Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Remarks at the Department of Defense Cost Reduction Ceremony.

July 27, 1967

Secretary McNamara, General Wheeler, Members of the Cabinet, Members of the Congress, distinguished award winners, my friends, ladies and gentlemen:

This ceremony here today honors the supreme importance of the individual's contribution to society.

In 1961, Secretary McNamara pioneered a massive effort in cost reduction in the Government. He set up a 5-year program.

He knew that you cannot cut costs in the budget office--if you don't begin at the workbench. So he enlisted the ingenuity and the initiative of the men and women who work throughout our entire extended defense network around the world.

That program was so successful that when I became president, I asked Secretary McNamara to make it a permanent one.

He set out to save $872 million as his target in fiscal year 1967.

And you men and women of the Defense Department have responded.

Tough-minded decisions have been taken. The savings were not $872 million--but gladly in excess of that, $914 million.

What is more, these same actions will save another $590 million over the next 2 years.

This year alone, the Department of Defense has taken actions which will save the American taxpayer, ultimately, more than a billion and a half dollars.

At my direction, all of the Departments and agencies of the United States Government have launched similar programs. We are determined to bring the cost of government down to the lowest possible level.

I think all of you should take a great deal of pride to know that it was all started in your Department--in the Department with the biggest share of the United States budget.

We all know that it is quite difficult to reduce defense costs during times of peace.

But it is much more difficult to cut those costs when our American men are in battle.

The Defense Department's mission is not to save money. Its mission is peace. Its mission is to safeguard our security. Its mission is to protect our freedoms. We just can't put a price tag on that.

And let no one mistake this Nation's solemn pledge that we have made to our fighting men. They will have every dollar they need to carry out their mission in the defense of our freedom.

As long as I am your President, no one is ever going to measure our soldiers' strength with a bankbook--or limit our soldiers' logistical support by a ledger.

But the fact is that this Department has proved my conviction that we can have combat readiness, good business management and economy in our defense.

This has been proved, because the men and women who are here today--and thousands of others like them--have taken this challenge as their own.

Here is a steel ventilation plate that is used on certain packing containers. These have cost the taxpayer a dollar apiece..

But steel plates rust and corrode. And so Ralph Pizzello--a packing expert--took a hard look at it. He decided that there must be a better way to make this plate--to do this job.

So he designed a plastic plate to replace that steel plate. It doesn't rust and it doesn't corrode--and it doesn't cost the taxpayer a dollar either. It costs the taxpayer one-tenth of that--just 10 cents. So this little item represents a 90 percent gain in efficiency and in economy.

This is only one very vivid and practical example out of many. We think all of them are creative improvements and reductions in the cost of protecting our freedom.

I am very, very proud of those accomplishments.

They represent the true genius of this Nation--they represent the determination of the individual to use his own God-given talents and all of his resources for the benefit of all of our people.

It gives me a great deal of pleasure to welcome you here to the East Room today and to personally acknowledge and reward and thank you for this leadership--and this substantial contribution to your country.

Note: The President spoke at 1:05 p.m. in the East Room at the White House, at a ceremony honoring 11 individuals whose achievements contributed significantly to the Department of Defense cost reduction program in fiscal year 1967. In his opening words he referred to Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense, and Gen. Earle G. Wheeler, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At the ceremony Certificates of Merit were awarded to the following persons: Technical Sgt. Francis D. Moore, instrument technician, 10th Armament and Electronics Maintenance Squadron, RAF Alconbury, England; Ralph J. Pizzello, woodworker foreman, Supply Division, Tooele Army Depot, Utah; John A. Johnson, supervisory industrial engineer, Industrial Engineering Division, U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot, Crane, Ind.; Oscar Peay, general technologist, Directorate of Medical Materiel Technical Operations Division, Defense Personnel Support Center, Defense Supply Agency, Philadelphia, Pa.; Leonard V. Mares, aerospace engineer, Service Engineering Division, Directorate for Maternal Management, McClellan Air Force Base, Calif.; Mrs. Yeadis M. Isgar, procurement agent, Purchase Division, Buying Branch, Navy Electronics Supply Office, Great Lakes, Ill.; Carlo J. Leto, equipment specialist (auto), Maintenance Directorate, U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command, Warren, Mich.; Spencer K. Albin, aerospace engineer, Engineering Division, Directorate of Maternal Management, Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.; Jack Doyle, chief quarterman, Production Branch, Production and Storage Division, Ordnance Department, U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot, McAlester, Okla.: Lt. Fred M. Lewis, project officer, Ammo-Missile Branch, Stock Management Division, Supply Department, Headquarters, United States Marine Corps, Washington, D.C.; and Ransome G. Holland, mechanical engineer, Production and Engineering Division, Operations Support Division, Directorate of Procurement and Production, Oklahoma Air Materiel Area, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks at the Department of Defense Cost Reduction Ceremony. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238064

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