Remarks to Delegates to the National Youth Conference on Natural Beauty and Conservation.
Miss Sharp, Mr. Fox, members of the Conference, ladies and gentlemen:
I am so happy that you could come here this morning; I wish it was more comfortable for you out there on the lawn. But it is a pretty lawn even if we don't have a cover and it's not air conditioned. And it's pretty because a lot of people work on it every day.
One of the brightest parts of every day for me is to read and to hear about the work that's being done in this country in the field of conservation and beautification. And I'm so pleased that you young leaders, from all parts of this land, would be interested enough to come here, make your contribution, and take home all that you can see and hear during this Conference.
This morning I started my day by hearing Miss Sharp and Mr. Fox on the "Today" show. And I don't think that I have ever been prouder of the young people of my country than I was of them when they were speaking their thoughts.
I'm so glad that in this day and age when we have so many critical problems that we have people like Secretary Udall and Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Weaver and Mrs. Freeman and others who are excited about conserving this Nation, and who are dedicated to making it a more beautiful country. And I am particularly grateful to some of the industrial leaders of this country that they would give of their profits to make this a more beautiful land as well as a prosperous land.
But the ones that really have charge of the kind of a country that we're going to live in in the years to come are you delegates to this Conference. As Mrs. Johnson said to you, if you dream dreams, you are going to determine whether this is a beautiful land or not. You're going to determine what kind of conservation measures we take. You're going to translate the dreams and the talk of today into action of tomorrow.
And I'm so proud that when there are many things to divert you, when there are many roads that lead into other directions, that you are willing to come here and apply your knowledge to making this a more beautiful land.
We're so happy you're here; we wish for you the best. We thank you in advance for all that we know you're going to do for your land.
Thank you.
Note: The President spoke on the South Lawn of the White House shortly after Mrs. Johnson had completed her remarks officially opening the Conference at 10 a.m. The 500 delegates were members of leading youth organizations representing 20 million young people throughout the country. Participating in the Conference were representatives of the Boy Scouts of America, Boys' Clubs of America, Camp Fire Girls, the 4-H Clubs, Future Farmers of America, Future Homemakers of America, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., Girls Clubs of America, and the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations.
The President's opening words referred to the Conference cochairmen, Jacquelene Sharp of Jackson, Miss., a student at Knoxville College, and George Fox of Michigantown, Ind., a student at Purdue University. Later he referred to Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, Mrs. Robert C. Weaver, wife of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Mrs. Orville L. Freeman, wife of the Secretary of Agriculture.
The President's remarks were not made public in the form of a White House press release. As printed above, they follow the text made available for use in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks to Delegates to the National Youth Conference on Natural Beauty and Conservation. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238638
