John F. Kennedy, her children Caroline, who christened the carrier, and John F. Kennedy, Jr., Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy, mother of the late President, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of the Navy Paul H. Nitze, and Donald Holden, president of the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. During his remarks he referred to James V. Forrestal, who served as Secretary of the Navy under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and later as Secretary of Defense.

SOME BUILDINGS become landmarks because their architecture is imposing; others, because they are meant by a nation or a people to be monuments and symbols.

Still others are set apart through no quality of their own. They become famous because they evoke the name and the memory of

great men or one great man.

So it is with the two-story frame house at 83 Beals Street, Brookline, Massachusetts.

On May 29, 1917, John F. Kennedy was born in that house.

Today we establish it as a national historic site.

President Kennedy's family bought that house not long ago and presented it to the people of the United States. Through the generosity of his family, it will be restored in a style reflecting his boyhood years there,

1917-1920.

I am happy to sign this bill today. For years to come, for great numbers of visitors it will make more rich, more vivid, and more meaningful the memory of a great American.

NOTE: As enacted, the bill (S. 1161) is Public Law 90-20 (81 Stat. 29).

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear General Thieu:

Your thoughtful Memorial Day message will be deeply appreciated by the American people. It will have particular meaning in those homes and families where a life has been given in the defense of our common freedom.

In remembering our own honored dead,

our thoughts turn inevitably to the valiant Allies with whom we have shared the burden of resisting aggression. Thus we are mindful today of the great sacrifices of the Vietnamese people, and we look forward to a brighter day of peace and progress in Vietnam, in Asia, and throughout the world. Sincerely yours,

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

GENERAL THIEU'S MESSAGE

Dear Mr. President:

On the occasion of Memorial Day, I wish to express to you, in the name of the Vietnamese people and in my own name, our most sincere gratitude for the valiant officers and men of the United States who have made the supreme sacrifice of their lives to defend freedom and to ensure a just and durable peace in this part of the world. Americans and Vietnamese have toiled and struggled together on this soil for a noble cause. The sacrifices that our two peoples have made together in this common cause strengthen every day the bonds of friendship between our two nations. They

constitute the bulwark against tyranny, for the preservation of an international society in which East and West can cooperate in harmony, in mutual appreciation and mutual respect.

We are confident of the successful outcome of this struggle, and shall do our best so that the sacrifices of these brave heroes will not be made in vain. Sincerely yours,

LT. GENERAL NGUYEN-VAN-THIEU

Chairman of the National
Leadership Committee

NOTE: The text of the messages between the President and Lieutenant General Thieu was released at San Antonio, Texas.

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit the Annual Re port of the Railroad Retirement Board for Fiscal Year 1966.

For three decades the insurance system administered by the Board has been protecting railroad workers and their families against the economic hazards which accompany unemployment, sickness, old age and death.

During the period covered by this report, more than 1 million individuals received $1.2 billion in retirement and survivor benefits-an increase of $82 million over the preceding year. These payments brought to $14.5 billion the total amount paid to retired employees, wives, and survivors of deceased employees since the program began in 1936.

In fiscal 1966 payments for unemployment

and sickness dropped below the $100 million mark-to $88.1 million-for the first time. in 13 years. This reduction reflects the unprecedented economic expansion which this country has enjoyed during the last six years. In each, unemployment among railroad workers showed a significant decline.

The increases in retirement and survivor benefits reported here represent increased. comfort and security in the retirement years of many worthy citizens. But even greater comfort and protection would come with Congressional enactment of the Social Security amendments which I have proposed this year. The proposed 20 percent increase would in the first year alone bring $65 million in added benefits to some 385,000 railroad workers and their families.

I again urge the Congress to take this vital step toward our goal of providing every

elderly citizen an adequate income and a meaningful retirement.

The White House

May 31, 1967

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

NOTE: The report is entitled "Railroad Retirement Board, 1966 Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30" (Government Printing Office, 164 pp.).

The Social Security Amendments of 1967 were approved by the President on January 2, 1968 (Public Law 90-248; 81 Stat. 821).

