us to sustain solid expansion without overheating the economy. But this is an area where, in spite of all we have learned over 20 years, we still have little experience. We have no choice but to advance with courage tempered by caution. We will need to watch unfolding events closely, and to remain flexible in our tax and other policies so that we can change quickly if the need should arise.

The task of managing economic policy so as to achieve high employment without overheating will always be difficult.

It is made more difficult at the moment by the fact that we are in a transitional period. The rapid growth of output which has enabled us to reduce unemployment has placed special--and temporary--strains on some of our raw material resources. And the problems of matching men and jobs during the transition to an era of high employment are more difficult now than they will be after we have maintained high employment for some time.

To make the transition to sustained high employment without inflation will test our energy and ingenuity. And it requires us to seek new ways in which business, labor, and Government can cooperate to avoid inflationary wage and price movements.

These are grave challenges, but I am confident that we shall meet them.

The years ahead can bring economic and social achievements which will far outpace the gains of the past. It is our task so to set the goals and to lay the plans that 20 years from tonight men looking back can honor our vision and our resolution as we tonight celebrate the events of 20 years ago.

Note: The President's message was read to the members of the Symposium, meeting at the Washington Hilton Hotel, by Henry H. Fowler, Secretary of the Treasury.

For President Truman's statement upon signing the Employment Act on February 20, 1946, see "Public Papers of the Presidents, Harry S. Truman, 1946," Item 39.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Message to the Economic Symposium Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Employment Act of 1946. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238148

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