October 22nd, 1965

Signing of the Highway Beautification Act
credit: Frank Wolfe

On this day in 1965, President Johnson signed the Highway Beautification Act. The act helped states control billboards and junkyards and encouraged scenic and roadside development along major highways.

“Now, this bill does more than control advertising and junkyards along the billions of dollars of highways that the people have built with their money—public money, not private money. It does more than give us the tools just to landscape some of those highways.

“This bill will bring the wonders of nature back into our daily lives.

“This bill will enrich our spirits and restore a small measure of our national greatness.”

October 22nd, 1965

On this day in 1965, President Johnson had a telephone conversation with Arthur Goldberg, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

The President discussed his concerns about foreign aid for India and Pakistan and the need for nations to help themselves. The two men talked about the origins of the Alliance for Progress in the Eisenhower Administration, the need for land and tax reform in Latin America, and LBJ’s statement on the Foreign Aid Bill.

Listen to Audio…

October 22nd, 1968

On this day in 1968, President Johnson signed the Gun Control Act of 1968, regulating the firearm industry and owners.

“Some of you may be interested in knowing—really-what this bill does:

“It stops murder by mail order. It bars the interstate sale of all guns and the bullets that load them.

“It stops the sale of lethal weapons to those too young to bear their terrible responsibility.

“It puts up a big ‘off-limits’ sign, to stop gunrunners from dumping cheap foreign ‘$10 specials’ on the shores of our country.

“Congress adopted most of our recommendations. But this bill—as big as this bill is—still falls short, because we just could not get the Congress to carry out the requests we made of them. I asked for the national registration of all guns and the licensing of those who carry those guns. For the fact of life is that there are over 160 million guns in this country—more firearms than families. If guns are to be kept out of the hands of the criminal, out of the hands of the insane, and out of the hands of the irresponsible, then we just must have licensing. If the criminal with a gun is to be tracked down quickly, then we must have registration in this country.

“The voices that blocked these safeguards were not the voices of an aroused nation. They were the voices of a powerful lobby, a gun lobby, that has prevailed for the moment in an election year.

“But the key to effective crime control remains, in my judgment, effective gun control. And those of us who are really concerned about crime just must—somehow, someday—make our voices felt. We must continue to work for the day when Americans can get the full protection that every American citizen is entitled to and deserves—the kind of protection that most civilized nations have long ago adopted. We have been through a great deal of anguish these last few months and these last few years—too much anguish to forget so quickly.

“So now we must complete the task which this long needed legislation begins. We have come a long way. We have made much progress—but not nearly enough.”