I HAVE TODAY signed into law H. R. 13247, the National Defense Education Act.
This Act, which is an emergency undertaking to be terminated after four years, will in that time do much to strengthen our American system of education so that it can meet the broad and increasing demands imposed upon it by considerations of basic national security.
While the Congress did not see fit to provide a limited number of National Defense scholarships which I recommended as an incentive to our most promising youth, I consider this Act to be a sound and constructive piece of legislation.
Much remains to be done to bring American education to levels consistent with the needs of our society. The federal government having done its share, the people of the country, working through their local and State governments and through private agencies, must now redouble their efforts toward this end.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Note: As enacted, H. R. 13247 is Public Law 85-864 (72 Stat. 1580).
This statement was released at the U. S. Naval Base, Newport, R. I.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President Upon Signing the National Defense Education Act. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233961