My fellow Americans:
General Finan, I appreciate so much this warm welcome from these good people. Senator Brewster and Senator Beall, who rode down with me, told me what I could expect, but I couldn't believe this until I saw it with my own eyes. I am happy to be here this morning with the distinguished Attorney General of Maryland and Congressman Sickles and Congressman Mathias.
It may be true that George Washington and Benjamin Harrison preceded me, but they didn't bring their Cabinet with them, and I did.
I have with me this morning the distinguished Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Orville Freeman; the distinguished Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Mr. Anthony Celebrezze; the distinguished Secretary of Labor, Mr. Willard Wirtz; the Under Secretary of Commerce, representing Secretary Hodges, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr.; Mr. Robert Weaver, the head of the Housing and Home Finance Agency; and Mr. Aubrey Wagner, the head of the Tennessee Valley Authority, who will be traveling with us throughout the Appalachia territory all day.
Now we came to learn and to listen, to see and to evolve a program that will help the "Old Line State" of Maryland. We are here to talk with you as well as to you. I have already learned that your Senators think that if we do a little work on the Bloomington Dam, we would attract a great deal of industry, create more jobs, provide a water supply for our Nation's Capital, and a great deal of happiness for Cumberland. We will explore that possibility very carefully and see if we can get something going on that.
Since our time is limited and I have another appearance to make downtown, I think I shall conclude by telling you of the disappointment of one of my friends riding in the helicopter with me this morning. He said that he understood that lightning struck Mrs. Johnson's plane twice the other day on her way to Ohio, and that that finally got her back to riding with me again.
He wondered why she couldn't ride with me today. Well, I will tell you. It is only because she had a previous engagement that she could not break. She said to me this morning, "You tell the people of Cumberland that I am sorry I won't be with you. While you are trying to preserve the country, I will be here meeting with the Committee to Preserve the White House."
I hope that she may be able to come back with me if I get to visit here again between now and November.
Thank all of you for coming out.
Note: The President spoke at 9:15 a.m. in Cumberland, Md., at the beginning of a 2-day tour through the Appalachian States on which he was accompanied by his daughter, Lynda Bird. In his opening remarks he referred to Thomas B. Finan, Attorney General of Maryland, Senators Daniel B. Brewster and J. Glenn Beall, and Representatives Carlton R. Sickles and Charles McC. Mathias, Jr., all of Maryland.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks at Fort Hill High School Stadium, Cumberland, Maryland. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238838