I am grateful for this opportunity to express my greetings and admiration to the leaders and members of the National Association of County Officials meeting in Miami. The problems facing this country in the challenging sixties are by no means exclusively Federal problems. "There are enough to go around" for every level of government - Federal, State and local.

The strength of our Nation depends upon the vitality of our local governments - and your ability to work with Washington in meeting the challenges of a fast-growing Nation - with its growing population, its school and hospital shortages, its transportation tangle, its polluted water and air, its blighted neighborhoods and all the rest.

I look forward to working with every member of this organization in meeting these problems in years to come. By demonstrating that you are able and willing to assume your responsibilities on the local level, that you can be alert to the future needs of our citizens, that you can emphasize cooperation, instead of duplication, with other local governments, you have demonstrated your readiness to join with leaders at every level of government, and in both political parties, to make this a better, wiser, stronger America.