Statement by the President Upon Announcing the Appointment of Dr. James L. Goddard as Commissioner of Food and Drugs.
THE CONGRESS has significantly enlarged both the authority and the responsibility of the Food and Drug Administration in recent years. The magnitude and the complexity of its responsibilities are of concern to every American.
Shortly after taking office last fall, Secretary Gardner initiated a thorough reappraisal of the Food and Drug Administration's organizational problems and a far-reaching search for a new Commissioner. Dr. Goddard has earned wide recognition for his administrative skill and his scientific competence. I share Secretary Gardner's confidence that Dr. Goddard will bring to his new assignment the quality of leadership that will enable the Food and Drug Administration to fully meet its vast and varied responsibilities for consumer protection.
Note: The President's statement was made public as part of a White House release announcing the appointment of Dr. James L. Goddard to succeed George P. Larrick as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The release stated that Dr. Goddard, a graduate of the George Washington School of Medicine, had spent 14 years in clinical, research, and administrative assignments in the field of public health, and was then serving as Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service and Chief of the Communicable Disease Center in Atlanta, Ca. (2 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs. p. 26).
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Upon Announcing the Appointment of Dr. James L. Goddard as Commissioner of Food and Drugs. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239050