Special Message to the Congress on the District of Columbia: "The Nation's First City."

To the Congress of the United States:

A British Ambassador, serving here in the early part of the century, glimpsed the great hope of the American people for their capital city. He wrote:

"What you want is to have a city which everyone who comes from Maine, Texas, Florida, Arkansas or Oregon can admire as being something finer and more beautiful than he had ever dreamed of before; something which makes him even more proud to be an American."

Washington--the city of noble monuments, quiet splendor and the close touch of history--is truly the Nation's pride.

But Washington is also another city-a community of families with their needs, their wants and their expectations.

For too long, America saw only the historic city and ignored the city of people. At the seat of democracy, democracy's work went undone, and the other Washington became a place to be endured rather than enjoyed.

Last year, Washington came into its own. After a century of waiting we gave it the machinery of modern government.

Now that government is going about its quiet--but exciting--mission.

A Mayor is in city hall, in touch with the people, his leadership infusing confidence. A City Council is in action, providing meaningful representation for the citizens of the community.

These are the breakthroughs. Now we must consider the follow-throughs.

That is the concern of this Message. It presents my proposals to:

--Redouble the attack against crime

--Revive the hopes of the people with jobs for those who need them, education for the children who must prepare for the future, decent homes for the families so long without them

--Renew the historic city for the enjoyment of all the American people

--Reinforce the new strength of municipal government through further reorganization, and long-overdue salary increases for the public servants of the nation's Federal city.

TO DRIVE CRIME FROM OUR MIDST

The long shadow of crime falls over the streets of the nation's capital, mocking its proud institutions.

Each time a storekeeper is threatened at gunpoint---each time a woman is terrorized on her way home from work--each time a burglar breaks into a home at night--the liberty of every citizen is diminished.

Crime today is the first problem in the nation's first city. It is on the rise. The rate of increase in January was the lowest in 19 months--but that fact would provide little comfort for the victims of these crimes:

--24 murders and rapes

--758 automobile thefts

--786 robberies and aggravated assaults

--1864 burglaries and major larcenies.

As we know, crime feeds on society's oldest imperfections--poverty, ignorance, blocked opportunities, the lack of a job and the dimming of hope.

In the District as in the nation these are the urgent matters on our agenda for action. But the clear fact remains that progress can only be achieved in a climate of public order.

And so long as there are those who flout the law and tyrannize their neighbors, public order depends on an effective police force.

THE DISTRICT'S POLICE

Our goals for the District's police force are these: that it have the full confidence of the community, operate at full strength, be fully effective, fully equipped and fully paid for the risks of protecting our lives and property.

Strength and Efficiency

The uniformed strength of the Police Department is now fixed at 3,100.

It has always been a problem to recruit and retain enough qualified men to reach full strength.

Within the last year, the numbers of vacancies have been sharply reduced. A pioneering program by Mayor Washington to recruit returning servicemen at their separation points has added to the Department's strength.

In the coming months, the Mayor will be stepping up all of his recruiting programs, with particular emphasis on reaching eligible young men who live in the District.

I have asked the Mayor to conduct a searching survey of the needs of the city, to determine whether the authorized strength of the Department should be further increased.

Freeing a trained policeman from routine tasks and clerical work--and moving him from precinct house to patrol car--will help to enhance the public safety.

I propose that we do this in three ways.

First, I recommend that the Congress add 127 new civilian employees to the Department for work in precinct houses.

Second, I recommend that the Congress expand the Police Cadet Corps from 100 to 150 recruits. These young men can take over many of the routine police functions while they are training.

Third, I recommend legislation authorizing the Mayor to organize, train and equip a force of 700 reserve police officers.

This reserve force would release regular policemen for needed law enforcement assignments. It would also widen and strengthen citizen participation in crime control in their neighborhoods, thereby strengthening police-community relations.

The reservists would serve without pay. They would receive free uniforms, be carefully trained, and operate under the close supervision of the police department.

Training and Equipment for the Police Force

Last week the District of Columbia achieved a long-sought and much-needed objective. Every patrolman is now equipped with radio communications, to be in instant contact with his headquarters.

Throughout the Department, the most advanced communications networks and computers are being installed.

Modern equipment, from patrol cars to motor scooters, are also being added.

I urge the Congress to approve the budget request of $3.4 million for these and other essential crime-fighting tools.

