Plenary Session Transcripts

Governors Attending:

Guests:

Discussion Subjects:

Federal-state relations: the states and Congress; address by Dwight Eisenhower; civil rights in education, employment, and public accommodations; address by HEW Secretary Anthony Celebrezze; and address by former Governor and current U.S. Senator Frank Lausche of Ohio

Points of Interest:

Notice was given that the Executive Committee had adopted a memorial mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as well as a statement in support of President LyndonB. Johnson.

In accordance with the 1963 resolution for the association to give top priority to civil rights, concurrent workshops were held on the subjects of civil rights in education, employment, housing, and public accommodations. The education panel reported back their agreement on the importance of reaching children early. Recommendations for equal educational opportunity included pre-school programs, special tutoring, aid to parents, special teacher training, and in-service and summer institutes. The employment panel noted that education held the key to preparing minorities for the workforce. The panel also recommended that businesses and labor organizations assist in the effort to reach out to minority candidates for employment. With respect to public accommodations, Governors disagreed as to what the term "public accommodations" meant. Southern Governors felt that desegregation should be voluntary rather than compelled by legislation, and the question arose as to whether any legislation that was enacted should be federal or state.

During presentation of the report of the association's Committee on Cold War Education, it was stated that videos had been prepared for use in both American and Latin American schools, as tools for teaching about communism. Illustrators had also prepared posters for use in schools, libraries, and other educational facilities. And the committee's report, which was adopted by the full association, recommended that a state-funded seminar on cold war education be held, to be attended by gubernatorial aides.

The Public Health and Welfare Committee's report focused on the Economic Opportunity Act (EOA) of 1964, health insurance for the aged, and child support legislation pending in Congress. The committee supported EOA but wanted assurances that states would have control over poverty programs. They recommended adopted of the Kerr-Mills system of medical assistance for the aged, which would establish an additional category of welfare to cover older Americans who did not qualify for public assistance but who nonetheless could not afford needed medical services. The committee had reviewed two pieces of federal legislation regarding child support, one of which would make it a federal offense to travel across state lines in order to avoid paying child support, and the other proposing to give the federal courts concurrent authority with state courts to seek enforcement of child support orders. However, the committee took the position that states could handle child support themselves, with federal assistance in the form of access to records such as Social Security data to help track offenders.

A recent earthquake in Alaska led to discussion about extending civil defense to natural disasters, and Alaska Governor William Egan urged that the federal government consider establishing a natural disaster funding program.

Governor Grant Sawyer of Nevada expressed concern that voter turnout in Western states was influenced by election-night newscasts that predicted outcomes based on voting patterns in the East. A motion was adopted for the Chairman of the association to appoint a committee to meet with news media representatives to discuss the problem.

Memorable Quotes:

Governor John Anderson of Kansas, chairman of the Conference, said: "Last year...the wives held a business session, and it was such a success that they desired to repeat that event again this year...Your Executive Committee kept in mind the recommendation of our wives...and independent, free-thinking chief executives took immediate and affirmative action to accede to their wishes! They expressed a desire to have more opportunity to join us in our business sessions and indicated this preference over teas, fashion shows and other feminine pastimes! We welcome their interest in this respect, and I know that their attendance here at our sessions will add a meaningful dignity, as well as beauty, to our deliberations."

Senator Frank Carlson, former Governor of Kansas, said: "Federal aid to states has grown primarily since 1911. Over the years Congress has enacted seventy-three such programs. Only fourteen have been terminated...Grants-in-aid to the states and local governments in 1964 will cost an estimated $10 billion, almost a fourfold increase in only a few years. That is one of the dangers, as I see it, confronting this nation, this government within a government, which has great possibilities when you turn these powers over to agencies that work between the federal government and the states. Now, the federal grant-in-aid is and it will continue to be an inescapable and an important mechanism of intergovernmental relations. But...I think there are some problems that we in the federal government and you in state government must try to avoid. One is the ever-increasing control over state programs...by the federal government."

HEW Secretary Anthony Celebrezze said: "I believe...that the path to the 'great society' that President Johnson envisions lies in the direction of the 'creative federalism' which he has described as resting not on a massive program in Washington nor solely on strained local resources but on 'new concepts of cooperation between the national capital and leaders of local communities.'"

Senator Frank Lausche of Ohio said: "We need the friendship of people and governments unwilling to live side by side with the Communist machine in Moscow...I get sick and tired of hearing the argument that Franco is a dictator and, therefore, he must go; that Salazar is a dictator in Portugal and, therefore, he must go. To me it seems that there are many who would prefer to have Communist governments supposedly chosen by the people than to have dictatorships made up of leaders that are friendly to our nation. As for Cuba, we should not be laboring with the idea that Castro, our enemy, should be removed not by a friendly right-wing dictatorship but only by a democratic form of government favorable to our cause. The latter situation, of course, would be the preferable one. If that is not obtainable, it would be to our advantage to have a government, whatever its form, that is hostile to the Communists and friendly to the West in power in Cuba."

Governor William Egan of Alaska said: "I am firmly convinced that the intensity and the magnitude of the Alaskan earthquake has proven beyond any question that the time has arrived when the government of the United States must seriously consider setting up some kind of a natural disaster funding program."

Resolutions Adopted:
(1) Expressing concern about any planned, announced, or unannounced reduction in federal support of the nonpriority forces in the National Guard; (2) reemphasizing the need for fallout shelters and post-nuclear attack recovery programs; (3) instructing the association's Executive Committee to investigate, and make recommendations for, the state standardization of statistical data in reporting, analyzing, and evaluating governmental services; and (4) directing the Chair of the Governors' Conference to appoint a Committee on Election Laws and Communications to meet with representatives of the news media to explore ways and means of furthering the public interest in the handling and reporting of election results.