396 



of the great Mekong Delta Valley — the construction of dams and the great evolu- 

 tion operation out there. 86 



Vice President Johnson visited the Bangkok headquarters of the 

 United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East 

 (ECAFE), May 17, 1961. He conferred with ECAFE Executive Sec- 

 retary U Nyun — 



. . . On UN-aided economic development activities in the region, including 

 the Mekong River project — in which the Vice President expressed particular 

 interest — and work on an Asian highway. 



In the course of the conversation U Nyun commented that ECAFE's main 

 objective was to promote economic progress and regional thinking, and he cited 

 the Mekong River project as an example of international cooperation of which 

 the United Nations could be truly proud. 



Development of the Lower Mekong basin would benefit Cambodia, Laos, 

 Thailand, and Vietnam, he said, and he noted that the project was receiving 

 assistance from 12 countries and several international agencies. 



In response, the Vice President said he could "think of nothing that 

 would help Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam more than work- 

 ing together on a river since, if they could work together on a river, 

 they could work together on anything else." Doubtless, the project 

 would bring prosperity to millions in the region, but "he wanted to 

 know when the action stage would start." 3G Regionalism had been an 

 important element of President Johnson's domestic program from the 

 outset, and was a much intensified feature of it in 1965. Following the 

 lead of President Kennedy, he had encouraged the evolution of the 

 Appalachian Regional Development Commission from a presidential 

 advisory commission (established April 9, 1963) to a Federal Develop- 

 ment Planning Committee for Appalachia (created by Executive 

 Order 11186, signed October 25, 1964), to a statutory Commission 

 (under the terms of the Appalachian Regional Development Act, 

 approved March 9, 1965) . 



Another strongly regional element of his program was embodied in 

 the State Technical Services Act, approved September 14, 1965, in 

 which the President proposed 250 colleges and technical schools to 

 serve as "economic planning centers for their areas" with the Depart- 

 ment of Commerce as a clearing-house to disseminate technical infor- 

 mation on a national basis. In signing the measure, the President said : 

 "This bill will do for American businessmen what the great Agri- 

 cultural Extension Service lias done for the American farmer. It will 

 put into their hands the latest ideas and methods, the fruits of research 

 and development." Such a bill, he commented, "might have prevented 

 the economic depression that today exists in Appalachia." 



In liis agricultural message to the Congress of February 4. 1965, the 

 President was substantially concerned with regional economic balance 

 of rural areas. In particular, he cited the Area Redevelopment Act. 



w "Remarks ;it the Swearing In of Members of the National Council on the Arts," April 

 L965, I'm, Hi- Pavers of the President of the United States (Washington, D.C. : U.S. Oovern- 

 menl PrintitiL- Office, 1966), p. 406. Friends of the President at this time recall that lie took 

 pride in liis own roll' in the creation of a state sponsored regional development authority 

 (the Lower Colorado River Anthorit\ LCRA) in Texas, financed witli Public Works Ad- 

 ministration money during the early New Deal da.VB, lie had also been interested In a 

 similar project in Xchraska Uotli projects were developed under guidance fro") officials of 

 TVA, which was tile center of regionalism philosophy and method at that time. On the 

 Ion of thi' President's vMt to the Tinted Nations, soon after the assassination of 

 President Kennedy, lie had Riven attention to these matters in discussions witli UN officials. 



39 Press Release/88, United Nations Press Services, Office of Public Administration 

 (May 17, 1901 I. 