I also urge the Congress--once again--to enact promptly the Safe Streets and Crime Control Act, which will strengthen the local police forces of all the cities of this land, including the nation's capital.

Each day's delay in enacting this vital anticrime legislation carries a heavy cost. It can be counted in the murders, rapes and robberies that could be prevented, but are not-in the fear that could be forestalled, but is not.

Police Salaries

Many a young man who might be attracted to police work is deterred by the prospect of salaries too low to raise a family in decency and comfort. It is an imprudent city which rewards the protectors of its safety and property by forcing them to live on the margin.

Salaries paid District policemen are now not competitive with those in other major cities--Washington ranks 11th in a comparison of 20 similar areas.

The Nation's Capital City police force should serve as a model for all the cities of America.

Initially the Mayor recommended a 7 percent pay increase for District policemen. That would have raised the minimum starting salary of a police private to $7,500 a year and move Washington from 11th to 5th place among the Nation's cities. That amount is now programmed in the D.C. Budget.

Recently, the House endorsed legislation which would provide for a 10.1 percent increase, with an $8,000 starting salary. That measure is now pending before the Senate. The Mayor and I endorse the salary increases. provided in the House bill.

If the Congress approves these higher pay levels, additional revenue will be required. The Mayor will shortly prepare and submit formally to the Congress a supplemental revenue bill to finance these long-overdue and well-deserved pay increases for the city's police force.

GUN CONTROL

If the District is to wage a successful battle against crime, it must have a strong gun control law.

Last year, almost 2,500 major crimes were committed in the Nation's Capital at gunpoint--murders, assaults and robberies.

Laxity in gun control legislation is an open invitation to tragedy. A pistol in dangerous hands is like a ticking time bomb. And today, in the District of Columbia, alcoholics, juveniles and mental incompetents are free to own deadly weapons.

The proposal I have recommended--the D.C. Gun Control Act--would help bring safety to the District's streets, homes and stores. It would:

--Require individuals to obtain a permit to possess or carry a pistol and limit the sale of pistols to those with valid permits.

--Prohibit possession of pistols by persons under 21, drug users, alcoholics, or mental incompetents, as well as drug addicts, felons, and other criminals.

--Add ten years imprisonment to the regular penalty when a firearm is used in a robbery or an attempted robbery.

--Require all rifles or shotguns to be unloaded and encased while being carried.

--Require stricter licensing of persons who manufacture, sell or repair firearms, and require records and reports to be made concerning sales and repairs.

This legislation is designed to safeguard the public order and to stop tragedy.

It would not, however, prevent any law-abiding citizen from owning firearms if he can show the need for such weapons to protect himself or his property.

I again recommend that the Congress promptly enact a strict gun control law for the Nation's Capital city.

CRIMINAL CASE BACKLOG

When criminal justice works slowly, it no longer serves as a deterrent. Quick action must be taken to remove the staggering backlog of criminal cases in the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions.

To accomplish this, I urge the Congress to act on pending legislation to increase the number of judges on the court from 21 to 26.

I also endorse the legislation's provision to increase the compensation of the Chief Judge of the Court from $24,000 a year to $28,000 and that of each Associate Judge from $23,500 a year to $27,500.

UNIFIED LOCAL COURT SYSTEM

To assure effective judicial machinery responsive to the needs of its people, a unified local court system for the District is needed. Several proposals pending before the Congress seek to achieve some measure of reform. But they do not go far enough.

After long study, the Judicial Council's Committee on the Administration of Justice has recommended that the following improvements be made:

--Transfer the Juvenile Court to the Court of General Sessions as a division of that Court.

--Place the administration of the Juvenile Court under the Chief Judge of the Court of General Sessions.

--Make the present judges of the Juvenile Court associate judges of the Court of General Sessions.

--Establish a unified social services unit of the Court of General Sessions.

--Transfer the criminal non-support and paternity jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court to the Domestic Relations Branch of the Court of General Sessions.

I am asking the Mayor to study these proposals and, in consultation with the Courts and the Attorney General, to develop legislation which will create a unified local court system of the highest excellence for the nation's capital.

EDUCATION

Quality Education for All Children

Education is the great adventure that leads to equality of opportunity. Every child should have the benefit of an educational program shaped to his capabilities, and designed to develop his full potential.

Only the teacher in the classroom can give him this.

