THE PRESIDENCY
Having laid the cornerstone for the Great American Society, President Johnson of late has been impatiently twiddling his trowel, looking for new worlds to conquer. Last week he found one—the great world itself.
Before 2,000 scientists and scholars honoring the bicentennial of the founder of the Smithsonian Institution, the President spoke to a universal constituency. "We mean to show that this nation's dream of a Great Society does not stop at the water's edge," he said. "It is not just an American dream." Johnson pointed out that nearly 50% of all nations have populations that are 50% or more illiterate. Said the President: "Unless the world can find a way to extend the light, the force of that darkness may engulf us all."
Then, to no one's surprise, Lyndon Johnson unveiled a program. Said he: "I have directed a special task force within my Administration to recommend a broad and long-range plan of worldwide educational endeavor." The group will be headed by Secretary of State Dean Rusk, will include Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare John W. Gardner. Though Johnson gave few details, he envisioned stepped-up exchanges of students and teachers and an increased "flow of books and ideas and art, of works of science and imagination." He delicately refrained from quoting the price of his latest war. One guess is that it will cost $50 million to $100 million—but then, as Lyndon said, it will be "a new and noble adventure."