Remarks at the Convention of the National Retired Teachers Association and the American Association of Retired Persons in Chicago, Illinois

Mr. Faassen, Mrs. Pearce, Mr. Nash, Senator Percy, and all of the distinguished delegates to these conventions:

I well recall that occasion in the Oval Office of the President of the United States when I welcomed the two millionth member of the American Association of Retired Persons. I only hope that your membership continues to grow and that the organization will deserve to have it continue to grow, and I am sure that will be the case.

I was thinking, too, as I looked over the backgrounds of those who are the leaders of these organizations, that I have something in common with them which I would like to refer to briefly, and that is, their association with music. I notice, for example, that Mr. Faassen played in Sousa's Band, and anybody who has heard this great Navy Band--aren't they good, though, our Navy Band here--we think of John Philip Sousa and the tradition that he left. And, of course, through the years Mr. Faassen has also made a contribution in many other ways, but particularly in the field of music, I noted it.

Mrs. Pearce taught music for 42 years. And I think of what a legacy she must have left. I don't mean that all those she taught became musicians. I speak with experience; I learned from a music teacher, too, and I am not a musician. I am a piano player, but I don't play it much in the White House now. I studied the violin when I was in high school. As you can see, though, despite the fact that I studied both the piano and the violin when I was in high school, it didn't do much for my dancing, if you follow that.

One little boy down in Indiana, though, yesterday paid me a very great compliment about that. I had remarked in my speech in my mother's hometown about the fact that my dancing was not particularly something I was proud of. He said, "You know, Mr. President, you did keep time." That is because of my musical background; I can keep time, but I don't know the steps.

But I am privileged to join with this organization. I know this is a regional organization in the heartland of America, but in speaking to you, I want to speak to the entire organization. I want to speak to all the people who could be members of this organization--retired teachers, retired persons all over America. So, though this is a representative group, a very important group, let me now speak to all Americans who are 65 or older, and those who will be 65 or over, and that, of course, is all of us, we hope. We hope to live that long.

There is an old story about a man who went to his doctor one day and asked what he should do so that he could live to be 100. The doctor's response was that the man should give up everything. He should give up his work, give up his play, and give up his friends, and he should do absolutely nothing that would cause him to exert himself.

Then the man asked, "And then you can promise me I will live to be 100?"

"No," said the doctor, "but it sure will seem like it." Well, you know, the doctor had a point. For nothing ages a person faster than the feeling that he is unneeded, he is unwanted, and he is unproductive. Senator Percy and I both remember a grand old man in the Senate, Senator Green of Rhode Island.¹ He served in the Senate until he was over 90. He used to put it this way: "Most people," he said, "say that as you get old you have to give up things." He said, "I think you get old because you give up things."

¹ The late Theodore Francis Green, United States Senator from Rhode Island 1937-61.

Now, I think most of you, and most Americans, would agree with that. What I would like to talk about today, however, is the frequent failure of our society to put this wisdom into practice, for we have not, in fact, been doing a very good job of involving older people in the life of our American society.

This is a great tragedy. It means that old age, which should be a time of pride and fulfillment--pride and fulfillment looking back and looking forward--is too often a time of isolation and withdrawal. Rather than being a time of dignity, it is often a time of disappointment, and the growing separation of older Americans also means that we are not taking full advantage of a tremendous reservoir of skill and wisdom and moral strength that our Nation desperately needs at this moment in its history.

There is one thing I know about the older generation in America. They believe in this country. They have faith in this country. They have the moral strength and character that we need, that all Americans need.

Now all of you know we are engaged in a great venture in America, and that is to bridge the gaps which have developed between geographic parts of this Nation, to bring the North and South and East and West together; between the economic classes, to bring the workers and management and others together; to bridge the gap between racial groups and religious groups; and lately we have done a great deal of soul-searching about the place of the younger generation in our national life.

But while the generation gap between the young and their parents has captured our attention in recent years, as it should, the generation gap between older Americans and the rest of our people has often just been ignored. It has been slighted.

The time has come for a new attitude toward old age in America. The time has come to close the gap between our older citizens and those who are not yet old. The way to do this, I believe, is to stop regarding older Americans as a burden and start regarding them as a resource for America.

Even while science has made it possible for people to live longer, the trend toward early retirements, the growing mobility of society, the loosening of family ties mean that large numbers of senior citizens now have neither families nor jobs to give a focus and a foundation to their daily existence. That is why I say that the generation over 65 is a very special group which faces very special problems--it deserves very special attention. That is why we have been moving to insure that our older citizens get that special attention that they deserve.

