Message to the Congress Transmitting Annual Report of the National Endowment for the Arts and National Council on the Arts.

To the Congress of the United States:

It is with profound pleasure and pride that I transmit to the Congress the Annual Report of the National Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts for the Fiscal Year 1971.

The report mirrors the vitality of musicians, actors, dancers, painters, sculptors, architects, writers, poets--extending our cultural renaissance into all of our communities. It reports and reflects the dedicated work of the producers and planners, the budgeters and the backstage hands, even the special grace of such as the museum guides who turn routine tours into lifetime experiences with their flashes of expertise and insight.

I invite the members of the Congress to share my pleasure and pride in the truly remarkable work of the National Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. This work has been possible because you have recognized the importance of the arts, and because you have joined in voting across party lines to approve dramatic increases in our appropriations for the arts.

You have seen that individual, creative effort is an essential element of the American character. You have understood that the enrichment of the human spirit, and the sudden lifting of the soul, are legitimate objectives of government in the finest sense.

Just as 18th century America was dedicated in large part to the achievement of political liberty, and 19th century America to the attainment of economic opportunity, historians of the future may cite 20th century America for its dedication to the definition of the quality and justice of life. In all of these things our national point of view about the arts is fundamental. And right now, we are becoming increasingly a nation of participants in the arts.

There now are 44 million amateur musicians in the United States, more than one in five of our population. To take a second example, there are more than 5,000 amateur theatrical companies. And these are more than mere statistics: I am saying that the arts are not for a privileged few, but for everybody. And the arts are not merely sights and sounds: I believe the arts can teach us to hear when we listen, to understand when we see, to enjoy when we perform.

Individual, corporate, foundation, State and local support for the arts remains central to the national interaction that gives our culture its unique vitality. But I do believe that, as I said in September 1969, "the Federal Government has a vital role as catalyst, innovator and supporter of public and private efforts for cultural development." And I am sure that in the National Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts we have a national asset of worth and luster.

I take a very special satisfaction in this annual report. I hope you will enjoy reading it. And I urge you to make it possible for this good and bountiful work to go on.

RICHARD NIXON

THE WHITE HOUSE,

June 30, 1972.