UNDER THE LEADERSHIP of Dean Harry J. Reed, the Rural Development Program to aid small and low income farmers continues to show major progress. The growing public interest and willingness on the part of citizens to lend assistance is most encouraging.
I want all those who will be participating in the Conference on the Rural Development Program in Memphis on June 16th and 17th--as well as the hundreds of other citizens giving leadership to the program-to know how grateful I am for all their work and leadership. They especially have the gratitude of farm people who see in these efforts new opportunities ahead for higher incomes and better living.
Note: Harry J. Reed, appointed Coordinator of the Rural Development Program in August 1957, was formerly Dean of Agriculture at Purdue University.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President on the Rural Development Program. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233541