Here in the Congress you can demonstrate effective legislative leadership by discharging the public business with clarity and dispatch, voting each i… - Lyndon B. Johnson

As I conceive it, a President's first role and first responsibility is to help perfect the unity of the people, not to perpetuate their divisions. The last 10 days have reminded us anew of just how vital our unity has come to be. Far away--and near at home--grim and grave challenges have confronted us. Those challenges continue to come. But so long as our land is strong and free, those challenges will not cease. In this period we have been able to meet our challenges steadily and surely and swiftly. Our friends have not misunderstood-our adversaries have not mistaken-our purpose has remained unchanged, because we in America have been united. A united America has never been--and, I think, will never be--a misunderstood America. In these days, among many thoughts in my own mind, one has been impressed strongly upon me. How different America's response might have been--how different America's role might be--if we were today a nation divided by struggles of class or strife, a nation split between capital and labor.

We are taking a very important step toward that dream that President and Mrs. Kennedy had, and to which most of you have contributed your bit. This center will brighten the life of Washington, but it is not, as I have said, just a Washington project. It is a national project and a national possession, and it became a reality, as General Kennedy has observed, because of the willingness of all the representatives of all the people to make it possible. It is dedicated to the common awareness of all men. It was conceived under the administration of President Eisenhower. It was inspired and encouraged and led by the imagination and the purpose of President Kennedy. And after his death, the Congress, realizing that, named it in his memory and generously, and I think wisely, provided the matching funds so that we could get on our way.

I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people's right to know is cherished and guarded.