CHAPTER 2 



THE GENERAL SESSION 



9:30 a.m., Monday, May 24 



Mrs. LYNDON B. JOHNSON. Welcome to the White House Con* 

 f erence on Natural Beauty. 



We are grateful that you have taken two days of your busy lives 

 to come here and discuss ways to restore and increase the beauty 

 of our land. 



In the catalogue of ills which afflicts mankind, ugliness and the 

 decay of our cities and countryside are high on America's agenda. 



It seems to me that one of the most pressing challenges for the 

 individual is the depression and the tension resulting from existence 

 in a world which is increasingly less pleasing to the eye. Our peace 

 of mind, our emotions, our spirit even our souls are conditioned 

 by what our eyes see. 



Ugliness is bitterness. We are all here to try and change that. 

 This conference is a step towards the solution and I think a great one. 



Our immediate problem is: How can one best fight ugliness in 

 a nation such as ours where there is great freedom of action or 

 inaction for every individual and every interest where there is 

 virtually no artistic control and where all action must originate 

 with the single citizen or group of citizens? 



That is the immediate problem and challenge. Most of the great 

 cities and great works of beauty of the past were built by autocratic 

 societies. The Caesars built Rome. Paris represents the will of 

 the Kings of France and the Empire. Vienna is the handiwork 

 of the Hapsburgs, and Florence of the Medici. 



Can a great democratic society generate the concerted drive to 

 plan, and having planned, to execute great projects of beauty? 



I not only hope so I am certain that it can. 



All our national history proves that a committed citizenry is 

 a mighty force when it bends itself to a determined effort. There 



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