Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Remarks at a Ceremony Inaugurating a Pilot Program for the Training of Vietnam War Veterans as Teachers.

July 30, 1968

Mr. Driver, Mr. Graham, Members of Congress:

Many times in this garden, I have come here to proudly decorate brave young men who have given unusual service to their country.

I am not going to pin medals on these 10 young veterans here this morning. But I do pin upon them the pride and the hope of their country.

They have done our country's work, it is true, by serving in Vietnam. Now they have enlisted in the cause of their country here at home--the cause of America--as teachers in the slums of Philadelphia. They are the first to enroll in a new program that we call Veterans in Public Service.

They bring battle-tested leadership and a shining faith in America's future to the ghetto classroom. They have won the hearts of their children by opening their eyes to the promise of America and by training their hands to reach it.

Seventy thousand veterans are being mustered out each month in this country. These 70,000 men represent an immense national resource--the best of America. They are able and they are willing to work on the worst of the Nation's problems--the things that concern us most.

That is why I proposed to Congress the Veterans in Public Service Act of 1968. We very much want to convert our citizen-soldiers into citizen-public servants, into classroom teachers, into policemen, into fire fighters, into health workers, and into trained conservationists. There is a great need for young people in all of these areas of public service in this country.

There are substantial shortages in all of these areas.

There is too much urgency in the problems of our cities. There are too many children that need leadership and need help that don't get it. There is too much to be done right now in every city.

So we have moved to try on an emergency basis to meet partially, at least by example, some of these challenges.

So the Teacher Corps, under the brilliant leadership of Dick Graham, improvised this pioneer VIPS program. These veterans were placed alongside Teacher Corps interns in slum clearance classrooms during the day. At night, we helped them study for degrees and for teaching certificates at Temple University. Now we are going to try to build on this success. Today we are making a grant--a grant of $600,000--from the Office of Education. With that grant, we are establishing similar VIPS programs in perhaps six or eight more American cities for some 150 American veterans.

So we will move--move little by little, that is true--move not near as fast as far as we need to, because this year, one city and 10 veterans--next year, six to eight cities and 150 veterans--and then, we hope, dozens of cities, thousands of veterans, and millions of children can be led by bright example to this thing we call a new life and a new hope.

These first experiments are proving the case for the VIPS Act. I hope Congress will note their success and I hope that it will pass necessary and helpful legislation.

Our times call for the boldest thinking and the most creative actions. To solve the teacher shortage in the ghetto, to provide our cities and our rural centers with firemen, policemen, conservationists, and health workers, we must reach for the new and imaginative veterans in public service.

The Teacher Corps, the amendments to the Teacher Corps legislation for volunteer teaching assistants--all of these are needed, all of these are examples of the fresh and farsighted programs that could restore pride and quality to our schools, to our neighborhoods, and to all of our cities.

So this morning, on a very modest, small scale, let these 10 young veterans from Philadelphia be an example for the rest of the Nation--be an example for all of our youth, all of our administrators in the executive branch, particularly an example for our legislators who we hope will give us the necessary tools--an example for all the hopeful and determined people in this country.

We thank you for coming here. We commend you for what you have done. We have very high hopes of what you are going to do. But what you are going to do is just going to be a drop in the bucket compared to the example you will set. We hope that you will start a movement that will spread to every area of our land.

What a great day it would be if we could take the cream of our manhood who have given training and attention, their muscle and their brain--and some of them their bodies--to preserving our freedom and return them to civilian life to apply these same talents to saving our young people, to improving our cities and to bettering our schools and to making better people of our youngsters.

The time is short. The hour is late. We desperately need leadership for the policemen, firemen, the teachers, the recreational leaders in our ghettos, and our conservationists.

I saw a ruling yesterday where they are cutting down a few trees that are left in some of the places--wiping them out. It is very difficult these days even to hire anyone that knows how to plant a tree, and almost impossible to get anyone to water one.

So we hope that our veterans will hear about this program while they are in the service, will enlist in it and receive training before they leave it and will come out and help us move forward in these much needed fields.

RAYMOND CLEMENTS [a 12-year-old Philadelphia student, reading his letter].

"Dear Mr. President:

"I want to thank you for all the children at the Pratt-Arnold School for the veterans and Teacher Corps people who helped us so much in our school.

"Before in reading I had a very low mark and with Mr. Boston, Mrs. Manes and Mr. Bond teaching me, I got an A in reading.

"Thank you for these people sent to help children like me.

"Sincerely,

"Raymond Clements"

THE PRESIDENT. I will give you another A. It is a well-done job.

RAYMOND. Here is the apple for the teacher.

THE PRESIDENT. What is this? It is a mighty big apple.

RAYMOND. It is made out of clay.

THE PRESIDENT. It is a clay apple, is it?

RAYMOND. Yes.

THE PRESIDENT. Well, it is very nice. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Is your teacher here?

RAYMOND. Yes.

THE PRESIDENT. Thank you so much.

RAYMOND. Here is the letter.

THE PRESIDENT. I want to commend Mr. Driver and Mr. Graham, and Mr. Cohen particularly, for their ability to cooperate and coordinate and work together.

I don't think we ought to be satisfied until every one of the 70,000 men a month that are coming out here are familiarized with this program and given a chance to prepare for it.

Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 11:45 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House. In his opening words he referred to William J. Driver, Administrator of Veterans Affairs, and Richard Graham, Director of the Teacher Corps. Later he referred to Wilbur J. Cohen, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

In his letter to the President, Raymond Clements referred to two veterans serving in the Philadelphia VIPS program, Raymond Boston and Charles Bond, and to Mrs. Jane Manes, adviser to the program.

Also released was a fact sheet giving additional details concerning the program. It is printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 4, p. 1173).

Legislative action on the veterans in public service bill was not completed by the 90th Congress.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks at a Ceremony Inaugurating a Pilot Program for the Training of Vietnam War Veterans as Teachers. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/237849

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