Statement by the President at an "E" Awards Ceremony Honoring Significant Contributions to the Export Expansion Program
Our economy is now in the sixth year of unprecedented prosperity, the longest peacetime economic expansion we have ever enjoyed.
Despite the added strain on our resources created by the conflict in Vietnam, we continue to enjoy prosperity without the evils of inflation.
Despite the flow of dollars needed to support our more than 200,000 fighting men in Southeast Asia, as well as hundreds of thousands more who are helping to keep peace throughout the world, we have reduced the deficit in our balance of payments. Last year that deficit fell to its lowest level in 8 successive years, and we are on the way to correcting the remaining deficit.
We could not have done this without the hard work and imagination of those American businessmen who went out and developed new world markets for the products of American enterprise.
Our exports have now climbed to the highest level of any nation in history--$26.6 billion. This is an increase of 32 percent in the past 4 years. And it has benefited all Americans, for every billion dollars in exports creates 134,000 jobs and some $75 million in profits.
Each of the 12 flags that were awarded here today is the visible symbol of some company's contribution to all that we have achieved. Today, the number of companies that have earned this distinction reaches 700.
As we redouble our efforts to raise our exports to even higher levels, I look forward to the time when we will also have doubled the number of organizations which will come to deserve this award.
Note: The President's "E" awards were established by Executive Order 10978 of December 5, 1961, entitled "Establishing Presidential Awards for Significant Contributions to the Export Expansion Program" (3 CFR, 1959-1963 Comp., p. 498). The order stated that the awards "may be made to persons, firms, and organizations engaged in the marketing of products who make significant contributions to the expansion of the export trade of the United States. It shall consist of a flag having a field of white upon which will appear a blue 'E.'"
The names of the companies receiving the awards follow: American Plywood Association, Takoma, Wash., Bandag, Inc., Muscatine, Iowa, Carpco Research and Engineering, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., Color-Tran Industries, Inc., Burbank, Calif., The Cornelius Co., Anoka, Minn., Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard, Mass., Douglas Aircraft Co., Inc., Santa Monica, Calif., Prentice-Hall International, Inc., Englewood, N.J., Rocky Mountain Dental Products Co., Denver, Colo., Sprout, Waldron, and Co., Inc., Muncy, Pa., Texas Instruments, Inc., Dallas, Texas, and Victor Comptometer Co., Chicago, Ill.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President at an "E" Awards Ceremony Honoring Significant Contributions to the Export Expansion Program Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239538