Remarks Before the National Governors' Conference in Cincinnati.

Governor and Mrs. Rhodes, Governor and Mrs. Volpe, distinguished Governors and First Ladies, ladies and gentlemen:

There are three reasons that I hoped that I could come here and be with all of you tonight.

The first was to thank you personally for this kind resolution which you passed yesterday and for this beautiful plaque.

You know, so many resolutions are just simply empty rhetoric, but this one deeply impressed me with its poetry and its accuracy and its very great wisdom. [Laughter]

Another reason I wanted to come here and be with you is that this is a political year. Many of you are involved in campaigns for reelection.

You have my sympathy. For, somehow, I know just how trying that can be.

Finally, I guess I must be frank and just say to you that I realize that it would be somewhat safer for me to deliver a message to you personally than to send it by wire.

The honor that you have done me tonight is one I treasure.

Your understanding and your active support have been vital elements in the passage of so much landmark legislation during the past 5 years. And as we meet here tonight, for perhaps our final session together, we know that a nation has been changed--and that nation has been changed for the better--because of the hard work and the vision that so many of us have shared.

We have brightened the classrooms and the prospects of 12 million poor boys and girls through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is operated jointly by the Federal Government through the States. College gates have opened for 1 1/2 million young men and women because of the grants and loans and work-study programs under the Higher Education Act.

Seven and a half million of the Nation's grandparents have received the hospital treatment they need under Medicare.

Thirty-one million children have already been vaccinated against killing and crippling diseases.

And 5 1/2 million Americans have been lifted out of poverty.

The shameful barriers that have kept our 20 million Negro citizens from full participation in the American promise have at long last begun to fall.

Nearly 800,000 acres of warm beaches and scenic forestlands have been added for the pleasure of our children and the American people--and they have been put within their easy reach.

But these accomplishments do not mean that our work---even for this year--is over.

Pending before the Congress now are more than 50 major bills which I believe are essential to the well-being of all of the American people.

On this list of unfinished work are proposals: --to protect our teenagers against the perils of dangerous drugs,

--to protect our people from guns in criminal hands,

--to protect our city dwellers and our farmers alike against the hazards of unemployment and low prices,

--to protect our workers against hazards to life and limb and health on the job,

--to preserve our forests and our scenic trails and our rivers, --to begin immediately the vital task of putting a decent roof over every family's head,

--to help stop the spread of nuclear weapons throughout the world by ratifying the nonproliferation treaty which has been negotiated.

I seek your help tonight in moving these measures through the Congress so that they can become the law of the land.

On this silver plaque you have etched your faith in the new concept of federalism which we have forged--the active partnership in which the Federal and State Governments work together to meet the needs of all of the American 'people.

No effort that I have made during my years as President has commanded a higher priority than the alliance which unites us in common endeavor. I am deeply mindful of the high importance of your office. I am deeply aware that State government is the very cradle of our democracy. I had my first glimpse of public service at my father's side in the statehouse at Austin.

I have worked closely with Governors and State legislators all of my adult life. One of my first acts in the first week of my Presidency was to meet with all the Governors so we could chart together a road to progress from an hour of national tragedy. Since then, I have conferred with you--individually and together, in regional groups--more than 700 times.

I hope that my successor, whoever he is and whatever party he represents, will continue this very close relationship. I am convinced that no future President can effectively administer the network of grant-in-aid programs without the cooperation of the Governors of the States of this Union.

One question that we are going to have to look to and look to very soon, is how we can simplify the relationship and liaison not only between the White House and the statehouse but between the Federal and State bureaucracies.

Tonight, we are all aware that some voices are calling for a drastic modification in our alliance--a smaller role for the Federal Government and a larger role for the State government. This is an important issue--an issue on which much of our future will turn. And I think it is appropriate that we discuss it here tonight.

In less than a decade, we will begin our third century as a Nation.

Our second century, which began with the industrial revolution, was marked by an expanding Federal role in the affairs of our citizens.

At no time in that century was the Federal Government ever eager to take on increased responsibilities. In some cases, in fact, the Federal Government delayed assuming responsibility until it was almost too late. Our cities decayed almost to the point of obsolescence. Our Negro citizens waited for tomorrow's justice--and tomorrow seemed to never come.

Responsibility was passed to the Federal Government by default--after, and only after, it became clear that the States would not or could not solve the problems that pressed in on all their sides.

