Dr. Neihuss, Governor Romney, Mayor Cavanagh, my old friends, your able Senators, Pat McNamara and Phil Hart, Members of your great congressional delegation, Congressman Neil Staebler, Harold Ryan:
I wonder if you folks would come up here with me. Come up here, Governor Romney, Mayor Cavanagh. Let me introduce you one at a time.
Mayor Cavanagh; my old friends Pat Namara and Phil Hart; Members of your great congressional delegation, Congressman Neil Staebler, Congressman Harold Ryan; my old friend Mrs. Martha Griffiths; your able Congressman John Dingell; John Lesinski; a fellow that is helping us a lot these days, Jim O'Hara; August Johansen; Ed Hutchinson; Jim Harvey, Robert Griffin; Victor Knox; Lucien Nedzi; Congressman Libonati, from Illinois; your own former Governor and now an able colleague of mine in Washington, G. Mennen Williams; Assistant Secretary of HEW Wilbur Cohen; my special assistant and a Detroit citizen, Hobart Taylor, from the White House.
I only have a few moments here but I want you to know that there is nothing that restores a President's soul more than a warm Detroit greeting. I want to thank each of you so very, very much for coming out here this morning. My first thought is to sing an old song, "Will You Love Me in November as You do in May?"
But this is not nearly so important as the fact that this city and its people are the herald of hope in America. Prosperity in America must begin here in Detroit. You folks in Detroit put American citizens on wheels; you have American economy on the move. Unemployment in Detroit is down, profits are up, wages are good, and there is no problem too tough or too challenging for us to solve.
With your Federal Government working with the people of this Nation we are going to make a better, a more peaceful, and a more prosperous life not only for the people of Detroit and Michigan but for all Americans and all the world All this makes me feel mighty good, and it should make the Nation feel good.
My cup runneth over here when men come here to greet me like Gus Scholle and Henry Ford. When the President has Gus and Henry by his side, the sky is the limit. And the sky is bright today.
My favorite uncle came to Michigan in 1915, some 40 years ago, to get a degree from Ann Arbor. I am on my way back there to get an honorary one today, which only proves that if you wait 40 years, a graduate of Southwest Texas State Teachers College can finally make good.
Your President needs your help in order to do all the things which need to be done in this country to make his people wiser, to make them happier, to make them more peaceful, to make them hopeful.
I have to leave now, but I will be back later this year. I want to thank each of you for coming out here this morning, and I don't want you to forget me later on in the fall.
Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at the airport en route to Ann Arbor for the commencement exercises at the University of Michigan. In his opening remarks he referred to Dr. Marvin L. Niehuss, Executive Vice President of the University, Governor George Romney of Michigan, Mayor J. P. Cavanagh of Detroit, Senators Pat McNamara and Philip A. Hart, and Representatives Neil Staebler, Harold M. Ryan, Martha W. Griffiths, John D. Dingell, John Lesinski, James G. O'Hara, August E. Johansen, Edward Hutchinson, James Harvey, Robert P. Griffin, Victor A. Knox, and Lucien N. Nedzi, all of Michigan, Representative Roland V. Libonati of Illinois, G. Mennen Williams, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and former Governor of Michigan, Wilbur J. Cohen, Assistant Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for Legislation, and Hobart Taylor, Jr., Associate Counsel to the President. Later the President referred to August Scholle, President of the AFL-CIO for the State of Michigan, and Henry Ford II of the Ford Foundation.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks Upon Arrival at Metropolitan Airport in Detroit. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239677