Let me talk about that special attention for a moment, if I can.

First, we are making determined efforts to improve the financial position of older citizens. Despite the fact that, overall, American expenditures on the aging have just about doubled in the last 5 years, despite the fact that social security has gone up 25 percent in the last 2 years alone--and it will probably go up another 5 percent--old age is still a time of great social insecurity for too many of our citizens. One out of every four older Americans lives at or below what is called the "poverty line" in America.

To begin to deal with this problem, we have proposed that the Federal Government place a floor under the income of every senior citizen in America. We have proposed that social security benefits for widows be raised. We have called for a system--and this, it seems, is extremely important; I campaigned on it in 1968; I support it now; I believe it is time that we do it--we find that in social security we are always catching up with the increase in the cost of living, and that is too late. That is why I say that we need an automatic cost-of-living increase in social security to make certain that monthly payments will keep up with inflation, keep up with those which it hits so hard--older citizens.

The fact that many older people may no longer be active members of the labor force does not mean that they should be denied a fair share of our growing productivity.

I would like to talk about another initiative that, at first glance, probably doesn't seem to have much to do with the financial problems of older people--revenue sharing. Here, this is an initiative that Senator Percy is supporting very, very strongly. It is supported on a bipartisan basis by a majority of the Members of the Senate, a majority of the Members of the House. I believe it is going to pass.

Let me tell you why it has a direct relationship to the budgets of senior citizens, of retired people in this country. Only through revenue sharing, where the Federal Government shares its revenues with the States, are we going to stop the rise in local property taxes in this country, which is eating into the budget of every older person, retired person who owns his own home.

I found in a meeting--and you will remember, Mrs. Pearce, in a meeting we had in Washington; you will remember, Mr. Faassen--at that meeting I asked about the various problems that older citizens had. And the one thing that they were unanimous on was that property taxes, going up and up and up, was a tremendous problem for every family budget of older citizens, because they have no increase in their income, and they find those property taxes going up.

It is significant to note that of people over 65, over 70 percent own their own homes or their own apartments. So you have a stake in seeing to it that those property taxes don't continue to go up.

I had a letter from a woman in Long Island, not yet retired. She, however, had the problem, and she pointed it out very interestingly. She said that she bought her house about 5 years ago. At that time the monthly mortgage payments were $100 a month, which was more, really, than she could afford out of her budget, but it was $100 a month. She said in the past 5 years the monthly mortgage payments have gone up to $150 a month because of the rise in property taxes. She said there is a new provision, a proposal being considered by the voters of the county in which she lives, which will increase them again. She said, "If they go up again, I am going to have to sell my house, because I can't afford to live in it any longer."

We have got to stop the rise of property taxes in this country, and revenue sharing is the best way that we can do it. That is why we ask your support of that proposal.

Now, I come to something that I think is particularly close to the hearts of this organization, because all of those who represent this organization have spoken to this problem when we have met in the White House, and I want to speak to it now, to you and all of the older people in America.

We have got to stop discriminating in this country against older people who want to work. The time has come to raise the ceiling on how much a person can earn while receiving social security. The time has come to increase the amount of social security he can keep when his earnings exceed that ceiling.

You know what the problem is today. If you receive social security and if you are able to and want to work, the amount that you can earn is limited, or it cuts into your social security. When people are able to work, when people want to work, there is no excuse for government programs which give them a strong incentive not to work. That is why I believe we need to move in this field.

Discrimination that is based on age-what some people call age-ism--can be as wrong as discrimination based on race or religion or any other irrelevant test. For in all of these cases the individual is judged by his position in some arbitrary category rather than by his value as a unique human being.

Old age should not be a time of endings; it should be a time of new beginnings; not a time for stopping, but a time for new starts.

For many, of course, retirement comes as a long-awaited reward at the end of a full career. I am sure that many of you read, as I did, with very great interest, the press conference that that great lady of the American stage, Helen Hayes, had when she retired after 65 years of acting. She was happy, she said, that she would not have to face the pressures of a live performance again. But then, I noticed at the conclusion of her interview what she said. Listen to this: "Yes, other pressures will come along," she acknowledged. "That's life, isn't it? And I'm not about to retire from living."

So, that is the key to the matter. What we must build in this country--among all of our people--is a new attitude toward old age, an attitude which insists that there can be no retirement from living, no retirement from responsibility, no retirement from citizenship.

