Statement on the Appointment of Arthur S. Flemming as Special Consultant to the President on Aging.

THIS Administration's commitment to forging a new national policy of respect for, and service to, older Americans is significantly forwarded today by the appointment of Dr. Arthur S. Flemming as my Special Consultant on Aging. I am delighted to be gaining the services of this distinguished public servant, who was an able Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Eisenhower, who has been a leader in American education for many years, and whose energetic direction as Chairman contributed so much to the success of the 1971 White House Conference on Aging.

I am determined, as I said in my address to that Conference last month, that the voice of older Americans will be heard in the White House when matters that affect the interests of older Americans are being discussed. No one in the United States today is better qualified to raise that voice, forcefully and persuasively, than Arthur Flemming. He will advise me on the whole range of concerns relating to older persons; he will pursue aggressively, as my representative, the goals of better implementation and tighter coordination of all Federal activities in the field of aging; he will continue as a member of our Cabinet-level Domestic Council Committee on Aging; and he will also continue as Chairman of the White House Conference on Aging during the crucial post-conference year--the year of action. His responsibilities in this area will include appointing and heading up the activities of a post-conference board to act as agent for the delegates in following up their proposals.

In the early days of the Administration I asked John B. Martin, Commissioner of the Administration on Aging in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, to take on the additional responsibilities of a new post as Special Assistant to the President on Aging. His very effective service in that post has not only meant better representation for older citizens at the highest level of government; it has also revealed that the dimensions of the job to be done are such that another good man is needed. Now, with Arthur Flemming's arrival as John Martin's teammate, "senior power" doubles its forces at the White House. Better Federal assistance to the aging should be the result.