CITIZEN ACTION 575 



This national prime-time television documentary should be only 

 a start. It should be followed up by the local television media look- 

 ing around themselves in their own areas and producing their own 

 documentaries about local needs. 



Furthermore, I propose something else to reach every Ameri- 

 can. I propose that a first-class picture brochure carrying a per- 

 sonal message from President Johnson and our First Lady be dis- 

 tributed to every American home, to every slum basement, pent- 

 house, and split level, and to every home of rural America. The 

 utility companies telephone, gas, and electric power companies 

 serve all of us, and we support them. Perhaps we could ask them 

 to help in the preparation and distribution of such a message to 

 Americans. 



And then, let's not forget the most efficient free distribution sys- 

 tem in America the school children for whom we seek to save 

 and restore the beauty of America. They can take the message 

 home. It is their America we are working for. Only by such steps 

 can almost 200 million Americans see with their own eyes what 

 this conference is talking about and envision the possibilities of a 

 truly beautiful America in a Great Society. Only in this way can the 

 citizens of America begin that crusade and take hold. 



Ladies and gentlemen, when we go over to the White House 

 Rose Garden in an hour or so, let's tell the President and the First 

 Lady our recommendations as to what they can do to help us. But 

 let's also say something else. Let's just turn around, shake hands 

 with each other and say, "I enlist, I volunteer, I am going home to 

 get to work." 



I have talked to a number of others from my State of Washing- 

 ton. Washington is ready. 



Mrs. WHITTEMORE. The accumulated experience of the League 

 of Women Voters in its work on water resources, one of our two 

 major national program items since 1956, and the experience of 

 our State and local leagues working on water, on parks and recre- 

 ation, on regional planning and related subjects, indicate that there 

 will have to be a tremendous amount of citizen effort in gathering 

 and disseminating information on local and State problems of ugli- 

 ness, and what can be done about them. 



In some cases the initiative will come from executive, administra- 

 tive or legislative leaders, but in other cases it will be citizens who 

 will prod officials to initiate programs. In every case, citizen orga- 



