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Exchange of Remarks between the President and Daniel Boorstin at the Swearing-in Ceremony of Daniel Boorstin as Librarian of Congress [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7341511
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Exchange of Remarks between the President and Daniel Boorstin at the Swearing-in Ceremony of Daniel Boorstin as Librarian of Congress [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
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1975-11-12
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1975
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Digitized from Box 17 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 12, 1975
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
EXCHANGE OF REMARKS
BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT
AND
DANIEL BOORSTIN
AT THE
SWEARING-IN CEREMONY
OF
DANIEL BOORSTIN
AS
LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
:34 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Congressman Nedzi, Dr. and Mrs.
Boorstin, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, distinguished
Members of the House and Senate, members of the Cabinet,
distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
Some years ago, a little Mom and Pop book store
went bankrupt in Washington and had to close its doors.
The people who work with and love books always seem to
retain their humor even in the face of adversity. I
remember the book store as being padlocked, emptied of its
treasures, but a small sign was pasted in the window. It
said "Words failed us." (Laughter)
Today, we honor a man, as well as an institution,
that words have never failed. It is particularly appropriate
on the eve of the Nation's Bicentennial for Dr. Boorstin
to become the Librarian of Congress.
A noted American historian, educator and author,
Dr. Boorstin won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for his outstanding
book "The Democratic Experience" or, as it is known at the
White House, "The Democratic and Republican Experience."
(Laughter)
It is evident that Dr. Boorstin will bring to
this post a love of learning and a scholar's appreciation
of the importance of libraries and of the unique contribution
of the Library of Congress to American life.
MORE
Page 2
As a former Member of Co. ress, I am fully
aware of the valuable services that this facility provides
to the Members of the House and Senate, and the
committees of Congress.
May I express my appreciation to many of you
who have responded to my request for help and assistance
over the 25 years that I was privileged to serve in the
House of Representatives. We, who were the beneficiaries
of that help and assistance, can never repay you for your
contribution to our efforts in the Congress.
But the significance of the Library of Congress
goes far beyond its assistance to the Congress itself.
This library is a leading symbol of intellectual life in
America. Its diversified collections provide an intellectual
reservoir that is without equal.
As the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Boorstin, you
will extend in a new direction your life-long commitment
to the understanding and to the appreciation of America's
past.
Dr. Boorstin becomes the 12th person, as
Congressman Nedzi said, to head this great institution
whose 175-year history actually parallels the development
of this Nation's intellectual tradition.
The Library's contributions to America have been
invaluable. The Library's contributions will continue to
play a vital role in American life in future years.
I came here today because of my personal
admiration for Dr. Boorstin and to salute his predecessor,
Quincy Mumford, for his outstanding service over a long
period of time. But I also came to emphasize the importance
of this library as a basic intellectual resource of this
Nation.
I am very, very pleased that my old friend, my very
close friend, Speaker of the House Carl Albert will swear-
in Dr. Boorstin as Librarian of Congress.
Mr. Speaker.
(The oath was administered by Carl Albert, Speaker
of the House)
MR. BOORSTIN: Mr. President, I would like to
thank you for having nominated me for this high position
and also to thank you for honoring the Library and for
symbolizing its national significance by your presence
here today. This is, I believe, the first time that a
President has so personally and so dramatically expressed
his support for all of us who work here.
MORE
Page 3
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, presiding
officers of the two Houses, you honor the Library by
recognizing today the role of Congress' library in the
work of our Republic.
I would like also to thank the Senate for their
vote of confirmation, to the joint committee, which is
represented here by Congressman Nedzi, Chairman, and to the
Congress I pledge my unstinting energies.
A happy providence of history has made the Library
of Congress our Nation's library. Our first duty here is
to serve our country's Senators and Representatives. But,
this Library is a place of Congress in other senses, too.
Here gathers the thoughts and the words of earlier
Americans and of spokesmen for all mankind. Here we gather
the present to help the future meet in Congress with the past.
Until recently, libraries -- and this library, too -- have
been monuments almost exclusively to the words. As monuments
to the immortal written or printed word, our libraries are
the tombs of such as cannot die.
Within the last century, however, and especially
within the last few decades, this Library has come to bear
witness in quite new ways to the power of the machine. Most
important, of course, have been the new techniques of photo-
graphy and of sound recordings, which have provided us here
a new national treasury of images and of sound.
While these and other new resources have been
proliferating, the output of printing presses has been multi-
plying. The items which our Library receives in a single
day are more than five times the whole number of volumes
purchased from Thomas Jefferson in 1815.
Now, by a lucky coincidence, the electronic computer
makes it possible for us to keep track of our gargantuan
collection. Dr. Mumford, my distinguished predecessor,
who honors us by his presence here today, ushered our great
library into the age of automation and so has helped save us
from being buried under our own treasures.
With this computer technology, our Congressional
Research Service answers some 1,500 queries from Members of
Congress each day. Despite all these efforts, we still
face the problem of quantity. Here again, we meet in
unfamiliar form the familiar parking problem and the traffic
jam. Our multiplying vehicles of art and thought create
traffic jams of the mind.
MORE
Page 4
I pledge my efforts as Librarian to enlist the
whole staff of our Library, as represented here today, in
facing this problem, to use all known techniques and to seek
new techniques to keep the traffic of knowledge and of ideas
moving freely and swiftly.
But, we must not allow ourselves to forget the
reasons for all this movement. We must preserve opportunities
for the exploring spirit. We must keep on those avenues
for bold scholarship and adventuring thought which mankind
has made and preserved in books.
The computer can help us find what we know is there
but the book remains our symbol and our resource for the
unimagined question and the unwelcome answer.
I pledge myself to try to meet this challenge, to
try to keep alive and flourishing the tradition of the book.
In this great Library, there are other ever
difficult challenges to which I also pledge my effort. To
serve the Congress and the Nation, we must keep this Library
strong, well-nourished and decently housed. If any of our
staff must work in ill ventilated attics or crowded between
improvised partitions, their work suffers, along with their
self-respect and their respect for this great institution.
If we must pile our precious books on the floor,
we are failing all those who preserved them for us. If
the beauty of this magnificent building, this temple of
knowledge, is defaced, we are all diminished.
This grand building, the neighboring annex, and
the Madison Build ng, to which we will be moving soon, all
bear witness to the Congress' enlightened and generous
understanding of our mission.
To keep this Library strong, the whole American
community of libraries and of learning must be strong. I
am happy to see here representatives of the library community
in strength.
To keep other libraries strong, this library must
be strong. We must rally enlightened citizens everywhere
to save and improve our libraries.
In this Library of Congress, every task is important.
We fulfill our mission only if our house is kept neat and
orderly, if our treasures are well guarded, if our resources
are promptly found and cheerfully delivered. We all
share the greatness of this capital of libraries.
MORE
Page 5
I pledge myself to see that our Library remains,
but Ira Gershwin was moved to call it, on a recent visit
Nation.' here, "A shining star and inspiration worthy of a mighty
Today, when freedom is retreating in other parts,
the whole world needs this Library of Congress for a well
spring of freedom. With the encouragement of our President,
so personally expressed here today, with the continuing
support of the Congress, whom we primarily serve, with the
cooperation of the Nation's and the world's libraries,
with the imaginative energies of our scholars, writers,
composers and poets, and, above all, with the devotion and
enthusiasm of our 4,600 fellow workers, we will keep this
wellspring flowing.
Thank you.
END
(AT 2:46 P.M. EST)