Remarks at the Signing Ceremony of Executive Order 11973 on the President's Commission on Mental Health

THE PRESIDENT. This is a pleasant experience because I see around the room a lot of old friends who worked with me and Rosalynn in the broad and exciting and challenging field of mental health. This is one of the most gratifying experiences that a human being could have--to deal with those who have been bereft of care for years and who are at the mercy of governmental agencies and sometimes neighbors and friends who haven't seen their affliction and haven't shown a personal interest in them, and then to see what apparently was an almost wasted life be enhanced and revived and a great spirit come forth.

I've seen, as a Governor and as a local official, and recently as President, the complexity of dealing with the mental health field. Because of a diversity of interest and the complexity of responsible groups who each have an almost fervent commitment to do something for those about whom we are concerned, I want to do a good job as President and I want to be able to achieve some progress in the field of mental health.

But to sit, from my perspective in the White House, in the Oval Office, and look out, it is almost impossible to understand what I ought to do.

I know Paul Rogers and the other Congress members here have the same frustration. There have been a number of private groups formed, and there have been a number of governmental agencies at all levels of government formed. They have got to be brought together.

Well, the cost is enormous. I think Rosalynn and her group have computed $37 billion in dollar cost. And this applies to mental illness and mental retardation and drug problems and emotional disturbance and alcoholism. I want to be sure that when we end this next few months of study that we haven't reinvented the wheel, that we haven't repeated the superb work that has been done in the past, that no group is excluded from the process, and that we've torn down the tight walls that sometimes have been built around groups because they didn't want to have someone else encroach on their special concern because they were afraid that they might relinquish a chance to get their share of the money and the care for people whom they love so much.

We are all in it together, and we have a common purpose. I am very pleased now to sign an Executive order creating the President's Commission on Mental Health. I would like to do that at this time, and then I would like to introduce to you one of my assistants, one of my partners, an expert advisor on mental health problems who has been active for many years in an unpublicized way, sometimes in a publicized way, but whose judgment I trust implicitly. I will let you know what that person's name is after I sign the Executive order. This Executive order that I will sign, let me explain to you in a few minutes.

[At this point, the President signed the Executive order.]

The Executive order is signed. Now I would like to introduce to you one of the best partners that you will ever have in putting together a comprehensive and effective approach to the serious question of mental health my wife, Rosalynn.
Mrs. CARTER. Thank you very much.
Jimmy couldn't stay for the whole afternoon. I wanted to be sure he got the order signed first.

This is a great day for me. I've talked about this Commission for so long, and now, to have the Executive order signed and to have you here who are so supportive, is just really very pleasing to me.

I became interested in mental health while campaigning. Campaigning is a great learning experience. I had never been involved with mental health programs or problems at all until I campaigned for Jimmy when he ran for Governor. I had so many people ask me then, "What will you do for my retarded child? I have a son who is in the 7th grade who is emotionally disturbed. I don't know where to go for help for him. What will your husband do to help him if he is elected 'Governor?"

I really became concerned about it. I had always worked. I knew I wanted to have something to do. But mental health problems touch so many people, and I became so aware of this campaigning. One night--I had decided that I wanted to work with the mental health program when Jimmy was Governor. This is a true story. Many of you have probably already heard it because I tell it all the time. But I was campaigning in a little community in Georgia. I had a reception at 6 o'clock in the afternoon. When I got through with the reception I was through for the day, and I found out that Jimmy was going to be in that same town that night--which was great. I never saw him in the campaign.

So, I stayed and got in the back of the auditorium while he spoke. And after his speech was over, I got in line, went down with everybody else, shook hands with him. He shook my hand before he saw who I was, and then he said, "What are you doing here?" And I said, "I came to see what you are going to do about the mental health program in Georgia." He said, "We are going to have the best one in the United States, and I am going to put you in charge of it."

Well, he didn't put me in charge of it, of course. But he did appoint me to the Governor's commission to improve services to the mentally and emotionally handicapped.

I worked with that commission and we were very pleased with what we were able to do or what has been done in Georgia. We submitted a report; we inventoried the needs in the State; gave a report to Jimmy. He implemented almost all of it in his reorganization of State government. And we are very pleased with that.

As you probably know, for the past year and a half, or a little more, I have campaigned all over the country. In my biographical sketch, I had a little paragraph that said that I was interested in mental health. And so everywhere I went, if people had a good program, they wanted me to see it. I had a chance to see things happening all over this country that are good. I also saw things happening that I thought needed help.

I hope, with the establishment of this Commission, I know that we can give some of that help. We have a chance to do great things in our country. The best thing, as Jimmy said about this Commission, is that we don't have to start from scratch. Many of you have done just great things. Past commissions have made reports; commissions that are operating now have made reports. We have a chance to have the best knowledge, the best minds.

The original Joint Commission on Mental Health and Mental Illness, as you know, changed the whole direction of treatment of the mentally afflicted, away from the institutions to the communities. We have a chance to see that these community services reach the communities all over our country. Right now, I think about 40 percent of our population is reached by these centers.

But we also have a chance to see how better to treat these persons when they are in the communities. We now have a better understanding of the problems of alcohol and drug abuse and how related they are and problems of other sometimes acts of violence that are so related to mental health. We have a chance to do great things.

I need every one of you. I need your help. I need the help of your colleagues and your friends.

This is a great day for me. We have a chance to do some great things for our country and for those in our country who are underserved.
Thank you very much.

And now, I want to introduce to you the Executive Director of our Commission, Tom Bryant. Tom lives in Washington. Since 1972 he has been president of the Drug Abuse Council. I think he has a background and qualifications to be a great Executive Director.

I want to introduce him to you now. Tom Bryant.

MR. BRYANT. As he leaves the room, let me be sure and thank the President.

THE PRESIDENT. When I was first elected, I appointed four people to go out throughout the Nation and see what ought to be done in the field of mental health. [Inaudible]

These people who did so much in Georgia--I know it is just typical of people all over the country. There is one thing I found when I was Governor, when I proposed a budget that didn't treat a mental health barrier, I got absolutely run over.

I want to be sure that we treat mental health fairly in this country in the future so that we can work in the initial stages not to ever make another omission or serious mistake.

I am very proud of Rosalynn, and of Tom. The fact that I have to leave early is no indication that I am abandoning this project to begin with. It is part of my life. I guarantee you that you have the best spokesman that anybody ever had for a commission.