Tonight, there might not be

--any Federal Hill-Burton law for hospital construction,

--any Federal Medicare,

--any Federal minimum wage standards, --any Federal civil rights acts,

--any Federal aid to elementary or secondary or vocational or higher education. That is, if the States, in the course of that second century of our development, had responded to the emerging needs of the people. But even the States--and in most instances led by their Governors--urged Congress to pass these landmark measures because the local entities of government had not been able to meet the needs that the people themselves felt had to be met.

So the questions that confront us tonight are these: What direction will America take in its third century? What will the role of our Government be? The answer, I believe, is that the Government will be just as active, and just as powerful, as the States and the people in the States compel it to be.

By 1976 our population will reach 222 million people. That is an increase of 11 percent. Twenty-six million new housing units will have to be built. Six million acres of land will be given over to the development of new suburbs and highways and industrial complexes. And unless forceful action is taken, the opportunity of city children to enjoy open spaces is going to be lost forever.

By 1976, our annual birth rate will be 5.3 million per year. Each of these children, born into this land of medical miracles, should have the right to start life with as sound a body and mind as science can give him.

By 1976, our classrooms will have to accommodate more than 62 million students-that is 4 million more students than are in school today. This will be necessary if we are ever to realize our dream of every American child getting all the education that he can take--regardless of his family condition, or the accident of his place of birth.

As our industries grow and our economy expands, a constant fight will have to be waged to provide our American citizens with air that is fit to breathe, and water that is safe to drink.

In the next decade we must increase our farm production by 25 to 30 percent to meet the needs of our growing Nation and to meet the needs of America's export markets. Well, who is going to solve all of these problems? And where are they going to be debated and where will they be resolved?

If anyone doubts that the questions pose a dilemma, let him consider the issue of crime in America at this very hour. Our Constitution and the tradition of our land make it abundantly clear that law and order are the responsibilities of the State and local governments.

Yet, when the crime rate soars, Americans in every section of the country--and even many of their local leaders--look increasingly to the Federal Government for solutions.

The Federal Government does not seek and has never sought the responsibility of policing our streets--and I hope and I pray that it will never accept it.

But if the American people look to Washington in a matter so clearly defined as this, by our Constitution, it could betray a weakness in our partnership.

Hard decisions confront this partnership, and they cannot be postponed.

I believe that each Governor is going to have to examine closely his State's system-particularly property taxes--to make sure that the system encourages rather than inhibits improvements in the cities.

A solution is going to have to be found in every State to the vexing problem of how to use the tax base of the metropolitan area in order to improve the central city.

More effective ways will also have to be found to use State employment services which have been aided by the National Government, but must not be replaced by the National Government.

This year, in the last few months, we have launched the most ambitious efforts in our national history to find private jobs in private industry for the hard-core unemployed in our cities. Already, industry has pledged, in the last few weeks, 162,500 jobs for men who never had a job before.

But before those jobs can be filled, the unemployed have to be located and they have to be matched to the available jobs. This just never can be done in the Nation's Capital.

The State employment agency is the only working instrument. But to date, I am sorry to say, only 35,000 of these 162,000 have been finally located to take over the work that is ready for them. So, if those 162,000 jobs are to be filled, and if men and women who have lost hope are to be given chances in life, the State employment agencies will have to secure results on a much more massive scale.

It is those same employment agencies that must find jobs for our returning servicemen who are unprepared for civilian employment.

The one clear fact of our time is that solutions are going to be found to these problems. Now they are going to be found in one way or the other. The needs of people are going to be met.

But the only question is: How are they going to be met? And the next question is: Who will meet them?

Either together we are going to find jobs for our unemployed and our returning veterans--or they are going to make their demands on the Federal Government.

Either together we are going to make our Model Cities program an outstanding success-or the U.S.. Government will have to make it a success.

Either together we are going to protect our infants against mental and physical disease--or the people will look to the national leaders to again expand the Nation's medical role.

Either together we are going to provide the loans and the scholarships and the jobs to make college education possible for every boy and girl who wants it--or the National Government will have to do it alone.

I hope and I believe the answer to these challenges can be and will be met by the kind of cooperation, and joint action that we have taken together during the past 5 years.

I appreciate so much what each Governor and each State has done in cooperation with Governor Price Daniel and the other three Governors who have worked with you, in trying to make this cooperation a success.

The answer must never lie entirely with the Federal Government. I have always believed and I know that you believe that the best government is the government which is closest to the people. And you Governors of sovereign States can supply that closeness. That is your strength and really that is the strength of our Nation.

I want to conclude tonight by giving you a report on this country's search for peace.