Teachers are in short supply, and the competition for them is intense. A good teacher finds little attraction to join or stay in a school system which demeans him with inadequate pay.

Today, among 20 comparable big city areas, the District ranks 15th in salaries for beginning teachers. This sharply reduces the District's chances of recruiting qualified teachers. And it hampers the education of Washington's 150,000 schoolchildren.

I recommend that the Congress lift the minimum starting salary for teachers in the District of Columbia to $7,000, and provide comparable increases for experienced teachers. The Mayor joins me in this recommendation.

This legislation is needed. It is essential. It will move the District from 15th to second place among the largest cities in the Nation. It will help the Nation's first city build a school system of first rank. The Mayor's supplemental program will include new revenue proposals to finance this vital community service.

The District Schools and the Community--A Model for the Nation

How can the schools of our central cities serve their pupils better? How can they become portals to success for more of their children? How can they reduce the number of failures and dropouts? How can they overcome the handicaps accumulated through years of neglect? How can they serve and involve the citizens of the community?

These are the critically important questions faced in the District of Columbia, as in every major city of America.

The Passow Report ¹ provides Washington with a blueprint for the total revival of its schools. It is a framework which will enable the people of the Nation's capital to build a vital and responsible school system.

¹Survey on Washington, D.C. educational system by 180 educators headed by Dr. A. Harry Passow and made public in September 1967. The study urged special education for disadvantaged children to promote equal opportunity among the poor.

I propose a major model school experiment in the District, embracing a significant area of the city. This program will:

--Revive the interest of citizens in their schools.

--Help teachers improve the skills of their profession through retraining opportunities.

--Bring to students the best in teaching methods and materials.

--Revise the curriculum to make it serve the young people of our city.

--Equip high school graduates with marketable skills.

--Seek alliances between employers and the schools.

--Give children the chance to learn at their own pace, reducing both dropouts and failures.

--Serve a section of the city where the needs of students and schools are greatest.

To support this program I have included $10 million in my 1969 budget for the Office of Education to supplement the funds providing regular support for the D.C. schools.

With these additional resources, we can launch an exciting new venture in education-to continue for the next five years-as we seek new levels of quality and service in the schools of the nation's capital. That effort can become a beacon to the school systems in the other cities of the Nation.

I expect that this effort will result in:

--New programs for preschool children.

--Special attention to individual needs in the early years when children are learning to read.

--Opportunities for high school youngsters to work and attend school at the same time.

--Improved counseling and health services for children.

--A system for teacher retraining on a regular basis.

--New levels of cooperation among the schools and other agencies serving the people of the District.

Schools and the Community

But schools will not serve children well unless they also serve the entire community. We need to develop a new concept--the Community School. It can be a place:

--for both learning and recreation.

--for adults, as well as children, serving the interests of people of all ages. --for activities during summers and weekends and evenings.

--for reaching the family to reinforce the values the school seeks to impart.

With a small grant from the Mott Foundation of Flint, Michigan, the D.C. schools have already begun to pioneer in developing community schools.

To enlarge this effort, I am directing the Commissioner of Education to work with the D.C. school system and the community service agencies of the District to start, as part of the new model program, a large. scale community school experiment.

An Elected D.C. School Board

Community education policies cannot be developed in a vacuum. They cannot serve the people unless the people have a voice in their formulation.

As I said last summer when I proposed an elected school board for the District of Columbia:

"Washington's 150,00 schoolchildren and their parents--who now for the first time will be able to know the benefits of modern government--must also be able to exercise one of their most fundamental rights. They must have a voice which can be heard in the operation of their school system."

Both the Senate and the House have already passed bills to provide for an elected school board.

I urge final Congressional action on a bill which would:

--have the school elections correspond with the general elections.

--provide for close coordination between the Board of Education and the District Government to achieve the goal of schools as true centers of community life.

HOUSING

High on the list of the District's critical needs is decent housing.

The new housing program I have proposed to the Congress--to provide 6 million homes for low and moderate income families during the next ten years--will have a strong effect on Washington.

Already the District has been the scene of major pioneering successes:

The first "Turnkey" Project in the nation, fully engaging the private sector in the construction of low income housing, was built here.

The Nation's capital was among the 63 cities selected to plan and develop a Model Cities program. This will rebuild an entire slum neighborhood physically and bring new opportunities to its residents--health, jobs, education, recreation. Planning for this historic project is now rapidly proceeding.

