Remarks to Reporters After Touring the Proposed Gateway National Recreation Area in New York and New Jersey

Ladies and gentlemen:

Secretary Morton will be briefing the press on the project that I will refer to very briefly in my remarks this morning.

I first want to say that this is, in my opinion, one of the most significant steps that the Federal Government has taken, in cooperation with the State governments, on recreation perhaps in this century, because it moves in the direction that all people who have evaluated our parks and recreation areas believe we should move, and that is, to bring parks to the people.

I remember as a young boy what a great thrill it was for me to go to Yosemite, the Big Trees, the Grand Canyon, and the other great parks in the West.

When I moved to New York I remember a conversation that I had with an elevator operator in our building. He was about my age, and he had grown up in New York. And he spoke of his love of the outdoors and particularly of the hope that some day he might be able to visit some of those parks or parks like them that I had grown up with in the West.

The point of this remark simply is to bring home the fact that millions of Americans today do go to the great national parks that are all over this country, and particularly in the western part of the United States.

But here in the New York area, for example, 20 million people live. I would say that perhaps less than a million have ever had the opportunity to go to some of those parks, and less than half of the 20 million people that live in this area have automobiles. So what we need to do is to bring to the 20 million people who live in this area those recreational opportunities that they otherwise could not have.

This means not only an area of recreation-and we have that 23,000 acres, 10 miles of magnificent beach that we have just flown over but also the transportation, mass transit, a ferry, a subway, whatever is necessary so that people who do not have automobiles may be able to come to these areas.

We discussed a number of other things on our trip, and I just would mention this one that I think is particularly important. There is emphasis in this particular project on wildlife--and we hear some of the wildlife, incidentally, in the hangars today--but I pointed out that to get young people who grow up in the heart of a city to go to areas like this that are natural and have all the wildlife, there must be some magnet, some enticement.

That means that there must be a proper balance between maintaining the wildlife, the environment, and all that, and still having at the same time those areas of recreation right there that will bring the young people to the beaches and to the wildlife preserves.

The Secretary of Interior will describe our plans in that respect, whereby we hope not only to provide the transportation but also the facilities in these areas that will bring young children from the hearts of the cities of New York, Newark, and others right out here to the beaches. Once they come there for perhaps the reason that they feel they are going to find a recreational area such as they would have in the city, then they will find the wonder and the beauty of the beaches and the wildlife preserves.

I finally want to say that this is a project that has bipartisan support, it is one that this Administration is providing leadership for, and that a great deal of credit certainly should go to the Secretary of the Interior, who, while he will be moving his office to Denver in the far West as an indication of our interest in the western part of the United States and our western recreational areas--that this Gateway East is an indication of the commitment of this Administration, the commitment of the American people, to bring to the people of this country the parks, the recreation areas that otherwise a great majority would never be able to enjoy.

Thank you.