 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, accompanied by Secretary Ling. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks very much, and welcome to the White House. I don't suppose I should tell you now, you know this was all supposed to take place in the Rose Garden, but with the clouds overhead, we couldn't quite see you all sitting out there in the rain if that should happen. But now wouldn't you know that as long as we change it inside, you're probably more comfortable here because it's warm outside. But just as soon as we've moved it in, just when I came out of the White House over there to cross the street, the sun came out. Well, a warm welcome to your national president, Rick Maylor, and to your other national officers, and to John Kelly of Chevrolet, the company that has done so much to make your visit to Washington possible. By the way, I thought you might like to know that we have somebody here at the White House who has a place in his heart for the FFA. You see my special assistant for legislative affairs, Fred McClure of Texas, used to be an FFA state president and national officer. Well, this is the sixth time in six years that I've spoken here at the White House to a gathering of the future farmers of America. It's something I make a point of because there's no finer organization in the country than the FFA, and I'm sure you agree. America is grateful for its farmers. They're the best in the world. It's true that lately farmers have had a long run of just plain bad luck. Embargos during the last administration, inflation and now, in one part of our country, a great drought. Believe me, our administration under the fine guidance of Secretary Ling is committed to be seeing farmers through. We're spending more on farming than ever before. Indeed, aid to farming has risen faster than defense spending. Already, the future is beginning to look up. Interest rates are down, easing the terms that farmers have to pay to get in the spring planting or purchase new livestock or equipment. And with the tax reform now under consideration in the Congress, we'll be limiting the ability of those who make their money someplace else to take advantage of agriculture by using it as a tax dodge. In other words, we'll be giving farming back to the farmers. So while times may be tough, the future for American farmers, your future, I think looks bright. Now, there's nothing I enjoy more than a little country humor. One of the great things about having you here is that I get to tell a farm joke. Now, first I need a setting, but Rick, you're from Kansas, right? OK, this takes place in Kansas. It was an old Kansas farmer there. He had a piece of creek-bottom land that had never been developed at all. It was all rocks and brush and all messed up. And he started in on it, clearing it, the underbrush and hauling away the rocks, then cultivating the soil there, and he planted a garden, everything from vegetables on to corn, and it really became a garden spot, and he was pretty proud of what he'd done. So one Sunday morning in church after the service, he asked the preacher if he wouldn't stop by to have a look. Well, the preacher arrived, and he took one look, and he said, oh, this is wonderful. He said, these are the biggest tomatoes I've ever seen. Praise the Lord. He said, those green beans, that squash, those melons, he said, the Lord really has blessed this place, and look at the height of that corn. He said, God has really been good. And the old boy was listening to all this, and he was getting more and more fidgety, and finally he blurted out Reverend, I wish you could have seen it when the Lord was doing it by himself. I always liked that joke because it makes a good point. God did give us this great and good land, but it's up to us to make it flourish, to preserve its freedom, to see it grow, and to keep it a nation of greatness. Soon my generation will pass that task on to you. And I wondered for a while about what I might say to you as you prepare to become America's leaders. Then it occurred to me that there could be no better way to give you hope for the future than to speak to you for a moment about the past, in particular the part of the American story that I've witnessed in my own lifetime. When I was about your age, if you can take your minds back that far, America was in the midst of a great depression. And really, that great depression, you had to experience it, to know how unusual or unique it was. Things we've called recessions in recent years were booming prosperity compared to that particular thing that happened in our country. In fact, the unemployment rate had risen to just about a quarter of the workforce, a fourth of all Americans were out of work. How about that time was working my way through college. I had a summer job every summer as a lifeguard, and there wasn't any complaining about working conditions. I was the only lifeguard at that particular beach, a beach on a river, and I worked seven days a week. And you worked from morning until whenever the swimmers got tired of swimming at night. And I had not one thought about complaining. I had a job. But one of the better jobs I had was during the school year on the campus. I washed dishes in the girl's dormitory. But I was very lucky, because all around me friends and their parents were out of work. If there ever was a time to believe America's future was grim, it was then. Believe it or not, the government had radio announcements, no television at that time, on the air regularly telling people, don't leave home looking for work there are no jobs. But here we are just a half a century later, with the American people enjoying a standard of living undreamed of during the 30s or even during the boom years of the 20s before the great crash. In these 50 years, employment America has risen by tens of millions. Real disposable income per person has gone up over 200%. And life expectancy has increased by more than 14 years. You know, I've already lived some 20 years longer than my life expectancy when I was born. And that's been a source of annoyance to a number of people. And just think of all we take for granted today that we didn't even used to exist. Things like television and computers and space flights. You may not believe it, but you're looking to the fellow who can actually remember what a thrill it was listening and waiting for the word to hear that Charles Lindberg had landed safely in France the first individual to ever fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Now that same fellow also happens to remember what it was like to gather around the television a little later and watch the first Americans walk on the moon. Imagine it in a single lifetime. Charles Lindberg and that solo flight across the Atlantic to moon landings. And they wonder why I'm an optimist. Well, what about your generation? I'm convinced that you're on the verge of a new age. Today, freedom is on the march throughout the world. Just a decade ago, for example, there were very few democracies in Latin America. Now, 90 percent of the people in Latin America live in democracies or countries that are moving swiftly into that situation. Peace itself is moving to a sure footing, especially with the research on our strategic defense initiative, SDI, as it's referred to. Washington is very big on initials. A defense system, SDI, is that may soon be able to protect our nation and our allies from ballistic missiles just as a roof protects us from the rain. And our economy is growing as America leads the world in a technological revolution, a revolution ranging from tiny microchips to voyages through the outer reaches of the solar system, from home computers to agricultural breakthroughs like new disease resistant crops. And all of this awaits you. Of course, you'll face challenges, so must each generation as it comes of age. But you need only be true to the values that made this nation great. And they were very simple, faith and family, hard work and freedom. And you, too, will know greatness. Well, it's time for me to do what the little girl who wrote me a letter after I got this child told me to do. She told me all the problems that I had to solve, and she had them down pretty good to what they were. And then she wound up with a PS that said, now get back to the Oval Office and get to work. So if you have any suggestions for next year's farm joke, let me know. Try not to repeat. But in the meantime, again, it's great to have all of you here. Thank you all, and God bless you all. Mr. President, it's indeed a pleasure for you to address our 1986 State President's Conference. And I know as FFA members and on behalf of the fellow national officers, we appreciate your vision for the future as we train students in our local programs to be leaders in the new fields of agriculture. We accept your challenges for the future, and we are training to accept the challenges in our industry. With that, I present to you, Mr. President, our Blue and Gold Award, which states to President Ronald Reagan, in sincere appreciation for your support of the over 430,000 FFA members, the White House, July 22, 1986. Thank you very much.