ORGANIZATION 

 OF THE CONFERENCE 



In his message to the Congress on natural beauty of February 8, 

 1965, President Johnson issued a call for a White House Conference 

 on Natural Beauty and announced that Laurance S. Rockefeller 

 would be its chairman. 



Mr. Rockefeller asked two of his associates, Henry L. Diamond 

 and William H. Whyte, to be co-managers of the conference. Whyte 

 started to work on the program planning and Diamond on general 

 organization. Close contact with the White House was maintained 

 through Richard Goodwin of the President's staff. 



As soon as a basic working proposal was in hand, Mr. Rockefeller 

 asked the five Cabinet members and the Administrator of the 

 Housing and Home Finance Agency who make up the Recreation 

 Advisory Council to meet with him to go over the plans. 



The members of the Council liked the proposal and were ready 

 to go ahead. They offered to make the resources of their depart- 

 ments available and to name an official in each agency to work 

 with the conference and to give that individual enough authority 

 to get things done. They also committed their departments to a 

 share of the cost of the operation. The American Conservation 

 Association was asked to make a grant to help underwrite the cost 

 and agreed to do so. 



The basic working proposal emphasized simplicity. The confer- 

 ence would be opened by the chairman and the First Lady and 

 would be concluded by the President. Other than these, there would 

 be no speeches. There would be no banquets and no formal lunch- 

 eons. The heart of the conference would be a series of panel ses- 

 sions addressed to specific areas of action. 



The chairman and the managers then presented the conference 

 plans to the President on March 15. He reviewed them in some 

 detail and suggested some changes, including a closing session at the 

 White House. 



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