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Letter to Secretary Flemming on Receiving Report of the Federal Council on Aging.

November 16, 1959

[ Released November 16, 1959. Dated November 12, 1959 ]

Dear Arthur:

I want to thank you and the other members of the Federal Council on Aging for your informative report on Federal action in assisting the aging.

Federal programs for the aged, including Social Security programs, have increased fivefold in the last decade and will total $15 billion in the fiscal year 1960. This is a substantial contribution to our national effort in this field, but the task is not done. The report suggests important areas for exploration. For example, I am sure we can do more to employ productively and utilize the skills and experience of our 15 million aged.

The creation of increased economic and social opportunities for the aged must clearly be a many-sided approach. It is important to emphasize the Council's observations that this will require the efforts of the individual, his family, his community, and the local and State governments, as well as of the Federal government.

The report merits study by the many groups now preparing for the White House Conference on Aging to be held in January 1961. I will look forward to future reports of the Council.

Sincerely,

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Note: The report "Programs and Resources for Older People" (83 pp.) was published by the Government Printing Office. Secretary Flemming's letter of transmittal, dated September 30, was released with the President's reply.

For the President's letter of March 7 to Secretary Flemming reconstituting the Federal Council on Aging at Cabinet level, see Item 49.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Letter to Secretary Flemming on Receiving Report of the Federal Council on Aging. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/234567

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