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(Price) August 27, 1970 Suggested Remarks by the President In Response to a Toast by Mrs. Norman Chandler This has been a year in which the President and Congress have often seen things differently -- and we've had our share of legislative defeats along with the victories. But one vote that did come out remarkably well was on the bill extending and expanding the arts and humanities program. At first, a lot of people said we were whistling in the wind in asking for a doubling of the program. But when the vote on final passage came in the House on June 30, it was a smashing 262-78 in favor -- and the chief opponent of the bill (H.R. Gross) commented rather ruefully that "I have heard and seen more converts today than I've seen in a long, long time. " Those of us who care about the arts certainly welcome those converts. But we also need the people -- the Buff Chandlers, and so many others in this room -- who have been in there for a long time. That legislative victory was greatly satisfying in itself, but in a deeper sense it was also symbolic of the place the arts have assumed in American life today. And it was a testament to the leadership given so long and so enthusiastically by the Buff Chandlers of America: by people who care, and whose efforts and inspiration have given the arts a solid base of support not in one or two