Remarks Upon Receiving a Progress Report on Area Redevelopment in Southern Illinois.
February 21, 1962


I AM PLEASED to receive the report of the Governor of Illinois and the Members of the Illinois congressional delegation on the heartening progress being made in the southern section of Illinois to solve the difficult economic problems that have beset that area for such a long period of time.
     The first bill proposed by my administration (S. 1) represented an effort to marshal the efforts of Federal, State, and local governments to bring new hope and more importantly new jobs to those many sections of the country which had failed to share in the Nation's general economic growth and prosperity. The results of the joint effort in Illinois provide eloquent justification for the program and demonstrate that renewed enthusiasm and combined efforts can indeed make the difference in any particular area.
     I should note too that the Area Redevelopment Administration has demonstrated through its role in bringing together the various Federal departments and agencies as well as local and State authorities that it can perform the tasks assigned to it by the Congress. As important as the new spirit of southern Illinois is to that area it is even more significant as a source of encouragement to other regions anxious to restore economic vitality and vigor to their section of the country.


NOTE: The President spoke at 11 a.m. in his office at the White House. In his opening remarks he referred to Governor Otto Kerner, U.S. Senator Paul H. Douglas, and U.S. Representatives Sidney R. Yates, Kenneth J. Gray, George E. Shipley, Peter F. Mack, Jr., and Melvin Price, all of Illinois, who with William L. Batt, Jr., Administrator, Area Redevelopment Administration, and John E. Horne, Administrator, Small Business Administration, met with the President to discuss area redevelopment projects in southern Illinois.