There are countless ways in which the experience and the energy of retired persons can continue to be tapped. I received a letter the other day from an do-year-old man who knew me as a small boy when he delivered milk to my father's grocery store. For the last year he now lives in southern California still--he has gone each day to work at a hospital as a Foster Grandfather. This is what he wrote: "This has been a tremendous experience for me, not only in being able to supplement my social security but in the thrill of helping mentally retarded children." He cares. He brings to that position something that money won't buy: commitment and caring.

Where older people are willing to do that, where they want to do that, we have got to give them a chance. The country needs them. His testimony is echoed by thousands of other Americans, older people who find that their work in hospitals and schools, in churches and parks and penal institutions not only makes a tremendous contribution to the lives of others but also gives a new pride and purpose to their own existence. You know what your own slogan is: "To serve and not be served." It expresses that same principle.

I am happy to say that Federal efforts to promote such activities are expanding. This week marks the inauguration of the first 10 projects in the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, known as RSVP. If the Congress approves my budget, this program will be greatly expanded this year.

That program and the Foster Grandparents programs have recently been transferred to the new ACTION agency. And incidentally, I have noted that some have been fearful that this program would be de-emphasized as a result of that transfer. I assure you just the opposite is going to be the case. We are going to put more emphasis on those particular programs.

Now, these are some of the things we are doing. Other steps are going to follow. In this connection, I am particularly looking forward to the White House Conference on Aging later this year. You have heard from Mr. Martin,² you have heard from others who will be working on that Conference. This Conference promises to provide the most valuable of all resources for policy-making: new ideas, fresh ideas. We want your ideas, the ideas of this organization. That is why I have met with the leaders of your organizations in preliminary sessions. But we want you in this convention and in other conventions to give us the ideas so that those who meet in the White House will represent the whole country, not just their own view.

²John B. Martin, Commissioner, Administration on Aging, Social and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

All who take part in this Conference and in the State conferences, which, as you know, are going to go forward beforehand, can be sure that we will welcome recommendations. We are going to give them our closest consideration.

Now, I would like to speak with regard to that Conference on one issue that I have directed be given special attention, perhaps more attention than any other, if one issue has to have priority. I refer to the need to reform the regulations with regard to nursing homes in this country.

Let's look at the figures. Nine hundred thousand, at the present time, people over 65 live in nursing homes. Some of them are very fine homes. I saw one yesterday just by accident. I was driving back from my mother's home in southern Indiana to Indianapolis. As we went along, I saw some older people on the side of the road waving. So, I stopped the car and right back of where they were waving was a Presbyterian home for the aging.

I said, "How do you like it?" They said, "It is a wonderful place." I could see why, because the Presbyterian minister who was in charge, a young man who obviously loved the people he was working with, was there. Some of the nurses and others were there. You could see they were all proud of being there. A new building was being built, and I could see that this was one of the nursing homes where people who went to them could be sure they would get the proper care, not only in terms of food but in terms of having people who were really concerned about them.

However, if there is any single institution in this country that symbolizes the tragic isolation and shameful neglect of older Americans, it is not that kind of a home, but it is the substandard nursing home, and there are some. Some are unsanitary. Some are ill-equipped. Some are overcrowded. Some are understaffed.

I am going to be quite blunt. Many of our nursing homes in this country, as I have indicated, are outstanding, like that presbyterian home that I saw, and like others I have seen in California. My 90-year-old aunt, my mother's older sister, still living, is living in one in Riverside, and it is a wonderful home.

But I have been to others that are not, and you have been to some. You have seen them. That is why many of these, the substandard ones, are described as little more than warehouses for the unwanted--that is blunt language, but it is true--as dumping grounds for the dying. I have even heard of doctors who refuse to visit some nursing homes because they get too depressed.

Too often it seems that nursing homes serve mainly to keep older people out of sight, out of mind so that no one will notice their degradation and despair. Just think, if a doctor gets depressed visiting the home, how depressing it must be for the patients that are in it.

I believe we should take notice of this problem. I am confident that our Federal, State, and local governments, working together with the private sector, can do something to transform the nursing home, for those who need it--and of course, there are millions who do not need it, who do not want it--but for those who need it, we must transform that home into an inspiring symbol of comfort and hope.

This is a goal. I have asked the White House Conference to give particular consideration to it. One thing you can be sure, I do not believe that Medicaid and Medicare funds should go to substandard nursing homes in this country and subsidize them.

The ancient Greeks said that we could count no man's life happy until the end of it. For if any man is to live a good life in the most complete sense, then his later years must also be years of fulfillment. As we pursue this goal, as we break away the barriers to full participation for those who are old today, we will also break them away for those who will be old tomorrow.

