Remarks at the Reception for the 1966-1967 White House Fellows

Mr. Carr, Members of the Cabinet, Ambassador Lodge, Members of the Congress, ladies and gentlemen:

"There is a natural aristocracy among men," Thomas Jefferson once wrote. "The grounds of this are virtue and talent."

This evening the White House belongs to you who are members of that aristocracy, you who have proven your talent and you who have demonstrated your virtue.

Judge Hastie tells me that there may be even some among you who have both virtue and talent.

We welcome you here, White House Fellows, new Fellows, the finalists, as well as the friends of this program.

In the early years of this century, the great English doctor, Sir William Osler, delivered a commencement address at the Johns Hopkins University. There he made a very striking and very controversial observation:

"Take the sum of human achievement," he said, "in action, in science, in art, in literature. Subtract the work of the men above 40, and while we would lose great treasures, even priceless treasures, we would practically be where we are today. The effective, moving, vitalizing work of the world is done between the ages of 25 and 40."

The next morning a Baltimore newspaper headlined its account of Sir William's address this way: "Osler recommends chloroform at 60."

I am sure that some of you newspaper people may have even reduced that some and may recommend chloroform at 58 now.

But if Dr. Osler, upon reading that, was tempted to chloroform a reporter, I think he could have been forgiven. That was not the first time, nor the last, that a public figure has felt that urge.

So tonight, in paying tribute to the White House Fellows, I would not go so far as to recommend chloroform at 60, or at a reduced age, but I do want to remark upon the happy combination of youth and competence which this program has been bringing to this Government.

I want to tell you what effective, moving, vitalizing work these young men and women have been doing for their country.

Two years ago when we established the program, we thought that its main benefits would be educational, serving chiefly the Fellows themselves. Today we are not so sure who really gains the most, the Fellows or the Government they serve.

One of last year's Fellows wrote a report which formed the basis for very important decisions about our migrant farm labor problem. Three of that first group remained in Government service after their terms as White House Fellows had ended, two of them on my staff.

Among this year's Fellows, one has just returned from a special mission to Vietnam. Another is at work here in the White House to make the next few months not a long, hot summer, but a long, hopeful summer in Washington.

All of you--in great ways and small-are helping to make your country work, and that is an opportunity and that is an achievement that is to be prized very highly.

Every young man and every young woman in this room is set apart from his generation by rather exceptional ability. But just as truly, every one of you is a member and a representative of his generation.

So this evening I speak not only to you but to your generation. The spirit of that generation today is first of all a questioning, critical spirit, skeptical of promises and rather impatient with results.

That is a spirit which may sometimes overly concern your elders, but it is a spirit that your country needs.

Today's young people enjoy not only unparalleled ease and comfort, but they enjoy enormous freedom--freedom of inquiry, freedom of expression, yes, freedom of dissent.

That free spirit we need, too, for freedom of speech can never harm us if we remember that freedom of speech is a two-way street.

We must guard every man's right to speak. But we must also defend every man's right to answer.

Your generation may at times feel a sense of outrage, for it, like every other generation, is inheriting a world with numerous problems that are yet to be solved.

So we need that restless spirit. It is the motive power behind every forward step that a man or a country must make.

There is only one catch: The sternest impatience, the greatest power of speech, the most noble outrage against injustice, all would be only good intentions unless Americans, young and old, involve themselves, unless they go into the field with that "Message to Garcia," unless they translate their best ideas into practical achievements.

It is a sad fact that less than 50 percent of the eligible voters under 25 exercise their right to vote. That is the lowest level of participation in any age group in America.

The world cries out not only for the presence of the young, but it cries out for their participation.

The young people, I believe, under 29 years of age cast only 16 percent of the total vote cast in the country, although people under 30 make up almost half the population.

The White House Fellows program, which I established in 1964, is an effort to inspire participation in government. The Washington summer interns program is another.

We expect this year, I am told, to have some 15,000 young Americans coming here to Washington to learn about their Government at first hand for the 3-month summer period.

Another such effort is the Presidential Scholars program, which I also established in 1964. The Presidential Scholars program seeks to identify our brightest high school students to convince them that scholarship is itself a form of public service.

These programs are important. They touch only the brightest few. But we are pressing toward excellence in other ways.

I know there are some reporters who would rather drink the hemlock than hear another statistic. But I must say this: I consider that, aside from our security, the two most important things to concern government are the health of its people and the education of its minds.

I was looking at some statistics just today. In the last 3 years we have increased the moneys we appropriate for education about three times. We were spending about $4 billion for education 3 years ago. Today we will spend over $12 billion.

We were spending $4 billion for health in the Federal budget 3 years ago. Three years later we are spending three times as much--$12 billion.

So this year we will spend approximately $25 billion just for the education of our people and the improvement of their minds and the health of their bodies.

That is not enough. But if we had made as much of an increase starting 15 years ago as we have made the last 3 years, we would have real cause for pride and we would have more educated citizens who are participating in the drama of public life.

In that drama we cannot rely solely on the idealists or the pragmatists. Many societies have crumbled because the dreamer and the orator had neither the drive nor the ability to reach their goals.

On the other hand, the practical man without visions or plans has left us some real monstrosities to remember.

So what we are trying to do is to find here in this country, yes, here in the White House Fellow, a combination of an idealist with vision and a pragmatist with judgment.

If I could return to the East Room on your 50th anniversary to a reception given for the founder of this program, I would like to have it said of you that you have been men and women with your eyes in the stars and your feet on the ground.

I would like for you to have a vision and a dream. Then I would like for you to have the ability to carry it out and see it executed; for the hard, frustrating process of molding ideas into action is a most rewarding venture.

In the highest sense of the word, getting it translated into action is politics.

Because you know the importance of involving yourself in that vital process, you have been selected, 16 of you, out of thousands throughout this land.

Theodore Roosevelt once said: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles .... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood . . . who spends himself in a worthy cause .... His place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

So, my young friends, the White House Fellows, you seem to have chosen this arena. I can assure you that it will be filled with many promises of victory, and there are also a good many prospects of defeat.

But it is only in the arena that you can really learn the golden lesson of every man who would do good on earth.

Even your mightiest works may change the world just a little bit. But to change the world even a little bit is a very mighty work indeed.

We welcome you, we thank you, and we will watch you.