The first conversion of Federal surplus land into a new community--undertaken last year at my direction--is off to a good start at the 335-acre site of the National Training School for Boys, known as Fort Lincoln:

--A team of outstanding city planners and architects has been selected.

--The community is being planned with the help of the residents of the neighborhood, to assure that the new area fills the highest aspirations of the people of Washington.

--The community will embody the latest advances in housing construction and education, as well as planning.

This work can truly serve as a model for the Nation.

Mayor Washington has informed me that ground can be broken at the Fort Lincoln site by the summer.

During these planning months for the new community--before it actually takes shape-it can be put to constructive use. Its hills and ridges, its gymnasiums, classrooms, playfields and picnic groves should be available for the enjoyment of families from all the neighborhoods in the city.

l am asking the Mayor and the Federal agencies concerned to develop an action program to promote the maximum interim use of the site for the benefit of the citizens of Washington. "Seed Money"for Low Income Housing Sponsors

Many unions, church groups and other non-profit organizations want to sponsor low and moderate income housing for the people of the District.

They are unable, however, to obtain the funds they need--"seed money"--for the early stages of development.

I recommend legislation to establish a program under which the District government may advance loans to non-profit sponsors of low income housing.

I also recommend legislation to establish a revolving fund for that program which will be financed by unclaimed property in the District.

Retaliatory Evictions

One of the most abhorrent injustices committed by some landlords in the District is to evict--or threaten to evict--tenants who report building code violations to the Department of Licenses and Inspections.

This is intimidation, pure and simple. It is an affront to the dignity of the tenant. It often makes the man who lives in a cold and leaking tenement afraid to report those conditions.

Certainly the tenant deserves the protection of the law when he lodges a good faith complaint.

I recommend legislation to prevent retaliatory evictions by landlords in the District.

JOBS

As in every other city of America, there are men and women in Washington out of work--not because they prefer to be idle, but because years of opportunity denied have left them without skills, and often without ambition.

I have proposed to the Congress a major program to tackle the problem of the hard-core unemployed.

The spearhead of this effort is the National Alliance of Businessmen, which has selected Washington as one of the 50 cities where its job training and hiring program for the hard-core unemployed will proceed.

Improvement of outmoded laws in the District will help women and youngsters find meaningful work.

I recommend legislation to:

--Do away with the archaic requirements which must be met by youngsters under 16 before they can take after school jobs or work during the summer. Many needy children are deterred from earning a paycheck because the procedures for getting a work permit are overly stringent and detailed.

--Amend the "Female 8-Hour Law" whose provisions relating to certain business establishments in the District no longer accord with modern working conditions. This change will permit women to volunteer for overtime work and pay.

THE DISTRICT AS THE NATION'S CAPITAL

Pennsylvania Avenue Commission

A Commission I appointed three years ago has made significant progress in its task of revitalizing the Pennsylvania Avenue area between the White House and the Capitol. Work has begun on the new FBI building. A great reflecting pool will grace the front of the Capitol.

The Commission is successfully linking the efforts of the Federal Government with private enterprise in developing this historic thoroughfare. It estimates that for every $1 spent by the Government $10 of private capital will be invested in the development of Pennsylvania Avenue.

But the Commission--so important to the District's future--still operates under a temporary charter. And the development of Pennsylvania Avenue is long-range work.

I again strongly recommend that the Congress enact legislation to give permanent status to the Commission on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Woodrow Wilson Memorial

A year ago I called attention to the proposal by the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Commission to establish in the Nation's Capital an International Center for Scholars as a living memorial to the 28th President of the United States.

I then directed that the Temporary Commission on Pennsylvania Avenue develop a more detailed proposal for such a Center.

That Commission has now recommended that the Center be built on the north side of the area designated as Market Square in the Pennsylvania Avenue Plan. Through an imaginative combination of public and private leadership and financing this Center could serve as "an institution of learning that the 22nd Century will regard as having influenced the 21st."

The dream of a great scholarly center in our Nation's Capital is as old as the Republic itself. There could be no more fitting monument to the memory of Woodrow Wilson than an institution devoted to the highest ideals of scholarship and international understanding.