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit the Fourth Annual Report on Special International Exhibitions conducted during fiscal year 1966 under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961.

The primary purpose of the program-in which the Nation's economic, social and cultural achievements are exhibited in international fairs and expositions-is to build bridges of understanding between the United States and other countries of the world. Each exhibit is designed to show how our accomplishments relate to the capabilities and aspirations of the different countries. Because the exhibitions feature the products of American industries, they also contribute to mutually profitable trade relationships.

Since the program began in 1954, more than 100 million people-primarily in Eastern Europe and the developing countries have witnessed 176 exhibits designed to help them understand, appreciate and benefit from American progress and experience.

During fiscal year 1966, the United States participated in a broad range of international events:

-Trade Fair Exhibitions in Algeria, Ethiopia, Hungary, Iraq, Poland, Tunisia and Yugoslavia. These exhibitions dramatized our progress in mechanical equipment for farm and

industry, educational techniques, electronics and space.

-"Expo 67". During the year, plans were laid for our participation in the World's Fair which opened in Montreal, Canada, in April 1967. "Creative America" was chosen as the theme of this country's exhibit, which pictures American achievements in the arts and

space technology.

-Labor Exhibits at Trade Fairs in

Ethiopia, Hungary, Iraq, Poland and Yugoslavia. The purpose of these exhibits was to project the true image of the American worker and the role he plays in the affairs of this Nation. -Special-Purpose "East West" Exhibits in the Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia. More than 2 million persons attended these exhibits, which featured the machinery of American industry, American architecture and the graphic arts.

As in past years, the program's effectiveness was the result not only of Government efforts, but also of the contribution of materials, time and talent by hundreds of private firms.

All Americans are indebted to them for their efforts to help carry America's message to the world. LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House May 31, 1967

NOTE: The report, entitled "Special International Exhibitions, Fourth Annual Report, 1966 (Report of the United States Information Agency)," was

issued by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State (45 pp.).

Mr. Prime Minister, Mrs. Holt, Ambassador Waller, Mrs. Waller, Australian friends, ladies and gentlemen:

Mr. Prime Minister, Mrs. Johnson and I are very happy that you and Mrs. Holt could join us here today for the beginning of what I know will be a most pleasant and enjoyable visit.

At the Manila Conference last fall, we, and the leaders of five other nations of Asia and the Pacific, proclaimed some goals that we felt all of our peoples could aspire to-to be free from aggression; to conquer hunger, illiteracy, and disease; to build a region of security, order, and progress; and to seek reconciliation and peace throughout this great region.

We are ready, Australia and the United States and all of the nations of the Asian and Pacific region-to vigorously pursue those goals with all the strength and all the determination that we can muster. We are ready to reshape the future of the peaceful and secure Asia that is to be.

But today we fight shoulder to shoulder. with our Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Filipino, and New Zealand allies. We fight not because we like to, but only to insure the right of a small nation to make its own future and to have its own people determine what that future will be.

Tomorrow we shall work to build and to repair what has been broken, to make the harvest larger, and to make the future of all men brighter.

We shall do it with the power of electricity-not the power of bombs. We shall do

it with tools-instead of tanks. We shall do it with teachers, doctors, and technicians.

We know-you and I—that this is going to be done, for we know that it has already been done in both of our countries.

Your country, the great land of Australia, has only just begun. Ahead of it lies the promise of rapid growth, of ever-increasing prosperity. Each day, almost, I seem to see where you are discovering new sources of wealth, new buildings are rising up in your growing cities, new factories are open to make needed goods and to provide jobs.

Australia, I know, stands ready-as does the United States-to try to help others move down the path that we have trod from very simple and very hard beginnings to strength, independence, and wealth.

But these things will not come and they cannot come, unless there is a security, a dignity, and an opportunity. And security will never come to Asia unless there are men of courage and men who are prepared to stand up and resist when the aggressor moves in to steal, and to kill, and to conquer.

