Statement by the President Announcing the Calling of a White House Conference on Education.
THE NATION has begun to make great progress in meeting its educational needs, but much more remains to be done.
Education is the key to opportunity in our society, and equality of educational opportunity must be the birthright of every citizen.
No other challenge concerns me more than this one. None is of greater importance to the American people. For this reason, I am asking leaders of American education, business, labor, and other .public groups to meet with me in Washington on July 20 and 21 at a White House Conference on Education.
I have asked John W. Gardner, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, to serve as conference chairman. A list of Governors and educators who will serve on the conference committee will be made available to you at the close of this press conference.
All of us can benefit from a lively exchange of views on the major problems confronting our schools and colleges. We need to pool our best ideas about how to stimulate and to enrich the Nation's adventure in learning.
Note: On the same day the White House released the names of 10 educational leaders who had been invited to serve as vice chairmen and to preside over conference panels. The release stated that Governor Edmund G. Brown of California, Governor John B. Connally of Texas, Governor Richard J. Hughes of New Jersey, and Governor John H. Reed of Maine were appointed vice chairmen-at-large for the conference.
The release also stated that approximately 500 leaders from Government, education, business, labor, and other groups were expected to attend and that special attention would be given promising young academic leaders, teachers, and students. The release noted that the last White House Conference on Education had been held in 1955.
See also Item 374.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Announcing the Calling of a White House Conference on Education. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241359