I recommend legislation authorizing the establishment of a Center to be operated by an independent board of trustees within the framework of the Smithsonian Institution. Trustees for the Center in collaboration with the Government of the District of Columbia and the Pennsylvania Avenue Commission and with the approval of the National Capital Planning Commission will work out detailed plans for the Center and for the development of Market Square.

International Center

Last year, I recommended that the Congress authorize an International Center, a large site at which foreign chanceries and the offices of international organizations could be located. After study, it now seems clear that acquisition of the site proposed at that time is not possible.

I am, therefore, recommending new legislation to authorize the use of 34 acres of the old National Bureau of Standards terrain for these worthy purposes. The new site has the support of the Secretary of State, all other interested Federal Agencies including the National Capital Planning Commission, and the Mayor of the District of Columbia. I hope for early Congressional review and approval of this legislative proposal, important alike to the Federal Government, to the District, and to the international community located in Washington.

National Visitor Center

Washington, D.C., attracts millions of visitors each year.

For all of its many years, the Nation's Capital lacked a center where the tourist and student could learn about the workings of his Government and find information about the city's monuments and museums.

The visitor of the future will have such a place to go, and will be able to enjoy more fully his stay in Washington.

Earlier this week I signed legislation authorizing the establishment of a National Visitor Center at Union Station.

Last year I asked the National Capital Planning Commission to conduct a thorough study of a transportation center in the vicinity of Union Station---one that would provide a hub to the airports, buslines and railroads that serve the Nation's Capital. I am requesting the Commission to speed the completion of the study of a Transportation Center so that its recommendations can be fully integrated into the detailed planning of the Visitor Center.

Addition to the National Gallery of Art

I urge Congressional approval of legislation to authorize the Trustees of the National Gallery of Art to construct an addition to the National Gallery of Art on Pennsylvania Avenue immediately east of the Gallery.

The construction will be paid for with private funds generously donated. The new building will provide additional exhibition space and room for a center for advanced studies in the history of art. It will also permit the expansion of the Gallery's extension services to the schoolchildren of the Nation.

STRONG MUNICIPAL LEADERSHIP

Those at the top levels of the city's government--the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, and members of the Council--should be adequately compensated.

They are in positions of great responsibility. They preside over a city which is not only the Nation's capital but the center of the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States.

I recommend legislation to raise the salary of the Mayor from $29,500 to $35,000 and the salary of the Deputy Mayor from $28,000 to $30,000.

The proposed increase would give the District's chief executives compensation comparable to that received by their counterparts of other major cities.

The members of the District Council who serve on a part-time basis also merit an increase in salary.

I recommend legislation to raise the salary of the Council Chairman from $10,000 a year to $15,000; the salary of the Council Vice Chairman from $9,000 a year to $12,500, and the salary of other Council members from $7,500 a year to $10,000.

If the Council is to be broadly representative of the District, it must call upon the services of residents from all walks of life. Many who live in the District are also employees of the Federal Government. But the civic minded Government employee can serve on the Council only at a penalty. He is encumbered by the "dual compensation" law, whose effect is to bar him from receiving the supplementary salary for Council work--even though that work is extensive, involving long hours, nights and weekends.

This restriction does not apply to Council members who are privately employed.

There is no justification for this artificial discrimination. It should be ended.

I recommend legislation to exempt Council members from the "dual compensation" law.

Supergrades

The city's administration can only be as effective as the men and women who operate the machinery of government--the trained managers, technicians, planners and experts in all the phases of the city's life.

The need to attract capable executives is of the highest importance for the new government of the Nation's first city.

I urge the Congress to take prompt action on pending legislation which will give the Mayor authority to classify and make appointments to 50 positions at the top levels of the Civil Service--Grades GS-16, 17, and 18.

The legislation would also authorize the Mayor, with the approval of the President, to place six additional positions at levels IV and V of the Executive Schedule.

REMOVING HATCH ACT RESTRICTIONS

The freedom to engage in the political life of the community which District Commissioners have always enjoyed should now be given to their successors--the Mayor and members of the Council.

This would not be inconsistent with the requirement for a nonpartisan Council. That forbids the Council from taking actions, or organizing itself, along partisan political lines. But it should not prevent members from participating in the political life of the city and the party of their choice if they wish to do so.

I endorse legislation recently introduced in the Congress to exempt the Mayor and the Council members from provisions of the Hatch Act prohibiting Federal and District employees from participating in political activity.