If any fact is clear, it should be this: Everybody in America wants peace. Our Government wants peace, our men in Vietnam want peace, your President wants peace.

Yet some among us seem to feel that I, or we, alone can bring peace to the world and peace in Vietnam. They seem to ignore the presence and the irreconcilability of the enemy.

I said in a speech on the night of March 31st that America would use restraint on the battlefield as we sought for peace at the bargaining table.

We have employed that restraint. We have kept that promise.

We are doing everything that we know how to do to get the enemy to meet us at least halfway. Up to now, they have shown no disposition to do that.

We are willing to go as far as honor and safety to our soldiers will permit us to go. But we are not going to impose a coalition government--or for that matter, any kind of government--on the 'people of South Vietnam. Nor are we going to let the totalitarians impose a Communist government of their direction upon the people of South Vietnam, either.

So the days that we are going through and the days ahead are going to be difficult ones. We are determined to press the search for peace, even as we resist aggression on the battlefield. We are going to continue to try to resist the efforts to split our country wide open and divide our citizens.

And with all the power at my command, I am going to try to do my duty as I see it, regardless of the pressures and the strains that come normally in any political year.

When President Thieu and I met last week in Honolulu, we tried to make our position clear. We determined that a cease-fire could be a part of a final peaceful settlement--and that such a cessation will be possible whenever the Government of North Vietnam is prepared earnestly to examine the arrangements required. Effective controls and guarantees would be necessary.

We agreed that an honorable and secure peace will assure the right of the South Vietnamese people to decide their own affairs without any external interference. It will be in accord with the essential principles of the Geneva accords of 1954 and it will provide full compliance with the Geneva accords of 1962, regarding Laos.

Now, that is the position of the United States Government. That position is a fair position. That position is a just position. That position is a reasonable position. And I am here tonight to the extent that I can to assure you that position is a firm position of the United States Government as long as I am President.

So, we do not get peace just because we wish for it. We hope and we always pray for the best, but we must be prepared for what comes.

I am very sorry that this is the last time that I will attend one of your sessions as President.

When I look back over the long road that we have traveled together over the last 5 eventful years, I feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

But then I look ahead--not just to January 20, but down the long road that our Republic has yet to go, into our third century of independence.

Then I get a somewhat different feeling. It can best be described by telling you this story that I read about Winston Churchill-which may or may not be true.

It seems that at the height of World War II, in the midst of great danger, the Prime Minister was visited by a delegation of temperance ladies.

They came to complain about Prime Minister Churchill's drinking habits.

"Mr. Prime Minister," one of the little ladies said, "if all the brandy that you drank in a year was poured into this room, it would come halfway up to the ceiling." And she held up her hand to illustrate to the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister looked solemnly at the floor. Then he looked at the ceiling. Then he looked at the little lady's hand at the midmark. And he muttered very sadly, "So little done. So much yet to do."

So in spite of how far we have come, we have so far yet to travel. In spite of all that we have done together, we have not done nearly enough. In spite of all the problems that face our men in Vietnam tonight as they struggle to protect the things we believe in, and that face our leaders here at home who try to serve us the best they can--in spite of all of those things, we must reach up to the heights and do a better job for this country.

I have not the slightest doubt that it is the desire and the determination of every Governor at this conference to represent his State and his people and his country as best he can.

In my 37 years of active political participation, I have never seen any man of any party who ran on a platform of doing what he thought was wrong. We all think we are doing what is right. Sometimes we make mistakes and we misjudge what is right and what is wrong. But we all try to do our best.

In the days ahead, we are going to be challenged to make better judgments, to have greater wisdom, to be possessed with more vision. Although we have the greatest nation in all the world, if it is to continue to lead the world, then we must rise up in this critical hour of need, inventory our resources, list our needs, and try to reach progressive, prudent judgments that will result in the greatest good for the greatest number.

When I first entered political life I was asked my philosophy. I shall try to keep that philosophy to the end. First of all, I want to be a free man. Second, I want to be an American. Third, I want to be a public servant who tries to serve all the people of all races and all creeds without fear or favor. Fourth, because I believe that I can best serve my country, I want to be a Democrat-all in that order: free man, American, public servant, and finally a party leader.

For those Governors of both parties who have given me their hand in friendship, who have gone with me in the hours of trial and the hours of sunshine, I have come here to express my deep gratitude on behalf of myself and my family, but particularly on behalf of the 200 million people that we are all privileged to serve. They give so much. They ask for so little.

We have got to preserve the freedom that they cherish--and we will.

Thank you.