Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Statement by the President Upon Receiving the First Annual Report of the Citizens' Advisory Committee on Recreation and Natural Beauty.

June 30, 1967

I HAVE received from Mr. Laurance S. Rockefeller, Chairman of the Citizens' Advisory Committee on Recreation and Natural Beauty, the Committee's first annual report, and its recommendations for Federal action to improve the quality of our environment.

The Committee is not only committed to preserving wilderness areas and scenic wonders. It is urgently concerned about the impact of highways upon urban neighborhoods; about the threats posed by overhead utility lines, junked automobiles and other eyesores to the quality of life in America. Most importantly, the Committee has consistently urged both Federal action and efforts by all Americans to ensure a better physical world.

I am directing Secretary Trowbridge, as Chairman of the President's Council on Recreation and Natural Beauty, and Director Schultze of the Budget Bureau to review carefully the Committee report and within 90 days to make recommendations to me on steps which could be taken to implement it. I hope the Council will devote its full energies to this task.

Nature has been generous to our country. But we have learned through bitter lessons what man can do with Nature's gifts. Now, confronted by the dangers of spreading ugliness, by 'polluted air and water, we know that only vigorous and concerted action by government, by individuals, and private organizations can cope successfully with the problems of our modern environment.

I welcome the Committee's report.

Note: The 28-page "Annual Report to the President and to the President's Council on Recreation and Natural Beauty" was transmitted on June 29.

The Committee and the Council were established by Executive Order 11278 of May 4, 1966 (2 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 607; 31 F.R. 6681; 3 CFR, 1966 Comp., p. 107).

The recommendations requested by the President were embodied in a joint letter from Secretary of Commerce Trowbridge and Budget Director Schultze dated October 12.

The statement was released at San Antonio, Texas.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Upon Receiving the First Annual Report of the Citizens' Advisory Committee on Recreation and Natural Beauty. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238183

Filed Under

Categories

Simple Search of Our Archives