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Letter to Secretary Gardner on the Achievements of the Federal-State Vocational Rehabilitation Program.

March 14, 1966

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I am very proud of the achievements of the Federal-State vocational rehabilitation program in rehabilitating disabled citizens. By teaching new skills to the handicapped, this program has brought hope and independence to thousands of disabled individuals and their families.

My January budget forecasts that 215,000 handicapped individuals will be rehabilitated during fiscal year 1967, a 25% increase over the current fiscal year.

As we plan for the larger program, I believe we should do better than we have in rehabilitating persons who are now on our public welfare rolls. In the last several years, although the absolute numbers have increased, the proportion of welfare recipients receiving training has declined from 15% to 13%. I think this trend should be reversed. While human values are always our prime consideration, we should not ignore the sound public investment that would result by reducing our public welfare rolls through vocational rehabilitation.

I would like you to review the possibilities in this area and report to me with recommendations for Federal and State action by June 1.

Sincerely,

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

[Honorable John W. Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D.C. 20201]

Lyndon B. Johnson, Letter to Secretary Gardner on the Achievements of the Federal-State Vocational Rehabilitation Program. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238338

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