Remarks at a Luncheon of the YMCA Youth Governors Conference.

Mr. Rogers, Mr. Alexander, ladies and gentlemen:

I was told when we called over here this morning to make arrangements for this luncheon that you had a Mr. Johnson scheduled to speak to you but that Mr. Johnson had let you down and canceled.

When I inquired I found out it was Mr. Tom Johnson, my Deputy Press Secretary. And I asked where you were having this meeting. They told me the Roger Smith Hotel.

I asked the hotel management where the hotel had gotten this name because I realized as you do that Roger Smith is a name that is very rich in history and in meaning. And I was told by the management that the Roger Smith Hotel is a combination of the maiden names of the wives of the owners-Miss Roger and Miss Smith.

I welcome this chance to come here and talk to you this afternoon about what I believe is good news and will have a good effect on young America.

Within the week--in the next 2 or 3 days--I will have completed my recommendations and suggestions to submit to the Congress on what I believe will be very historic legislation that will affect young America.

I will ask the Congress for an amendment to our Constitution to lower the voting age to 18 years of age.

As you know, the ballot box is the great anvil of democracy. There the will of the people shapes our government, and it is there that the real voice of our democracy speaks out.

We all know that the right to vote is one of the basic rights of free men and women. It is the right upon which all other rights ultimately rest.

Throughout our long national history, we have wisely and carefully extended that right to more and more people as we went along.

With each extension---each step of the way--I believe that the record will show that our Nation has gained new strength and new vitality from those steps.

First, our Founding Fathers cast aside the tests of religion and poverty and just after the Civil War the 15th amendment ended all tests of race and color.

In 1965, in the Voting Rights Act that we passed, we reinforced that right for all time.

In 1920, the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote and gave them a truly equal place in our democracy.

In 1961, the 23d amendment gave the citizens of the Nation's Capital the right to vote for the President and Vice President.

Four years ago the 24th amendment struck down the false and artificial test of the poll tax as a requirement for voting.

Today, we will take another giant stride in this march of democracy. Today, 10 million young men and women between the ages of 18 and 21 are adults in every sense of the word--they shoulder family responsibilities, they shoulder civic responsibilities as you have demonstrated, they are already a part of our labor force, they share civic duties with their elders, they risk their lives for our Nation in the Armed Forces of our Nation around the world, they serve in VISTA and the Peace Corps here and in most of the nations of the world--a thousand other community ventures they are involved in.

They bring new meaning to the concept of service. But today the young people of America are asking again for the opportunity to give their talents, their abilities, their energies, and their enthusiasms in the greater tasks.

We live in a world that is young. And the world is growing younger each year.

Of all nations none has more generously invested in preparing young people for constructive citizenship and none has been more faithfully served by its young than America.

So now I believe that America must extend to the young the most fundamental right of all--the right to participate in the basic process of democracy--the right to vote.

This is a national affirmation of faith in our youth, for a nation without faith in its sons and without faith in its daughters is a nation that is without faith in itself.

The generation gap that we hear about is not to be measured in years alone. It is a difference between those who carry responsibility and those who are allowed to stand only on the sideline.

So I believe that this amendment, as much as any other action that we in America can take today, will help to close that gap.

I believe that this amendment will help to unite us all and for the first time it will join us all---every adult in America--in the great work of governing all America.

In the hours ahead we will continue to prepare this message. When it is ready it will be delivered to the Congress.

I ask you as a young group that provides leadership for America to each review this message, if you will. Look at the arguments that we present, the reasons that we give, and the justification that is there. If you can accept it as I believe you will, then I hope that you will rally support in each of the States of this Union for this great opportunity for the young people of America.

If Mr. Rogers or someone can give me the name and address of each of you, I will ask Mr. Larry Levinson of my staff to personally send to each of you this message that I would like to deliver to you today. But it will come out of the typewriter in the next day or so.

I will be looking for you at the White House and would be delighted to see you.

We hope your visit in Washington is a very profitable and exciting one.