I also recommend that the Federal conflict-of-interest restrictions on Council members be adjusted to reflect a proper relationship with their part-time duties.

FINANCING THE DISTRICT GOVERNMENT

Federal Payment Formula

The Congress has always recognized the fair share of the funds to operate the government of the Nation's capital city must come from the United States Treasury.

I again propose a realistic formula for the Federal payment to the District. I recommend legislation to establish the annual payment authorization at a level equal to 25 percent of District general fund revenues.

This formula would provide a continually updated and equitable Federal payment. It would enable the District to compute the Federal share when it is planning its budget, so that priorities could be established among its most urgent needs.

This proposal does not involve the automatic payment of Federal funds for District purposes. The District government would not be able to spend either local revenues or the Federal payment authorization until funds have been appropriated by Congress. The District budget would continue to be acted upon each year by the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate.

Local Revenue Proposals

The District has developed new local revenue proposals for Fiscal 1969 that are prudent, equitable, and realistic.

These requests, presented in the District Budget for Fiscal 1969, reflect the unanimous view of the Council and the Mayor. They represent a responsible approach to balancing expenditures with income.

I recommend early approval of the legislative proposals in the District's revenue package. I also urge the Congress to support the Mayor's supplemental tax package developed to pay for the higher salaries for policemen, firemen, and teachers endorsed in this message. As important as they are, these increases should not come at the expense of the urgent construction and community service programs already incorporated in the D.C. Budget for FY '69.

STRENGTHENING THE MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT

Last year, I told the Congress that once a Mayor and Council were appointed "it will be possible to effect further improvements, both in the structure of the District Government and in its relationships to other agencies serving the Nation's Capital."

Now it is time for those improvements. Now it is time to strengthen the machinery of government in the District, to make it even more responsive to the needs of the people it serves.

We can do this by taking several steps:

I have signed today an Executive Order placing the National Capital Housing Authority under the direct supervision of the Mayor.¹ This will provide greater scope and direction in the District's drive to build homes for the citizens of Washington.

¹Executive Order 11401 "Modifying Executive Order No. 6868 of October 9, 1934, as amended, designating the authority to carry out the provisions of the District of Columbia Alley Dwelling Act" (4 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 510; 33 F.R. 4559; 3 CFR, 1968 Comp., p. 106).

I am also today submitting two reorganization plans to the Congress.²

First, to vest the functions of the D.C. Recreation Board in the Mayor. The Recreation Board is an autonomous agency, but it controls policy, operations and facilities affecting the youth of the city--swimming pools, playgrounds, and recreation centers. It is essential that these recreational programs be fully coordinated with the District's Youth, Summer and Poverty programs. The reorganization I propose will help to accomplish that vital purpose.

² Item 134,135.

Second, to enable the Mayor to appoint the five-member Board of the Redevelopment Land Agency. Today he can only appoint three members. The reorganization would also place the Board under the Mayor's effective control. The Redevelopment Land Agency is primarily responsible for carrying out urban renewal projects within the District. Giving the Mayor appointive authority will strengthen the city's attack on urban decay.

REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS

The citizens of the District have too long been denied a basic American right of representative government.

They have been denied a community voice where in a democracy that voice counts most--in the halls of the Congress.

The needs of the District cannot be adequately represented in the Congress by proxy, any more than could the needs of one of the 50 States.

I again endorse legislation to give the citizens of the District representation in Congress. I urge early action by the Congress on the proposals which it has under active consideration.

THE UNFULFILLED PLEDGE

With the proposals in this Message we can carry forward the important work we began last year.

I ask the Congress to give them prompt and favorable consideration.

Even as I urge this, I look to the future, when the promise of the past will be achieved.

The oldest pledge of this Nation is self government for the people. That pledge remains untilled for the 800,000 citizens of America's first city--160 years after James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers that the citizens of the city which served as the Nation's capital would have: "A voice in the election of the government which is to exercise authority over them."

Last year's reorganization has rekindled the promise of democracy in Washington. But the promise of democracy can never substitute for democracy itself.

I endorse home rule for the citizens of the Nation's capital. For the 37 years I have been a resident of this city I have looked to the day when the .promise of home rule would be realized and the District of Columbia could enter into full membership in the American Union. As long as I am President I will work to hasten that day's arrival.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

March 13, 1968