Speeches by John F. Kennedy

From the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

This is a transcription of this speech made for the convenience of readers and researchers. A single copy of the speech exists in the Senate Speech file of the John F. Kennedy Pre-Presidential Papers here at the John F. Kennedy Library.

One of the most important single steps in developing the economy of Greenbriar County, and protecting the health of your youth, would be the establishment of a Youth Conservation Corps.

I am now supporting in the Senate a bill to enlist a vast army of American youth - a Youth Conservation Corps - in the service of developing our great natural resources. Under this measure 100,000 young men, between the ages of 18 and 25, would be brought into a national conservation corps. It would be the job of this corps to work to preserve our forests, stock our lakes and rivers, clear our streams and protect America's great abundance of natural resources.

Here in West Virginia such a corps would give healthful employment to your youth - providing them with work in your lovely hills and forests, far from the grimness and idleness of the city. And their work would greatly contribute to the health of your economy. Such a conservation corps would help you to develop the great natural resources on which - here in the "Switzerland of the Americas" - your tourist industry depends. They would close up the numerous and hazardous abandoned mine shafts which are found throughout your state. And they would help construct facilities to enable you to bring more tourists - more income and more jobs - to Greenbriar County.