This is what a man whom we both admire so much once said-Winston Churchill. This is what he meant, when he declared: “Courage is the first of human qualities, because it is the one quality that guarantees all others."

The brave men who fight today wearing our uniforms-your men and ours and our other allies-struggle there to make all else possible. And we know that they will succeed.

Mr. Prime Minister, we take a great deal

of pleasure in again welcoming you to this Capital City and to this country of ours.

I welcome you as a brave leader, as a longtime and a very loyal friend, and as a wise

statesman.

I repeat, again, for Mrs. Johnson and my family, we are so glad that you and Mrs. Holt are here.

NOTE: The President spoke at 11:35 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White House where Prime Minister Holt was welcomed with full military honors. In the party were Australian Ambassador John Keith Waller and his wife. The Prime Minister responded as follows:

Mr. President, Mrs. Johnson, distinguished members of the administration and of the diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you, Mr. President, for the friendliness and the warmth of your welcome-a warmth and friendliness of welcome to Australia, to my Government, to Mrs. Holt and myself, and to those members of the official party who are with me.

We are looking forward to another valuable talk in that series of talks that you and I have had together, which, at all times, have proved informative and helpful to us.

We have many important issues to discuss. There is, of course, our mutual concern with the events in Vietnam, the peaceful progress of which you have spoken in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, to which you have given so much constructive thought; the implications for our two countries of the United Kingdom's application to join the European Economic Community; the military dispositions of the United Kingdom east of Suez-which concern us both.

There will always be between two countries who are so prominent-despite our difference in size and stature-in affairs of world trade, economic and trade problems which we can usefully and fruitfully discuss together.

It is, perhaps, a mark of our mutual interest, of our friendship, our close relations, and the many matters that concern us together that this should be the fifth in a series of talks you and I have enjoyed together in the past 12 months.

I question whether any other head of government has had the same good fortune to see you so often and speak to you closely on so many different occasions: my two visits to Washington last year; your own spectacular and historic first visit of a United States President to Australia; the Manila Conference, which you have just referred to, with its reminder of those high goals we set at that very fruitful conference there; and now, this series of talks together

here in Washington.

As to Vietnam: On my journey here, I had the opportunity of a very valuable briefing from Admiral Sharp, your Commander in Chief of the Pacific Command. He was able to give me, in factual terms, evidence of the progress being made in all aspects of the military campaign.

Yesterday, in Los Angeles, speaking to the World Affairs Council, I was able to canvass some of the aspects of our joint interest in this conflict. If the reaction I received there is typical of the feeling of the people of the United States, I would believe that there has been a growth in understanding and support for the place that the United States is playing in that significant conflict.

The last time I visited you, Mr. President, I was able to tell you something of the progress whichthanks to the shield of American protection-the free countries of Southeast Asia and the Pacific were able to make.

It seemed to me this had not been widely reported here. As one of those countries which had been able to take advantage of the security and the protection, the resistance to Communist aggression which had been made possible by the massive intervention of the United States of America, I was able to speak of the progress which we and other countries were making.

Now, nearly 12 months later, with many major developments, most of them favorable from our viewpoint, including the end of confrontation in Malaysia, the steady economic progress in countries running around the arc of Asia and Southeast Asia, from Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, the emergence in Indonesia of a strong anti-Communist government anxious to cooperate in tasks of rehabilitation and the reconstruction of the economy therethese things have been substantial gains for us.

In my own most recent visit, which includedas you know-visits to Cambodia, Laos, to neutral countries, and to Taiwan and Korea, I found every evidence of friendship for my own country.

I found in those countries, which have aligned themselves with us, not only an appreciation of all that your great country is doing, but a determination to press on with the economic progress which has been so spectacularly a feature of their recent experience.

So I think we meet together with hope in our hearts. Perhaps the struggle may still be long; perhaps it may be shorter than the superficial evidence would indicate.

I know from my own quite intimate contacts with you that there is no national leader in the world more anxious to secure a peace-more anxious to secure a just and enduring settlement in Vietnam than yourself.

In all the endeavors that you make in order to