Our Nation has a high obligation to a generation which has given so much to its service. I think of so many in this audience who have given. I have mentioned this wonderful teacher, 42 years of teaching. You can think of, frankly, some of the students she probably had to teach. They probably were as difficult as I was, and I was not very good at music.

I think, for example, of the mother of George Romney, who is here, and what she has contributed in raising a son who is now a member of the President's Cabinet, and has been Governor of a State. I think of what others have contributed, in your various capacities, to this Nation.

The Nation's commitment to its older citizens also grows out, however, of a more selfish consideration, and that is this: We need you. We need your experience. We need your perspective. And above all, we need your sense of value. Because, you know, this can be a strong nation militarily, it is the strongest in the world; it can be a strong nation economically, it is--we are the richest nation in the world. And it can be an empty shell if we forget that those moral and spiritual values, to which your generation is so deeply committed, are also there.

I have always felt rather fortunate, particularly fortunate, I should say, that my own parents lived long lives. My father lived until he was 77, died in 1956 when I ran for Vice President the second time. My mother lived until she was 82. They shared a lot with me when I was young, growing up in a family of five boys, two of whom died when I was young.

But when we went through those periods, their strength, of course, built strength in the other boys. But also, they shared a lot with me when I was older. One little incident proves it. In 1962 I ran for Governor of California and lost, after having lost for President in 1960. I then moved to New York. A couple of years later my mother had a very serious operation. She was not expected to live. I flew to California to see her. The doctor in the hospital said, before I went into the room, he said, "The best thing you can do is to cheer her up. Let her know that there is still something worth living for."

So I went in and I talked to my mother, and she was under heavy sedation, but she perked up, as she always did when somebody came in to see her. And then, just as I was ready to leave to go back out to New York, I said, "Now, Mother, don't you give up." Her eyes flashed, she sort of leaned up in the bed, and she said, "Don't you give up."

I didn't give up. That is why I am here today. But let me tell you something. It was very tempting to give up--two defeats, making a lot of money as a lawyer in New York, not the problems and vicissitudes of politics. If my mother hadn't said that, I might have given up. She didn't live to see what her advice did.

But that shows what the older generation can do to younger people who have not been through as much, who might give up. You can see why we need you, why younger people need you, your advice, your wisdom, your strength, your perspective.

If we allow our society to become fragmented, so that younger Americans are cut off from older Americans, then each member of our society will also become fragmented, with young people cut off from their past and older people from the future.

I spoke last January to an assembly of young people at the University of Nebraska, young people like the young people in this band, about their age. And on that occasion, I called for a new alliance between generations--between the young generation on the one hand and the older generation on the other. But, you know, when I come to think about it, that is not enough.

Today I want to go a step further. I call today for a new alliance in this country between Americans who are under 65 and those who are over 65.

The American community will be incomplete without the full participation of every American. For each generation has its unique role to play in the unfolding drama of America.

Let us then put aside the things which would divide us--suspicion, condescension, resentment, indifference. Let us join together across the generations and make ours an even greater America as we move forward together.

I have met many world leaders in my travels to over 70 countries in the world. I did not agree with all of them, but I learned from all of them, young and old. I remember seeing President de Gaulle of France after he had become President of France. I had been defeated for office. This was in the year 1963. He was talking about his own life, the fact that he had led the Free French, kept up the spirit of France when it was ready to die after their defeat in World War II, after he was then repudiated by the French people and had gone into retirement, then called back into service as President of France.

Then, and perhaps he was speaking to me as my mother has spoken to me, he said something about his favorite quotation from Sophocles, the Greek poet. He said, "One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been." I want all of you in this audience to know that we want the evening of your lives and the evening of all lives of older Americans to be good evenings, fine evenings. We want you in the evening of your lives to be able to look back and say, "How splendid the day has been."

[At this point, Katherine Pearce, president, National Retired Teachers Association, presented to the President a plaque with the inscription: In Recognition of Significant and Valued Contributions to the Enrichment of Retirement Living. The President then resumed speaking.]

Thank you very much, Mrs. Pearce. I am most grateful for the award. I hope that what we do, not what we say, will make us deserving of this award that we have received here. You have our commitment, certainly, to do everything that we can to carry out what I tried to outline in my remarks today.

Mrs. Pearce, I want to say to you, after meeting you in the White House and after hearing you here today, if you had been my music teacher, I might have been--I was just thinking I might have been leading the band, rather than making the speeches.