I WANT to express my thanks to all of you for taking part in this morning's effort, and particularly to express, I think, the country's great appreciation to the Vice President and the Secretary of Labor.
     Beginning with the effort which was made by the Lockheed Company last May,¹ which in the last 6 months has made an intensive national company drive to improve the employment opportunities for members of minority groups at all levels, not only in percentage of those who might be at the manual labor capacity, but professional, supervisory, and all the rest, it has done a most impressive job. And since that effort, other companies have joined.
     We really feel that this can be a tremendous factor in building our national strength. It is a voluntary effort by all of you. You are associating yourselves and your companies, by your own choice, with a tremendous cause - which means that everyone should have the right to develop his talents freely without regard to any other factor. That is what all of us believe in. As leaders of the private enterprise system, you believe in freedom of choice and freedom of opportunity. And by this partnership, really, between yourselves and the National Government and the American people, I think we have a chance, through freedom, to really build a much stronger and more viable economy and society.
     So I express my thanks to you all. This is really a national service, and I am hopeful that all of you, as the presidents of these companies, will follow the progress made month by month and see whether, at the end of the 6-month period - 9 months or a year - we can really show in every classification substantial improvement.
     I cannot imagine anything more helpful to the country and to your companies than an indication that through this freedom of choice you are able to make this great progress, and it will be an important blow in a whole variety of ways for progress in our private enterprise system and in the things in which we believe.
     So I want to thank you all and I hope that this will be a beginning and in a few months will really be able to show substantial improvement.
     This is a matter which must also concern us in the Government. In some cases private companies have had better employment records in this regard than the National Government. So that this is a matter which we must concern ourselves with here, in every department and in every agency, to make sure that we all are making our contribution. I think together we can do the job.
     I want to express my thanks to you once more, and I think the thanks of everyone in this country.
 

NOTE: The President spoke at 10 a.m. in the State Dining Room at the White House at a ceremony attended by representatives of 31 major defense contractors.
     Prior to his remarks Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Chairman of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, spoke briefly commending the employers for their leadership in the equal employment opportunity field. He noted that with the signing of the agreements 52 "Plans for Progress" would then be in effect, involving plants employing more than 3½ million people.
     At the conclusion of the President's remarks, Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg, Vice Chairman of the Committee, reviewed the progress achieved in combating discriminatory employment practices.
     The remarks of the Vice President and of Secretary Goldberg were also released.