John F. Kennedy photo

Remarks to Recipients of the Rockefeller Public Service Awards

December 06, 1962

WE WANT to express appreciation to John Rockefeller and to the university for the recognition which they brought to distinguished civil servants of our Government. And in honoring them they honor all those who work for the Government.

I think it is too often that the Government work has been caricatured, rather than honored as it should be. I think the kind of skills which the recipients this year have brought to the public service, and the diligence of their work, places the American people in their debt.

I hope these awards will encourage others who work in the Government to double their efforts and also will encourage those who are considering a career in Government, a career in Civil Service, a career in the Foreign Service, a career in space, a career in housing, and all the rest, to come and work with us. It represents, really, in many ways, the most rewarding of careers in the 1960's.

I think that all who are associated with the program are to be commended. In several cases the Government beat you to it in honoring them.

Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 10 a.m. in his office at the White House. The recipients of the awards were: Llewellyn E. Thompson, United States Ambassador at Large; Hugh L. Dryden, Deputy Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration; J. Stanley Baughman, President and member of the Board of Directors of the Federal National Mortgage Association, Housing and Home Finance Agency; Reginald G. Conley, Assistant General Counsel for Legislation, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and Morris H. Hansen, Assistant Director for Research and Development, Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce.

Others present at the ceremony were John D. Rockefeller 3d, Chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Dr. Robert F. Goheen, President of Princeton University, which administers the awards program.

John F. Kennedy, Remarks to Recipients of the Rockefeller Public Service Awards Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/236677

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